Google reveals new tools for tracking prices in Search

Online shoppers are hungry for deals this summer, and Google has unveiled a series of new features designed to help them find and compare prices in search results.

Here’s a breakdown of the new features:

• A “deals carousel” showcasing major promotions from the last 24 hours;
• The ability to see “member pricing” on items, or the discounted price available to members at stores such as Best Buy and Petco;
• A tool for tracking the typical price range of a given item over the past 90 days;
• And an alert that notifies users when an item goes on sale.

Sean Scott, VP and GM of consumer shopping at Google, wrote in a blog post that summer has “become a major shopping season” and that “in recent years, online searches for ‘deals’ have spiked in mid July, even surpassing search interest in ‘vacation.’”

• A Google survey of shopping trends found that 44% of respondents said deal days get them to shop more, and 68% “always or often” compare prices before buying an item online.

On the price-tracking tool, Scott wrote: “Seeing that a product is on sale can be reason enough for some people to add it to their cart. But how can you be sure you’re actually getting a great deal? 73% of shoppers say they’d be more likely to purchase something if they could see whether the product’s price is high, typical or low.”

These consumer-facing tools come as Google also takes steps to overhaul the back-end resources available to e-commerce brands. The company recently employed AI to help them develop online marketing materials and improve their search presence.