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The importance of mobile devices has never been clearer: each week, tens of millions of people use Google Shopping and Google search on their mobile phones, generating hundreds of millions of searches. And many of these people are looking for product information; 76% of shoppers use the web to research purchases and 57% of people use mobile devices to help them shop smarter.

We want to give you the best answers quickly, regardless of the device you use. We’ve worked hard to make it easier for you to find the product information you need, whether you’re at home or on the go, using Google Shopping and Google Search. And we’re happy that you’re finding it easier to discover and research products, and to find where to buy those products online or in-store at the best price. For example, we’ve introduced 360-degree product imagery, Shortlists and more relevant reviews.

We want to focus our efforts on Google Shopping and Google Search, to create a better, more consistent shopping experience across all devices. To help us focus on that goal, we’ll be shutting down the standalone Google Shopper app on August 30.
Going forward, you can search directly on Google (or use the Google Search app on mobile devices) or visit google.com/shopping in any browser. Our best features are there: you can compare prices, shop on the go, find a product in stock locally, check out product photos, read reviews or find product details. You’ll find more than a billion products, from over one hundred thousand sellers -- including 10,000 new merchants and marketplaces in the past three months.  
Thank you for using the standalone Google Shopper app. We hope that you’ll keep searching with Google to get exactly the answers you need to shop smarter across the web, and we look forward to sharing some great things we have coming on mobile for the holidays!

- Posted by Sameer Samat, VP, Google Shopping
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July - the month of barbeques, swimming pools, and the height of summer fun - also signals the second largest retail event of the year, Back to School shopping. To understand how people are shopping this year, we surveyed back to school shoppers and took a look at search trends on Google and YouTube. 

Our research shows two trends: first, this is the earliest back to school shopping season on record, as the ability to research online at any time, anywhere, on any device, has sped up shopping noticeably. And second, based on Google Shopping data the odds are you’ll see a lot of One Direction lunchboxes at your local school this year.

Research in July, purchase in August
Our study found that not only are people already shopping, by the end of July most of their back to school research will already be complete. On Google, searches for “Back to School Sales” started trending two weeks earlier this year than in 2012. While just a small group of consumers have started to make purchases already, the momentum will pick up quickly toward the end of the month.

Just over a third of online shoppers will use their smartphones as an on-the-go tool to help make shopping easier. Of these, the 66% will use their smartphone to locate a retailer nearby, 64% will compare prices, and 43% will search for store item availability.

What are people shopping for Google?
More than 60% of shoppers will begin their shopping online, and most shoppers report that online research will have a notable impact on their in-store purchase decisions. Some of the top trending back to school searches on Google Shopping this month include:

 College students drive biggest spending 
Our study found that while shoppers for high school students expect to spend $347 on average, people shopping for college expect to spend nearly double that amount at $614 on average. Some of the top trending searches for dorm decorations on Google Shopping this month include:

 Shoppers looking for a bargain 
Back to school shoppers are price conscious and are looking for deals, with 94% of shoppers saying that a promotion or sale would persuade them to purchase a product. We found that people are more sale conscious when buying consumer electronics than other school supplies. Consumer electronics shoppers were more likely to make a purchase if there was a back to school promotion, free shipping offer, or one day sale. Brands like Dell are promoting deals of the day and in-store pickup in Google search ads to help shoppers with their back to school shopping.
Going online for inspiration 
Increasingly, consumers are searching online not just for price comparison but for inspiration. Back to school shoppers are using sites like YouTube to find authentic recommendations - 73% of shoppers who watch online videos for back to school shopping are looking for product reviews from “people like me.” These videos can be highly influential on sales - our apparel study found that 4 in 10 shoppers visited a store online or in-person as a direct result of watching an apparel video.
  • On YouTube, back to school shopping searches spike every August and have doubled from last year. 
  • Popular searches on YouTube during back to school shopping season include “room tour,” “school supplies,” “school makeup tutorial,” and “haul videos.” 
  • In the last week alone, more than 205,000 haul videos have been posted to YouTube from people sharing their latest purchases of clothing, supplies and dorm room decorations. 
  • Brands are also connecting with back to school shoppers on YouTube - Office Depot, Verizon Wireless and Kmart have already uploaded back to school videos on their YouTube channels to promote sales and school supplies. 



 Posted by Jacalyn Stolt, Sales Development Manager, Google
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Cross-posted from the Inside AdWords Blog

At Google, one of our goals is to help make the web work for you. Today we’re announcing our summer series of Learn with Google webinars, which will teach you how to use digital to build brand awareness and give you the tools you need to drive sales. Each of our sessions gives you deep-dive educational content, across a breadth of products and marketing objectives, in a format that’s convenient for you. Every webinar is led by Google product experts and includes time for audience Q&A. Sign up to start becoming a smarter digital marketer now.

 Upcoming live webinars:  
July
[Shopping] Google Shopping 101: Overview of Shopping & Product Listing Ads
[Search] Improving Your Search Campaigns with Remarketing Lists for Search Ads
[YouTube] Driving Direct Response with Video

August
[Shopping] Google Shopping 201: Product Listing Ad Optimization Essentials
[Shopping] Google Shopping 301: Advanced Optimization Tactics [Search] Taking Advantage of New AdWords Features
[YouTube] Building your Business with YouTube Video Ads [Social] Kick-Starting Social with Google+

September
[Display] Planning Display Campaigns with the New Display Planner in AdWords

Webinars are held Tuesdays through Thursdays at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern.

Visit our webinar site to register for any of the live sessions and to access our large library of recorded content. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by adding our Learn with Google calendar to your own Google calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars. Learn with Google is a program to help businesses succeed through winning moments that matter, enabling better decisions and constantly innovating. We hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming session!

 Posted by Erin Molnar, Marketing Coordinator, Learn with Google
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Cross posted from the Google Commerce Blog

For a generation, clip-and-save coupons in freestanding newspaper inserts (FSIs) were the norm for shoppers. But with the introduction of downloadable, print-at-home, and digital coupons in recent years, shoppers today have a whole new array of options to receive and redeem better, more relevant discount offers -- whether at home or on the go. Internet marketing research firm eMarketer estimates that mobile coupon users will grow to 53.2 million by 2014.

Zavers by Google, the digital coupon solution that delivers relevant discount offers to shoppers on their desktops and mobile devices, completed a study with Shopper Sciences to dive into the current state of couponing, the potential of digital and mobile couponing, and to provide guidance in developing a strategy for the future.  

 The Zavers study found that while women and moms have traditionally been the typical coupon user, men are quickly catching up -- now representing about a third of all coupon users across all categories.

Millennials also signify an expanding segment of the digital coupon market. According to our research, Millennials are more likely to use a mobile device to receive a percentage-off discount than any other age group. Millennials are also more likely to embrace digital solutions that help them manage coupons and offers.

Finally, our studies revealed that more than 40% of shoppers have left a retail store without purchasing because they knew they left a coupon at home. 54% percent of shoppers said that the ability to load digital coupons to a loyalty card or personal identifier (such as a smart phone) was “very” or “extremely useful.”  The data suggests that consumers value the ability to easily access their coupons whenever and wherever they are.

There are three key things that retailers and manufacturers can do to create a winning couponing program in the digital age:

1. Recognize the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) -- the moment when a shopper is searching online for products and information -- as a key opportunity for delivering relevant and tailored coupons.
2. Set up cloud-based redemption and reconciliation so coupons can be tracked and cleared in real time and promotions can be evaluated and adjusted quickly.
3. Understand your customer purchase habits and reward your best customers with motivating incentives.

Preview the below to learn more about the Zavers by Google coupon study, or download the complete white paper.




Posted by Jenny Liu, Product Marketing Manager, Zavers by Google
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(cross-posted from the Inside AdWords Blog)

As we previously announced, we began enforcement of the new unique product identifier feed specification as part of an ongoing effort to improve product data quality on Google Shopping. These new specifications help us serve better results to our users while creating more opportunities for merchants.

Enforcement of these new specifications has begun and will continue to ramp up over the coming weeks. By September, all violating offers will be rejected and will not be served through Product Listing Ads.

These new feed specifications will affect all accounts in the United States and non-exempt accounts in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Beginning September 16th, all previously exempt accounts in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom as well as all other targeted countries will be subject to these new requirements.

For more information, please review the unique product identifier requirements and the latest product feed specifications to make the appropriate changes to your data. To help merchants with this transition, we’ll be hosting a Hangout on Air this Friday, July 19th (9am PT/12pm ET) to walk through the changes and answer any questions you may have about your feeds. You’ll be able to view the session video on the link above if you miss the live broadcast.

Posted by Angelika Rohrer, Program Manager, Google Shopping
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Google’s Lightbox ad format -- a part of the Engagement Ads family, which consists of interactive ad formats that let advertisers create and scale brand messages across the web, while only paying when a user engages with the ad -- has seen a great deal of momentum since its launch in March.

Today we are announcing a brand new capability within this format – Google Catalogs in Lightbox.

Brands invest heavily in creating beautiful stories in their printed catalogs, and we want to make it easy for our users to connect with relevant, digitized versions of these catalogs around the web. With Google Catalogs in Lightbox, users can easily flip through the digital catalogs, to see the latest product selections, check product prices, and visit product pages without ever leaving the original page they were browsing. Advertisers pay on a Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) basis -- meaning that they pay when a user chooses to read their catalog. And with access to metrics like page flips and product views, advertisers have more customer insight than ever before.

We have received positive feedback on this format from users, advertisers and publishers. Users have responded well to the beautiful, immersive catalog experience. Advertisers have found it easy to create online catalogs within hours, using their existing PDFs and Google Merchant Center feeds. And finally, our publisher partners that have run Lightbox formats have seen their CPMs as much as double.

One of our beta partners, Brand USA, an organization that promotes international tourism to the United States, used Google Catalogs in Lightbox to showcase an interactive US travel guide to Canadian tourists. They digitized their existing print tourism guide and achieved massive distribution of their catalog online, reaching a fifth of the Canadian population, and actively engaging 1 in 40 Canadians.


To get started, including help with digitizing your catalog, contact your account team today.

Posted by James Beser, Sr. Product Manager 
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Posted:
Cross posted from the Google Commerce Blog

Since its launch in January, Zavers by Google has partnered with leading regional supermarkets, like D’agostino, BI-LO/Winn-Dixie and Associated Food Stores, to reward customers with relevant coupons. The digital coupon solution also helps retailers and manufacturers increase shopper spend and basket size.

Price Chopper, an innovative 81-year-old supermarket chain based in New York, worked with Zavers to engage their loyal shoppers in a new way, and saw significant results. Price Chopper was looking to optimize their coupon marketing campaigns and deliver more effective coupons to their customers’ rewards cards. After researching multiple digital coupon solutions, Price Chopper teamed up with Zavers by Google to seamlessly integrate their website and mobile app with the technology to load coupons directly to customers’ rewards cards.


“Digital coupons make it easier for shoppers to get savings at the moment they’re deciding what to buy. Plus, with automatic redemption at checkout, our cashiers don’t have to spend time scanning paper coupons,” says Heidi Reale, Price Chopper’s Director of Shopper and Digital Marketing.

After implementing Zavers by Google, Price Chopper saw significant gains in basket size, trip frequency, and weekly spend amongst its best customers. Internal analysis revealed that loyal shoppers who spent 50 percent of their share-of-wallet with Price Chopper also represented 43 percent of all their Zavers digital coupon users, which meant that these shoppers make up a valuable segment of their customers.

Furthermore, a Price Chopper comparison analysis of shopper spending habits showed that among shoppers who engaged with Zavers e-coupons, the average total monthly spend of active customers increased by 10 percent.

“We are very happy with the results so far,” Reale says. “We see e-coupons as a way to reward our best shoppers, the ones who spend the most with us and visit us the most. With Zavers by Google, we don’t simply deliver a coupon to someone’s card. We deliver it more effectively in a way that generates a better ROI for both manufacturers and retailers.”

To learn more about Price Chopper’s success with Zavers by Google, download the full case study. Visit google.com/zavers to learn more about Zavers’ digital couponing solution or contact our sales team at g.co/contact-zavers
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