Concerned with its declining advertising revenue, Google is all set to launch a dedicated shopping tab in India, according to a report published in the economic times. The tab would enable online shoppers to search for products and then direct them to Merchant’s websites or e-commerce platforms.
Economic times cited unidentified sources to claim that the shopping tab will be launched as a pilot project very soon and a full-fledged launch will take place before end of the current year.
The business daily has further claimed that Google has already initiated talks with Paytm Mall, Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon to take part in this initiative. However, whether or not search engine giant is really in talks with these e-commerce platforms cannot be independently verified.
Besides, Google is also reportedly planning to encourage small kirana stores and high-end shopping stores to become part of their soon-to-be launched initiative. The online shopping giant will try to leverage its huge network of SMEs and medium scale enterprises for this purpose. The company has not made it mandatory for these small stores to register with any e-commerce platforms for becoming part of this initiative.
Some analysts claim that the shopping tab launch is merely a precursor to Google’s full-fledged entry in India’s burgeoning e-commerce market. Reports are already rife in the market that the search giant is soon planning to launch its own e-commerce platform in India to take on Flipkart and Amazon.
Analysts argue that Google will try to understand the complex habits of India’s online shopper through its tab before making a full-fledge market into the e-commerce market.
However, some experts also argue that Google is equally concerned about losing significant market share to Amazon on product searches in the U.S. The tech giant doesn’t want the same trend to be replicated in the Indian market as this may take a toll on its advertising revenue, experts add.