Google's Ecommerce & Sales Funnel
Google’s Commercial Strategy
Alphabet Inc. has a robust collection of ecommerce platforms which includes Google Shopping, Google Store, Google Play, Chrome Web Store, Google Books, YouTube Premium, and Google for Retail. From each of these channels there are multiple opportunities for Alphabet’s subsidiaries to generate revenue for transactions made on their websites. Alphabet has made the shopping process more impulsive using solutions such as Google Pay which has your account details ready to go when you are.
Using Google Shopping a consumer can search for any product from a variety of online retailers all using the Google Search algorithm. This enables retailers using Google for Retail to immediately connect their product or service to the customer on this website, so Google makes money both as an advertising platform and a place of transaction. The most interesting findings about Google Shopping comes from analytics company Sidecar’s 2018 Google Shopping Benchmarks Report. (Sidecar, 2018) See references.
In addition to Google Shopping which exposes consumers to the world wide web of e-commerce, Google Play and Chrome Web Store gives consumers opportunities to purchase apps, games and music for their digital needs. Google Books has numerous digital and paper books for sale on their site. YouTube Premium has subscription-based movies and original content on-demand. Finally, Google Store has the world of Google-based accessories, electronics, VR and Google Home all on their convenient site.
Google Store has experimented with having physical retail locations to showcase their products. They opened a pop-up showroom in 2016 in SoHo, NYC to exhibit all their new hardware such as Google Pixel phone, Google Home speaker, and virtual reality headsets just to name a few. In Canada’s Best Buy stores, Google formed Google Shops to showcase their hardware and drive sales within this store while increasing visibility. Strategically, these physical locations serve as a few touchpoints for consumers within the omnichannel marketing behemoth that is Google.
Google’s focus in the e-commerce game is not only to market their own products and services but to be the go to resource for third-party sellers. That is why Google for Retail exists and is utilizing tools like Google Ads and AdMob to help their third-party retailers also successfully market themselves to drive sales. It goes hand in hand with the saying that, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
Google’s Tactics & Capabilities
The Google Store showcases their major hardware front and center on the homepage taking the entire screen to fit the animation. It is a website driven by its goal to surpass hardware competitors such as Apple and Amazon. Checkout their website https://store.google.com and you’ll see what I mean.
However, according to data from Similarweb.com, Google Store was able to only garner about a tenth of the traffic of its major hardware competitor Apple month-over-month in 2018. See for yourself:
https://www.similarweb.com/website/store.google.com?competitors=apple.com
Considering the ineffectiveness of its website to drive customer awareness of its own products in comparison to Apple’s traffic it seems like Alphabet needs to rethink its omnichannel marketing efforts. Although they dabbled in having pop-up locations for their hardware, Alphabet really does need more touchpoints for their core products. When the Google Glass first was introduced, it was advertised and showcased in many tech events and showrooms. Ultimately, it was the company’s lack of enthusiasm and planning for its own product launch that caused it to be pulled from the market prematurely. Today, when augmented reality is the rage, it seems like Google Glass missed the boat when they had a clear path to victory. Similarly, if Alphabet does not make permanent retail store locations for their products, there will be a lack of enthusiasm to enter their website in the first place. Multiple touchpoints drive sales.
Considering Alphabet’s current business model of making 99 percent of its revenue from Google advertising, it makes sense why they would focus on being the only website for third-party marketers. On their Google for Retail website, they make it clear that having omni-channel search results for third-party businesses is the way to go. By creating a place for awareness of a brand on Google Search, it literally will be the place where a person can start shopping and then make a purchase online or in-store. See this link: https://www.google.com/retail/#?modal_active=none
Navigating A Luxury Brand Using Google’s Sales Funnel
Alphabet helps many third-party companies find a way into and out of the sales funnel. Consider luxury Swiss-watch maker Breitling SA, which already has an immense following of watch buyers. If they want to attain one new customer in a marketplace for watches that is crowded with many luxury brands and knockoffs being sold on the streets of New York, they must invest millions of dollars in promoting their brand so that at the time of purchase their brand will be considered by 1 lucky customer. They already have the luxury of mass awareness so what can Google Ads do to promote Breitling SA over its competition? Breitling can own their brand before their competition does. Google Ads can generate interest, desire and action through paid search results, natural search results, image search results, Google Maps store location results, and social media results that point the customer in Breitling’s direction. Breitling does not want to be recognized by a simple search of “luxury watches” and “Swiss watches”. They are looking for customers that are already committed and ready to buy a Breitling, and Google accomplishes just that.
See the example on Google Search:
References
Sidecar. (2018). 2018 Google Shopping Benchmarks Report. Philadelphia: getsidecar.com.
https://www.similarweb.com/website/store.google.com?competitors=apple.com
https://www.google.com/retail/#?modal_active=none