Last year, Google rolled out a new shopping experience on Search that allowed users to discover products on Google. The company also allowed online merchants to list their products for free in the Merchant Center, along with auto feeds that made the process quick and easy.
The results of this new shopping experience was great as Indian shoppers engage with this shopping experience more often, and for longer periods of time compared to other markets. Google says there are now over 200 million offers available on Google Shopping and the share of clicks on listings that direct to small and medium business websites have increased by 30 per cent.
And while the online shopping in India continues to grow in popularity, about 96 per cent of shopping still happens offline. According to Google, 9 out of every 10 new users coming online are Indian language users that use mobile phones and are from tier 2 and 3 cities. Google at its Google For India announced that 20 per cent of Search queries in India are in Hindi.
Thus, Google is now extending the power of Google Translate to the Shopping tab as well as the Shopping home page for Indian languages. Over the next couple of years, approximately 500 million non-English speaking users will be online in India, and this native language shopping experience will enable them to easily find products in their own language.
And on the merchant side, it requires no extra effort -- the products that will be showcased to online shoppers in India will seamlessly be displayed in their preferred Indian language. This feature will also be available to shoppers in India early next year.
Soon, any local retailer will be able to create an online store through Google My Business and connect with the millions of shoppers searching for their products online. When they post photos of their in-store products, they will automatically be surfaced as product listings on Search and in the Google Shopping tab.
