Having changed the way we use the Internet, Google is now set on changing the way we shop in stores and online this holiday shopping season. Beginning November, Macy’s shoppers can Google search for a product on their smartphone and see what’s stocked at their nearest Macy’s location.
Ad Age reported that the program works with Google’s proximity marketing platform, Nearby, which takes advantage of marketing and sales opportunities through GPS applications on smartphones. Shoppers can also glean information on price, size and color options, as well as product images and directions to the store, through the platform. By focusing on smartphone users, Macy’s aims to capitalize on the amount of people who search online for product information before, during and after shopping trips. A recent Google study found that 71 percent of store shoppers who use phones for online research say their mobile device has become more important to their store experience.
Since Google launched the platform last winter, Macy’s has been testing it in its San Francisco market. Group vice president of digital media and multicultural marketing at Macy’s Jennifer Kasper said the company has seen “encouraging results,” noting that the platform’s target users, women age 25 to 54, can go into a physical store and have “immediate gratification.” Macy’s research shows that for every dollar it invests in search, $6 in store purchases is made.
Kasper, told Ad Age, “We’re trying to encourage omni-shopping behaviors in consumers. We know that we have great opportunity to build a longer, more loyal relationship with them if we are successful in communicating… and encouraging discovery.”