Insider Intelligence: How is Google trying to make the shopping experience more personalized?

Lilian Rincon: Every shopper is unique, and shoppers expect personalized experiences when they're online. We are putting personalization at the forefront of the shopper’s journey. We want shoppers to be able to tell us their preferences more directly. For example, a female shopper won’t have to tell us twice that they are looking for a women’s jacket if they had searched for women’s items before.

We are enabling personalization with our new features, where shoppers can tell us which brands they want to see. For example, if I'm into the brand Kiwiana, Google Shopping will show options from Kiwiana and other similar brands the next time I am shopping online.

II: How are you bringing 3D elements to the shopping journey?

LR: Earlier this year, we rolled out 3D in home goods and saw that people engaged 50% more with 3D images than they did the static ones. We are now launching in our next category, shoes, enabling consumers to see 3D models of sneakers.

We know that 3D models benefit merchants as they initiate more qualified traffic. In the past, creating 3D assets has been expensive, time-consuming, and hard for smaller merchants to pull off on their own. We are launching a breakthrough technology where we can use this innovation in machine learning by automating the 360-degree spins of these products using only a handful of images. The 3D representation of products will be a game changer for smaller merchants.

II: How will the Page Insights feature improve a shopper’s experience?

LR: The goal of the Page Insight feature is to give people more confidence while they're shopping. Page Insights summarizes the relevant information that we know about a webpage or a product all in one place, showing the consumer the pros and cons of the product. It enables consumers to see what other people are saying about the product, given that reviews are so integral to a shopper’s decision-making process.

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