Google Catalogs
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| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | |
| Created by | |
| URL | google |
| Registration | Optional, included with a Google Account |
Google Catalogs is a shopping application for digital tablets, which was produced by Google in August 2011. The application is currently only available for the iPad, although Google has announced that a version for Android tablets will be coming out in the future. Google Catalogs delivers virtual catalogs to users from merchants like Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Macy's, Pottery Barn, and many more. Merchants are still being added, through a process by which they submit a form with information and a sample of their catalog, which will then be reviewed by Google’s editorial team. [1] This new application is noted as a "Greener Way to Shop", as this digitization of catalogs is substituting for paper versions. [2]
History
Google Catalog search was first conceptualized in December, 2001 as a search function on the web only. This was a free Google service. Catalog search was a major digitization project for Google, as thousands of merchant catalogs were scanned and made accessible to the public. Users were able to flip through pages of catalogs from a variety of industries, except those that focus on liquor, tobacco, firearms, or similar products. [3] Google ended this service on the web in January, 2009 stating: "Catalog Search hasn’t been as popular as some of our other products. So tomorrow, we’re bidding it a fond farewell and focusing our efforts to bring more and more types of offline information such as magazines, newspapers and of course, books, online".[4] On August 16th, 2011 Google Catalogs was announced on Google's official blog, and was immediately available for download. [5] Google created a quick video as an overview of the features of the product.
Participating Merchants
Women's Fashion & Apparel
- Athleta
- Bloomingdale's
- Neiman Marcus
- Nordstrom
- Boden USA
- Gaiam
- Dillard's
- L.L. Bean
- Lafayette 148 New York
- Lands' End
- Macy's
- Merrell
- Moosejaw
- Roxy
- Sundance
- Venus
- bebe
- Alloy
- Anthropologie
- BareNecessities
- Bergdorf Goodman
- Delia's
- Eddie Bauer
- Fossil
- Free People
- Gap
- Lucky Brand
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Tory Burch
- Swell
- Trina Turk
- UGG
- Urban Outfitters
- Patagonia
- Ralph Lauren
- Gump's
Men's Fashion & Apparel
Paul Fredrick, Boden, Patagonia,
Platforms
Google Catalogs is currently only accessible on the iPad. This decision has created much buzz on the web, as Google did not launch this product on Google's Android "Honeycomb" tablet. It has been stated though that this application will be available on Android operating tablets soon. [6]
Monitization
Participating merchants currently do not have to pay a fee in order to have their catalogs included in this app. Additionally, users of Google Catalogs do not have to pay to search through the collection of catalogs that are provided in the app. Users do, however, have to have a Gmail account in order to sign-in and save their favorite catalogs. In order to add a catalog to the app, retailers are directed to the form on Google's info page about Google Catalogs.
User Experience (UX)
The catalogs available on this application are grouped by several product categories, including Women’s Fashion and Apparel, Jewelry, Beauty, Home, Men’s Fashion and Apparel, Kids and Baby, and Gifts. After choosing a product category, users can select a specific catalog, which then brings them to the cover page of that catalog. The placement and sequence of catalogs within each section is likely to impact the click-through rate for any particular catalog.
Shoppers using the iPad can flip through the catalog and tap on 'hotspots' for the products they are interested in, which are linked to the merchant's website for purchase. After clicking on a product of interest, a pop-up will appear for the user to read more about the product itself which includes price, description, images, and title. This is also a page where users can send information about the product to others via email. For those who don’t want to purchase online, store locations can be found by loading the 'Find Nearby' option. Further exploration of the products is supported by features such as the ability to zoom in on products as well as being able to view tags to garner additional information. In addition, products can be marked as favorites, and then all of those that were previously marked can be viewed on the same page by clicking the Favorites button on the bottom of the screen. If a user is looking for a specific product, there is a search function that will show all the products related to the keyword that the user types in. [7][8]
Users are also able to create collages of their favorite products across catalogs in the iPad application. Once users have either created a collage or have found products within catalogs that they find interesting, they can share these with friends. Users can create public collages, and can simply email specific products to their "shopping buddies". [6] It is expected that Google Catalogs will include social networking abilities in this application in the near future. Most notably Google+ will be an integrated feature to allow users to post about their favorite products. [9]
Screenshots
References
- ^ Loftus, Tom (2011-08-17). "Google Catalogs Targets the 'Couch Shopper' - Digits - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ Chris Crum (2011-08-16). "Google Catalogs for iPad". WebProNews. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Google Launches Catalog Search - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)". Search Engine Watch. 2002-01-06. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Remember the Google Catalogs Service? It's Back As an iPad App « INFOdocket". Infodocket.com. 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ Jhaveri, Kinnari (2011-08-16). "Official Google Blog: Shop your favorite catalogs with Google Catalogs". Googleblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ a b "iPad Resurrects Google Catalog Search for Shoppers". eWeek.com. 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ Paul Bryan. "First Look at the Google Catalogs User Experience". Uxmag.com. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ Find, Local (2011-09-09). "Google Catalogs New Digital Catalogs". Localfind.biz. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Google Launches Catalogs App For iPad - Breaking News World, Tech News, Business, Development Design, Entertainment, Mobile, Social Media". Breakingnewsworld.net. 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
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