Holiday season is now just a couple of months away, and Google is preparing for the busy period with a new shoppable image ad format to help brands push products and services to target audiences alongside high-quality content.
Google has been eager to tap into the increased interest among consumers to purchase goods during the holiday season. It said that almost two-thirds are open to buying from a new retailer during this time and 46% did so last year.
The new shoppable tool will enable marketers to serve up clickable ads when a consumer, for example, visits their favourite blog. The ad unit will streamline the process and make it much easier for a reader to complete a purchase. Google is using a select number of publishing partners to push the new ads and will roll out the feature more widely in the coming months. It is then expected to be integrated within Image Search results.
Shoppable ads will also feed into the desire among consumers to see more inspiring, visual-focused content during the sales cycle. Google said: “One-third of holiday shoppers said they searched for images before they went in store to shop. The growth of ‘street style’ and online influencers all show the movement towards looking at lifestyle images for visual inspiration.”
In addition to shoppable images, Google has also released a new video extension for Showcase Shopping ads. It will allow marketers to upload a plethora of product images to an ad and include short clips to make them more immersive and experience-driven.
