Google’s AI Shopping Promotion Is Better for Business Than for You
Today, Google announced three new AI features for shopping, all aimed at keeping you engaged throughout the entire buying process. While these features can make shopping more convenient, reducing complexity might not be the best idea when it comes to spending money. Besides reassuring you of convenience, these features have one other thing in common: they help companies increase click-through rates.
It all starts with AI mode and Gemini , which can now access all the information that the Shopping tab in Google Search has. This means you’ll start seeing product cards next to AI answers, which you can click to get shopping links or check off selected products to compare them. They don’t appear in every question, but about half the times I tried the suggestions, I was immediately offered the option to spend money.
If you’re still unsure what you want to buy, you can now ask Google’s AI to call local stores to check availability and prices, as well as any special offers and service packages you might not know about. There are a few caveats: businesses may decline service, and Google will avoid calling them at odd hours or too frequently, but the idea is that if you’re still undecided, AI can help you narrow down your options.
Finally, when it’s time to make a purchase, you can let Google’s AI do the shopping for you . This feature is an extension of the existing price tracking feature and will add a “Buy for me” button to any price tracking notifications you receive from certain participating retailers, such as Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and some Shopify merchants. You’ll receive a link to the product you’re about to buy from your notification, and the price will be taken from it, so the company says you won’t have to worry about the AI getting the price wrong. Instead, it should simply remove any confusion you might have when entering shipping or payment information into the checkout form.
I won’t deny that I’m usually one for help when I’m holiday shopping. But when I heard about these new features, I kept asking myself, “Why?”
Personally, the very idea of sending employees from local businesses to automated calls terrifies me. And if I’m searching for products, while it would be helpful to use AI to ask specific questions, I’d still prefer full access to all the filters and hundreds of links available in Google Shopping.
However, for me, the most important thing is the agent-based checkout process. While I’m willing to trust Google not to make mistakes (and you get an ID that can be shared with customer support in case it does), I also don’t understand why I should immediately, after being notified of a price drop, have AI spend money for me. Filling out the checkout form doesn’t take long, and while Google Shopping is a useful price tracking tool, it’s not the only one. I’d probably prefer to compare prices a bit before making a decision, and then perhaps fill out the checkout form myself.
But when you look at these features from a business perspective, the point suddenly becomes much clearer. Converting web surfers into actual buyers has been a challenge since roughly the dawn of the internet , and all these features open up new opportunities for impulse buying at every stage of the process, while simultaneously depriving users of the opportunity to focus on a wider range of options.
It’s not a conspiracy. Google charges companies for sponsored slots and advertising, and the more people buy products through Google services, the more companies will be willing to pay for them. Incidentally, Lifehacker makes money from affiliate links. I won’t deny that companies need money, and people need gifts.
However, it does help reduce the friction that can arise between the idle thought of a purchase and actually opening your wallet. While it may seem like a research partner, it takes away your control, obscures sources and other options, and instead encourages you to spend money as quickly as possible, while simultaneously suppressing skepticism.
As someone who writes reviews and best-of lists, I’m inclined to think my readers are a bit more savvy. Convenience is certainly nice, but spending a few minutes researching the actual opinion of someone who’s used the product, or double-checking that the price Google suggests is truly the best option, can save you hours down the road.
Like most AI tools, there’s potential here. But no matter how much AI tries to convince you it’s just some neutral “guy,” remember that the companies creating these chatbots have commercial motives behind everything they do. Keeping the entire product search process within the same ecosystem as a company whose primary revenue still comes from advertising and e-commerce is probably not the best way to gain insights.