Illustration: The Verge
Google’s rolling out a handful of new shopping features that should make it easier to find good deals directly from search. When you search for a product, Google will now surface results with coupon codes that you can copy and paste during checkout.
Any products with a coupon available will have a new “Special Offer” badge in the top-left corner of their thumbnail. Google previously only labeled products when they were on sale or when their price dropped, but this new badge makes it more obvious when coupons are available. The search giant’s launching this feature on desktop and mobile within the “coming weeks.”
Image: Google
You can copy and paste coupon codes directly from Search.
In addition to adding clippable coupons to Google search, Google’s introducing a way to compare deals side by side on mobile starting later this month. Instead of showing you a mishmash of products when you search for an item, it’ll start grouping any products on sale in a “deals” category that you can expand and browse directly in your search results. It’s also bringing price insights, which Google already offers in its Shopping tab, to search. This means you’ll start seeing relevant information about a product’s price history, such as when it was at its lowest and where, when browsing through results.
Google’s been gradually bringing features from its dedicated Shopping section over to its search engine, putting them front and center for those who don’t think to click over to the neighboring tab (aka, me). I personally only use the Shopping tab when I get desperate and can’t find a certain product directly through Google search, mostly because I get overwhelmed by the Shopping tab’s selection when I’m not looking for anything specific (in those cases, I prefer shopping on a dedicated retailer’s website).
Image: Google
Google will soon let you compare deals between products — but only on mobile for now.
In September, the company revealed a slew of new shopping features for Search — not its Shopping tab — such as the ability to append “shop:” to the beginning of your search query to find specific products, as well as a way to find “complementary pieces” that match the piece of clothing you’re looking for. Google also recently expanded on its Chrome-specific shopping tools, bringing the price-tracking feature it offers on mobile to desktop, which notifies you whenever a particular product’s price drops.