Google’s AI Shopping Push Is Better for Business Than It Is for You
Today, Google announced three new AI shopping features, all focused on your engagement with its AI throughout the purchasing process. On the one hand, these features have the potential to make shopping more convenient. On the other hand, reducing friction may not be the best idea when it comes to spending money. Besides selling you convenience, these features all share something else in common: helping businesses increase their click-through rates.
It starts with AI Mode and Gemini, which can now access all the same information as the Shopping tab of Google Search. This means you’ll start to see product cards next to your AI responses, which you can click on to access numerous shopping links, or check a box to compare selected products. They won’t appear on every question, but for about half of the prompts I tried, I had the option to spend money immediately.
Then, if you’re still not sure whether you want to buy, you can now ask Google’s AI to call local businesses to check product availability and prices, as well as any deals or bundles you might not know about. There are a few caveats: Businesses can opt out and Google will avoid calling them at odd hours or too frequently, but the idea is that if you’re on the fence, you can ask an AI to help you know which stores to go to.
Finally, when it comes time to buy what you’re looking for, you can ask Google’s AI to verify it for you. This feature is an expansion of the existing price tracking functionality and will add a “Buy for Me” button to any price tracking notifications you receive from certain participating stores, like Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, or certain Shopify merchants. You’ll get a link to the product you would buy from your notification, and the price will be pulled from it, so the company says you won’t have to worry about the AI getting the price wrong. Instead, it’s simply meant to remove any hesitation you might feel about having to enter your shipping or payment information into a checkout form.
I won’t deny that when holiday shopping I don’t usually turn down assistance. But a recurring refrain I had when hearing about these new features was “Why?”
Personally, I’m mortified at the thought of sending robocalls to employees of local businesses. And if I’m searching for products, while it might be helpful to be able to involve an AI to be able to ask specific questions, I think I would still prefer full access to all the filters and hundreds of links available in Google Shopping.
Most important to me, however, is the agent payment. While I’m actually willing to trust Google not to make mistakes (and get a reference ID handy in case that happens), I’m also not sure why I’d want to go straight from a price drop notification to an AI spending money for me. It doesn’t take long to fill out a checkout form, and while Google Shopping is a useful price tracking tool, it’s not the only one. I’d probably want to compare a bit more before committing, in which case I might as well fill out the payment form myself.
But if you look at these features from a business perspective, the “why” behind it all suddenly becomes much clearer. Turning people who view web listings into actual paying customers has been a problem for almost as long as the Internet has existed, and all of these features introduce new opportunities for impulse purchases at every stage of the buying process, while also erasing the possibility of users being faced with a greater choice of options.
What do you think of it so far?
It’s not a conspiracy. Google charges businesses for sponsored placements and ads, and the more people who buy products using a Google service, the more businesses will want to pay for them. And for what it’s worth, Lifehacker makes money from affiliate links. I won’t deny that businesses need money and people need to buy gifts.
However, it reduces the friction that can arise between the vain idea of buying something and opening your wallet. While acting as a research companion, it takes control from you, obscuring sources and other options, and encouraging you to spend your money as quickly as possible, while discouraging skepticism.
As someone who writes reviews and best-of lists, I like to think my readers are a little more savvy than that. Convenience is great, but taking the few extra minutes it takes to get a real human opinion from someone who has used the product, or to verify that the price Google is giving you is really your best option, could save you hours of pain down the line.
Like most AI tools, there is potential here. But even if the AI tries to convince you that it’s just a neutral friend, remember that there are commercial motivations behind everything the companies behind these chatbots do. Keeping your entire purchasing research in the same ecosystem as a company whose main profit still comes from advertising and e-commerce is probably not the best way to get your information.
