Google unveiled its new Shopping Gift Guide last week. It uses US Search trends to predict the most popular products in December’s holiday shopping.
It’s useful information for retailers and marketers working on shopping campaigns, giving an insight into trending products in the most important shopping period of the year.
The site shows the 100 top trending products in 7 different categories:
Image source: Google
The trending products are either generic, such as “indoor soccer shoes” where the link takes you to the Google Shopping results page for the term. Or, specific items such as “Oakley O Frame 2.0 Pro XM”, where the link takes you directly to the Google Shopping product detail page for that item.
Image source: Google
Google recently introduced enhanced features in Shopping, with easier promotions for retailers, and the ability to compare and track prices for customers.
Shoppers can check if a price is high, low, or typical compared to other web retailers or stores, and switch on price tracking to wait and see if the price drops. Additional information on store information, stock alerts, and delivery or curbside pick up options is also easily viewable.
Google has been making big efforts to boost its Shopping platform with features for both retailers and shoppers. It opened up Shopping to free, organic listings in April and promotions are eligible to show on both free listings and Ads in the Shopping tab.
The new Shopping Gift Guide does, of course, direct buyers to Google Shopping. Nevertheless, it's a useful tool for retailers to keep track of shopping trends.