Last December, Google released a new “Shopping 100” mini-site, which provided a listing of the 100 most popular product trends heading into Christmas, separated by category, in order to help people find the ideal gifts for family and friends.
This year, Google’s given the mini-site a refresh, and renamed it the Google Shopping Gift Guide, while also updating it with the latest product data, based on search trends, to help people figure out what’s popular and in demand.
As explained by Google:
“We’ve identified trending product categories over the past few months, and translated them into gift lists for the people in your life.”
That’ll make it easier to figure out what to buy as gifts, and for brands, it could also help to point you in the right direction as to what people are searching for – and if you have products that align with those trends, it may be worth running your own promotions over the next few weeks.
But the potential benefits for brands extend beyond that. Google’s Shopping Gift Guide also enables people to connect through to Google’s Shopping options, which could drive a lot of traffic to the listed products.
“With thousands of stores in one place, you can find what you’re looking for, online or nearby. Nearby store listings show store hours and stock alerts, so you don’t waste a trip. And, if you’d rather keep those trips quick, you can see which stores offer in-store or curbside pickup.”
As you can see here, Google also lists prices for each item, helping people get the best deal. And if you stock any of these items, you’ll want to be on that list.
In order to do that, you’ll need to be signed up to Google’s Merchant Center, where you can create a product feed for Google Shopping. But luckily, Google Shopping listings are now available for free, so you can do so at no cost. It just takes time to go through the various steps. But it could be worth it, especially, as noted, if you sell products that are listed on the site.
But even if you don’t, it’s good research to check in with, some valuable insight to inform your own marketing approach.
You can check out the new Google Shopping Gift Guide here.
