Google Fuels Online Shopping With Lens, AI, And Shopify

As part of its I/O 2021 keynote today, Google talked about online shopping and the ways it is boosting this experience for both merchants and shoppers. Among other things, the company introduced its Shopping Graph, a dataset 'enhanced' using artificial intelligence to monitor a variety of constantly changing parameters, ensuring shoppers can find products they're looking for in real-time.

According to Google, it has more than a billion instances of people shopping online every day. Shopping Graph, the AI-enhanced dataset, is a key aspect of this; it keeps taps on things like sellers, brands, products, reviews, inventory data, and product details, all of which are constantly changing, the company notes.

The Shopping Graph works by connecting people with more than 24 billion listings across millions of sellers, the company notes, enabling users to find products that are currently available in real-time. Shopping Graph represents only one aspect of Google's eCommerce efforts, however.

During its keynote, Google revealed that it is making it easier for users to find products online using things they've stumbled upon in real life using Google Lens. According to the company, users who view a screenshot in Google Photos will see a new suggestion to search the image with Lens.

The tool will search the image for things you can buy online, such as the hoodie you liked or the wallpaper visible in the background. As well, Google Chrome users will now see their open retailer shopping carts when they open a new tab, plus Google has expanded its Shopify partnership so that its merchants can easily make their goods visible in Google Shopping and other online Google destinations.