Google Shopping to make listings free in Europe

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 30, 2020

Google is to start letting Europe and UK-based retailers list their products on Google Shopping for free from the middle of next month. 

This means the majority of search results on its Shopping tab will be free in order to help retailers reach more customers and support the continent’s economic recovery, the Telegraph reported.

Retailers previously had to pay for their items to appear on the Google Shopping tab.

The newspaper quoted Google's European president Matt Brittin saying that it’s clear retail will be "vital for an economic comeback" in many regions. He added: ”We want to do everything we can to help retailers respond to the need to be more online than ever before.”

Google has faced heavy criticism for the way its shopping tools work with a new study claiming it had failed to address issues such as rival shopping comparison sites having low visibility on Google.

The study was commissioned by its rivals and said that their visibility has fallen further since the US search giant was fined over the issue by EU regulators three years ago. However, Google has disputed this claim.

While rivals would have had the option to pay for increased visibility, they said this wasn’t a viable option and Google clearly sees its latest move as a way to address much of that criticism.