Premiere Day is coming. A former Amazon executive wants you to check Google first

Price comparison?

An actual product marketplace or online store that would compete with the likes of Amazon, Walmart or eBay?

A combination of the two?

At least for now, a decision has been made. And one of its executives, former Amazon leader Sean Scott, is trying to argue that “it’s fiscally irresponsible to start shopping anywhere other than Google,” as he stated in a recent exclusive interview with Fortune.

(If this “irresponsible” phrase sounds familiar, you may be an e-commerce geek like me: Jeff Bezos once used a similar phrase in his annual letter to shareholders, writing: “We want Prime to be of such good quality that it would be irresponsible without being member.”)

“We have no inventory, we don’t accept payments, we don’t ship anything, we’re truly neutral,” Google’s Scott continued in an interview with Fortune. “Our goal is simply to show customers the best prices on the Internet at any retailer.”

Call Google the Switzerland of shopping. Although in Switzerland, retailers and brands have to buy advertising if they want to appear at the top of search results.

The timing of Scott’s speech is not accidental. In July, Amazon will host its annual two-day shopping event for Prime members, drawing the attention of not only millions of online shoppers but also other sellers large and small who will also be offering deals in an attempt to capture consumers’ attention. Scott knows the power of Prime firsthand; he worked at Amazon for almost 15 years, including as a vice president overseeing the online retailer’s core shopping experience. He joined Google in fall 2023 to lead Google Shopping’s consumer side after three years at PagerDuty.

According to Scott, during the Amazon Prime Day shopping event, Google searches for retail deals outnumber travel or vacation deals.

That’s why Google is implementing and expanding shopping features in its search engine in an attempt to capitalize on the increase in online shopping activity thanks to Prime Day. It created a special offers section to highlight discounted products online and expanded price comparison tools, including a feature that will show shoppers special prices the retailer may offer members of its rewards or loyalty programs.

Google also touts its price tracking features, which allow shoppers to receive notifications when an item’s price drops at an online retailer, as well as track the price of an item for 90 days to find out whether it’s a deal through Amazon or another store. retailer is actually a good deal.

For Google, Amazon is both friend and foe. On the one hand, Amazon remains one of Google’s largest advertisers, paying to place sponsored product listings at the top of Google search results to highlight customers who might have started their product search there rather than on Amazon itself.

But over the past decade, Amazon has become a product search powerhouse in its own right, with more than half of U.S. online shoppers starting their product searches on the everything store, and less than half on Google.

As it happens, Amazon has built a massive advertising business within its own shopping empire, generating nearly $47 billion in revenue in 2023. Google’s core business is, of course, also advertising. A product search that starts on Amazon (or Walmart, Temu, or Shein) is a product search that Google can’t monetize with advertising. Part of the problem if you’re Google, or the advantage if you’re Amazon, is that many Amazon customers who rely on the Prime shipping program don’t compare prices or shop except, perhaps, for expensive items.

Maybe there should be more. To be clear, Amazon is known for its low prices. Last year, for example, e-commerce analytics firm Profitero named Amazon the lowest-priced online retailer for the seventh year in a row. (Please note that a company like Temu would not be included in such a study because it does not sell branded goods in a wide selection of categories.)

However, price comparison research can actually be profitable. I was recently in the market with an exciting purchase: a furnace air filter. For various strange reasons, I wanted to buy a single filter, and not in a collective package, as is usually the case. While browsing through multipacks on the Amazon search results page, I found one filter for sale. It cost about $18.

That’s quite a lot, so I turned to Google. A quick search revealed that my local Ace Hardware store was selling the filter for $6, and the “Pick Up Today” badge further solidified my decision. Maybe Amazon (or Walmart or another retailer) will show you a good price on multiple products or a shipping speed you want that’s more important than saving money, but it’s hard to argue with the idea of ​​clicking and going to Google for a minute or two if you’re looking for the lowest price .

Still, other new digital shopping tools continue to emerge, particularly as a result of the boom in generative artificial intelligence. For example, a startup called Daydream recently announced a $50 million investment from venture capital firms including Forerunner Ventures. Daydream is run by respected industry veteran Julie Bornstein and claims to be building an AI-powered product search engine. Mass retailers like Amazon and Walmart are also testing Gen. AI shopping assistants to further personalize product searches and browsing.

Shoppers continue to draw inspiration from influencers on video platforms such as TikTok (which sells goods through TikTok Shop), Instagram and Google’s sister site YouTube.

However, Google is also investing in artificial intelligence-based shopping tools, ranging from a virtual try-on function for various body types and skin tones, to product recommendation functions.

Ultimately, though, Scott maintains the goal is simple.

“We just want to help customers shop by opening their eyes to new choices and new sellers at great prices,” he said.

Are you a current or former Google or Amazon employee and have a thought or tip to share? Contact Jason Del Rey at [email protected], [email protected] or via the Signal secure messaging app at 917-655-4267. You can also write him a message on LinkedIn or at @delRey ON X.