Google Merchandise Store: Competitive Analysis with Amazon and Alibaba

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Google Merchandise Store, focusing on its competitive positioning within the online retail market. The report compares Google's merchandise store to industry giants Amazon and Alibaba, evaluating their respective strengths and weaknesses in areas such as user experience (UX), marketing strategies, and social media presence. It highlights key aspects like UX thoroughness, social media marketing efforts, and customer engagement strategies employed by Amazon and Alibaba, contrasting them with the Google Merchandise Store's approach. The report also delves into the Google Merchandise Store's analytics, examining website traffic patterns, new versus returning customer behavior, bounce rates, and the impact of these factors on sales and revenue. Furthermore, it discusses the use of AI and personalized shopping experiences, drawing parallels to Instagram's successful model. Overall, the report aims to provide insights into the competitive landscape of the Google Merchandise Store and offer recommendations for improvement based on a comparative analysis of industry best practices.

GOOGLE MERCHANDISE STORE
Introduction
Google Merchandise Store is an online store developed by google that sells merchandise
based on Google's products. The Google Merchandise Store manages an assortment of
things going from clothes to packs to a different type of personal usage water bottles and
much more than this (Google Merchandise Store, 2021). Google is working for years as an
open market worldwide organization known for its popular search engine. It has been seen
that Google have been introducing different services and products that have become an
essential part of our lives. Google has been into online shopping, but it was not that specific;
therefore, Google has now launched its own Google Merchandise Store. The organization's
different ventures incorporate distributed computing, web investigation, promoting
innovations just as improving working framework, program, and Web application.
Furthermore, today, the organization has likewise put resources into online product stores
that offer different sorts of retail items like Amazon and Alibaba.
Google Merchandise Store vs. Competitors
Google has started the store and tried to be competitive with other rivals, but it has been
seen that competitors' market is pretty vast, and google merchandise store is not doing well
in front of them. For this purpose, the comparison will be done of Google merchandise store
with Amazon and Alibaba that are the biggest rivals of google merchandise store. Amazon
and Alibaba's UX thoroughness makes it engaging. Regardless of what you're utilizing the
stage to search for, you'll presumably discover an abundance of data about it. This is critical
because a ton goes into internet shopping. However, how much it is liked to be the
situation, buyers don't just go to Google, do a quick search, and pick one of the choices

introduced to them (Reyna and Martin, 2017). Along the way from motivation to buy, they
like to respond to many inquiries:
 Brands: Who's offering what I'm searching for?
 Costs: How much would it be a good idea for me to hope to pay?
 Areas: Is this accessible in any stores close to me?
 Highlights: Which alternative best meets my novel requirements?
 Surveys: What are others saying about every choice?
Although a portion of these inquiries is a higher priority than others, excessively high of a
cost can be restrictive; for instance, every one of them assumes a part in affecting buy
choices. The fewer work customers need to do to discover this data due to better user
experience, the less disappointing their internet shopping encounters. Amazon and Alibaba
have demonstrated this through their accessibility and UX, and Google has observed, and
their vision for the new Google Shopping experience demonstrates it.
Carrying out this year, the new Shopping experience empowers clients to peruse many
items and track down all the data they need to settle on informed buy choices. When
somebody looks for an item (e.g., pair of running shoes), they'll have the option to channel
the outcomes as per their requirements and inclinations. Regardless of whether they're
searching for a particular brand, shading, size, highlight, cost, or some other property you
can consider, Google Merchandise Store will convey them the most functional outcomes.
When the customer has tracked down the ideal pair of running shoes, they'll have their pick
of purchasing choices: from the vendor's site, from a close-by physical store, or, in specific
cases, straightforwardly from Google inside the Shopping interface that can be seen in
Figure 1. The last choice implies pushing to fuse the most astounding aspects of Google

Merchandise Store; Google's not precisely flourishing shopping basket and conveyance
arrangement into the new Shopping experience. On the off chance that a customer chooses
to buy straightforwardly from Google, they'll appreciate the solace of ensured returns and
client assistance (M., 2020).
Figure 1
The rethought Google Merchandise Store is an undeniable online business commercial
center, an immediate contender to Amazon and Alibaba. The key benefit is that it
empowers dealers with physical areas to drive people walking through to nearby stores. In
this way, while Amazon is a phenomenal method to sell items on the web, Google
Merchandise Store is a terrific method to sell both on the web and in stores.
It's customized with suggestions dependent on his past searches and buys. From here, you
can peruse a wide range of essential things and begin considering what you need to
purchase straight away. This is a substantial component, as I would see it, not just because it
acquires straightforwardly from the Amazon page, yet besides since it takes advantage of
the rationale at the core of another quickly arising online business stage: Instagram.

Instagram's fruitful change from a great online media organization to a true-blue internet
business stage is expected, in huge part, to the customized idea of the perusing experience.
Since clients have complete command over which brands, they follow on Instagram, they're
ready to clergyman their advanced shopping encounters.
Figure 2
By utilizing AI to customize clients' Shopping landing pages, Google is adequately duplicating
the Instagram experience which can be seen in Figure 2. It can be seen how Google uses the
suggestion feature of Instagram that helps to find what the visitor wants and what kind of
products he or she likes. Indeed, they're improving the Instagram experience. Google can
use the information it gathers not exclusively to show clients the brands and items they
need to see, yet additionally to foresee the brands and items clients might need to see. It is
been now done discussing a channel intended to catch a business plan; therefore talking
about a pipeline designed to rouse business purpose.
Social Media Presence

Looking at the social media platforms, the google merchandise store doesn’t have some
significant presence that shows a negative impression because people love to see their
favorite brands in the daily news feed. In comparison, Amazon and Alibaba offer some great
efforts in the social media marketing strategies they have developed over the years. The
famous online store Amazon has a significant following on different social media platforms
where only Facebook has followers that are more than 29 million. It is an astounding
number of followers of any online store, and this is all because of Amazon's great marketing
strategies and intense efforts. The response time of Amazon is inspiring as it responds to
every person who messages on the Facebook page or shares the query in the comments
section which can be seen in Figure 3. The response to such a message by Amazon is made
within such a short time that people feel satisfied with the customer support service.
Besides this, the replying team of Amazon also uses the first name of the person who has
shared his or her query. This develops an instant bonding and trustworthiness, due to which
the people feel that the company understands them.

Figure 3
Whenever a visitor visits the social media platform of Amazon and Alibaba, the online
stores' customer support responds to the visitor immediately. If a person shares some bad
experience that they have faced, then the issue is handled effectively by the customer
support team of Amazon and Alibaba. Besides the simple replies to the queries, Amazon and
Alibaba also start other discussions with the clients that build a better image of the brand in
the customer's mind. Amazon and Alibaba have also posted various surveys on their social
media platforms that have always helped them know what is on the customer's mind, and
this also created better bonding with the customers because they think that these online
stores care for them.
These online store giants ideally use social media platforms to keep people engaged
regularly. Whenever a vital day arrives, social media is filled with recommendations and
products relevant to that critical event. Taking an example of Father's Day, they post various
suggestions regarding the items that can be used as Father's Day gifts. This strategy pulls the
people into the store and somehow forces them to buy the gifts online from Amazon and
Alibaba (NA, 2017).
The campaign that Amazon ran over Twitter to target its customers on this social media
platform was to provide them with different types of videos and music that were a part of
Amazon music, which was different from usual Amazon store campaigns. The campaign
helped Amazon give its customers a different taste than what they were already having

from Amazon. This also helped Amazon get another customer base on its social media.
Amazon also posts other types of content on its Twitter account and uses this platform as a
blogging platform which helps and guides people regarding the online store of Amazon.
Twitter is also used to share the daily updates and news by Amazon, and this is one effective
way of using a social media platform as a marketing channel. Amazon also uses Twitter to
reach the locals as it helps to make different types of posts for the people present in other
regions of the world.
Besides Facebook and Twitter, Amazon is also taking great benefit from another platform
used for images known as Pinterest which can be seen in Figure 4. When people visit
Pinterest and try to find some great ideas, then they see some attractive products that
Amazon displays; at this point, when the customers try to get to that item, they are directed
to the online store of Amazon. This type of use of social platforms helps to get traffic that is
perfectly related to your products, and this type of marketing is known as pull marketing.
After getting directed to the online store of Amazon, people can buy the products they want
to buy, which helps expand the users and customers of the Amazon store (S, 2019).

Figure 4
As shown in Figure 5, except for using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, and Pinterest, Amazon launched its platform that is somehow similar to Instagram
and Pinterest's idea. This application is known as Amazon Spark that helps to get buyers a
variety of options to choose from with ease equal to a social media platform.

Figure 5
Google Merchandise Store’s Analytics
Taking a gander at the Audience Overview, there is a specific example in the number of
clients visiting the site. By and large, the vast majority of the action falls during Monday
through Friday of every week, with an underlying top toward the beginning of the work-
week. As shown in Figure 6 that the week's ends are in every case, not precisely the non-
weekend days.

Figure 6
When taking a gander at new versus returning clients, new clients make up more than
89.93% which can be seen in Figure 7. Nonetheless, even with most clients being new, they
make up about 33.95% of the complete exchanges and just 30.64% of the all-out income.
The returning clients, albeit less, represent the vast majority of the deals and income.
Besides this, the visitor's value that is considered bounce rate of the site visitors is found
lower in the clients who already visited the site than those who stayed for the first time as
old clients have the session duration of 00:05:06. On the other hand, new customers have
the session time of 00:02:21.

Figure 7
The bounce rate is characterized as a solitary page meeting in which the lone activity taken
by the client is an exit. In Figure 8, at 37.00% contrasted with 51.93%, returning clients have
a lower bounce rate than new clients. This implies that returning clients will stay past the
underlying arrival point than new clients. When seeing bounce rates, there are numerous
interesting points, for example, the traffic type and greeting page. If a significant number of
clients who quickly leave are coming from paid pursuits or promotions, the client might not
have as much interest as somebody who is now drawn in and searching for an item. This
could prompt a faster loss of interest when arriving on a page.

Figure 8
The two most significant and famous pages are the home page and the basket page. The
home page comprised principally new clients at 328,711 site visits contrasted with 58,318
for bringing users back which can be seen in Figure 9. Then again, the basket page, where
individuals complete their exchanges, had a higher level of returning clients than new
clients. Moreover, the basket page's bob rate was around eight-speed focuses below the
standard, generally speaking, ricochet rate for the site. This could be because of clients
either not arriving on the basket page or clients proceeding past the basket page.
Figure 9

The two key socioeconomics investigated are age and gender. When taking a gander at the
correlation of new clients to returning clients, there isn't much variety in one or the other
generation or gender. The essential age bunch for new and returning clients is 18-44, which
can be seen in Figure 10. The critical gender for new and returning clients is male. The
contrast among new and returning clients just shifted by roughly two rate focuses forage
gatherings. Also, for gender, the thing that matters was generally 1.2 rate focuses. This is
not a critical enough variety to perceive a substantial or significant change.
Figure 10
The information focuses covered during the investigation divide support each other except
for demographics information. The clients' demographics were breaking down to recognize
any possible relationship to the exchanges made by new and bringing users back. There
were no varieties in demographics that would introduce any critical discoveries because of
old enough or gender in light of the information gathered.

Taking a gander at the New versus Returning User's information, it can be seen that the new
clients are the excellent, more significant part, everything equal to the site. In any case, the
vast majority of the income produced is from bringing users back. The skip rate, pages, and
meeting quality are examined to figure out this measurement. Since the new clients had a
higher bob rate, it tends to be expected that returning clients were more occupied with the
site and showed more revenue in items. Furthermore, the Basket page had a higher level of
online visits from returning clients than new clients. Essentially, meetings with better caliber
had a higher level of returning clients than new clients. Since meeting quality is measured
dependent on the possibility to finish an exchange, it would bode well that this information
focuses showed comparative discoveries.
New user engagement
Because of the New versus Returning Users examination and skip rate, it can be seen that
new clients commonly have a lower commission rate than bringing users back. Returning
clients may, as of now, have an item as a top priority; in any case, more significantly, they
have chosen to return after their first visit. This return visit shows us that the client has
attempted to get back to the site and draw in with it. This can be viewed as the site hits of
the Basket page are principally by bringing users back. Moreover, the most minimal meeting
quality class is basically overwhelmed by new clients.
Purchase Likelihood
Returning clients have a higher probability of making a buy. This can be found in the Pages
investigation under the information for the Basket page of the site. The Basket page has a
below norm skip rate and a page an incentive for returning clients that is more than twofold

of new clients. It can be seen from the information that new clients just represented fewer
exchanges while returning clients represented more exchanges.
Skewed Data
Note that the information for clients might be slanted dependent on on-site use for
different purposes than exchanges. For instance, Google Analytics has a demo account that
can be utilized to figure out how their investigation stage functions. This demo account uses
information from the Google Merchandise Store to give clients genuinely and live
communication to explore different avenues. Along these lines, a portion of the traffic might
be pulled from individuals related to these demo accounts instead of individuals who are
possible clients. For instance, while making a demo account, the client may visit the product
store to acclimate themselves to the site. This may give slanted information that could
prompt ill-advised or confused examination.
Recommendations
As detailed analysis has been performed of the Google merchandise store by doing an
analytical review using Google analytics, the recommendations that will be provided will
help the google merchandise store in getting a better presence in the world as compared to
what it has now. Starting from the awareness of google merchandise store, people are not
much aware of it; therefore, better marketing strategies are required that will improve the
presence of google merchandise store. This can be done by promoting the brand on the
websites of rivals as ad marketing as well as by doing better keyword strategies that will
bring google merchandise store on the top whenever someone wants to do online shopping.
Besides this, the physical appearance of the google merchandise store should be improved
as right now it is not much engaging and looks totally basic.

Since 60% of all exchanges come from returning clients and 75% of all traffic is from new
clients, it is valuable to figure out how to improve the commitment of new clients. One
strategy that could be utilized is first-time request bargains. For instance, as shown in Figure
11, the café food conveyance administration Grubhub offers a twelve-dollar markdown on
your first request. This is an extraordinary motivating force for new clients to draw in with
the site and complete an exchange.
Figure 11
It is advantageous to explore the clients' stream all through the site. By utilizing the Users
Flow device in Google Analytics, you can rapidly recognize basic ways that individuals take
through the site and where individuals end their meetings. For instance, it can be seen that
there is a massive drop-off from the landing page for new clients. This information could be
examined in detail to distinguish expected zones of the site that might be keeping traffic
from proceeding to an exchange.
My recommendation is to embed an outside reference into the Google Store site page.
Store.google.com is a google online business stage for all its tech items. Given the idea of

the page, which effectively targets a solid and steadfast client base with a medium-high
readiness to pay, it is accepted as a vital synergy in the middle of sites that will drive
significant and successful traffic to the merchandise store. By adding to the Google Store
site an immediate reference to the Google Merchandise Store, there would have the option
to build traffic among clients who have effectively shown their eagerness to purchase items,
conceivably expanding the change rate and the incomes produced by the reference channel.
Organizations need to advance that brand in the most ideal manner conceivable. They need
to make a decent logo and trademark and what the brand relies on. Clients need to think
about the brand before they purchase. They need to help a brand that is notable to the
public eye. You need to connect your image with a decent picture. A route for a brand to get
this picture across is by utilizing online media. Via web-based media, brands can cause their
presents to associate with clients and with the brand's morals. In the event that brands
need to have faithful clients, they must be devoted to them by giving them genuine and
transparent posts. Down the line, it would attract new clients as it shows them that you are
an unwavering brand (Vezir OĞUZ, 2018).
Customer commitment and making associations with customers are vital when you need to
re-market a brand. Brands need to have a decent connection with existing clients to attract
new ones. If a client gives a negative survey, you need to deal with it expertly and answer in
an expert estate yet additionally such that the client feels alright to remark in that manner
as they will not get a kickback. The google merchandise store should work for all of the
customer segments and provide products for people of every age, which will result in a
variety of age of users visiting the google merchandise store. It has been seen that the social
media presence of the google merchandise store doesn't exist; therefore, a good team

should be assigned that will be managing the social media accounts of the google
merchandise store.
The google merchandise store additionally needs to expand its deals on the web and offline.
They can raise their online sales by making new promotions, putting them in better places
and at various times. They can likewise utilize their catchphrases to impact clients to
purchase. Suppose you are selling sprinters and someone looks through shoes; your
sprinters will come up as it is one of your sayings. For deals to be done offline, it is
somewhat trickier as you need to bring the client into the shop from outside. This should be
possible by putting advertisements into neighborhood magazines/papers or setting data on
the shop window.
As a suggested activity, the Google Merchandise Store should feature things that the 25–34
age bunches are most interested in purchasing, particularly the male section of this
gathering. It has been verified that things in the innovation, media, and amusement
classifications are most looked for and would bode well being featured. The Google
Merchandise Store should build its resources between the intended interest group and ads,
and other paid and non-paid endeavors. The objective of this exertion is to make our guests
get back to the site in any event once past their underlying visit. It is required build the
number of visits from the 2 – 5 recurrent guests to more than before very long. This can be
satisfied by presenting powerful promotions on more Google stages like YouTube, Waze, the
Google Playstore, and so forth. I propose diminishing the current watchwords to just those
which really drive income and test if some different catchphrases could give a higher change
rate. Additionally, to abstain from deceiving our clients, it is suggested that running A/B

testing on the site to check whether the extra of an explicit YouTube reference on the main
page will bring down the bounce rate.

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