New features announced in the Bing Shopping roadmap have just gone live to help shoppers find what they’re looking for at the best prices and to help retailers showcase their inventories in new places.

What’s new? “Deal-conscious shoppers will now see ‘sales’ and ‘price drops’ marked on applicable items, alongside deal rankings that are ‘good’, ‘great’, or ‘epic’. Additionally, shoppers can choose to compare prices across stores or find a product’s price history over time, in just one click,” said Microsoft Bing’s Blog. We first announced this in our coverage last week, as Microsoft works to become more of a recommendation engine for shoppers online: “Using privacy-focused shopper data, the shopping experience will eventually become ‘query-less’ says Chatterjee. Being able to make ‘for you’ recommendations will ‘add another dimension for users.’ Bing will be able to customize shopping suggestions based on these shopper types and the overall retail landscape trends it’s seeing.”

Checkout directly in Edge browser. Along with these deal indicators for price-conscious shoppers, Microsoft Bing is making checkout as easy as possible to smooth any barriers to conversion for shoppers: “When a shopper is ready to buy, they can easily see if their item is available for ‘curbside pickup,’ or can try our new ‘Buy Now’ feature for Amazon products that directly adds the item to Amazon’s cart. We’ve also begun rolling out express checkout on Edge to make purchase just a few clicks on any seller website!”

Why we care. These new features enhance the experience for shoppers who want to be able to compare prices, get the best deals, and know what’s trending — all in a single interface. For retailers, it’s easy to participate in with feed-based Merchant Center integrations, like Shopify. While there is some disadvantage to not being able to make the case why your product may cost more (commoditization of products), having them all in a single view for shoppers can reduce barriers to conversion and easy checkout could improve those conversions. It’s worth trying and monitoring.

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Bing Shopping now includes new customer-focused tabs to help shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for all in one place. The new tabs categorize commerce options under headers like Departments, Deals, Trending products, Price drops, Stores, and more. “These enhanced options provide useful hover menus and informative page guides which highlight choices, deals, and trends,” said the announcement.

With shopping season already upon us, the options for retailers are opening up. Both Google and Microsoft (as well as Facebook and other social channels) are investing in ways to help both small retailers and big-box stores be where they need for customers to find them. Search Engine Land sat down with Sumit Chatterjee, Lead Product Manager at Microsoft Shopping, to chat about the future of Shopping at Bing and how the product roadmap will continue to help both users and retailers find each other.

How Shopping has worked in the past. Chatterjee emphasized that Bing Shopping was previously very search-driven and often only included products from advertisers who paid to show up in the carousels and listings. In August of last year, the company opened up an organic shopping listing option to retailers who participated via the Merchant Center. The feed-based system was limited at first but has grown since. Before this option was available, though, only advertisers who paid to have their product show in listings were able to get traffic from this section of Bing Shopping.

Bing Shopping moving up-market. Along with the upgraded Shopping tabs, Chatterjee says that Microsoft is moving Shopping up the funnel. The company announced in September that Shopping options will soon be available in Edge. The updates will include “easy access to online expert reviews and customer ratings for over 5 million products right from the address bar when shopping in Microsoft Edge” said Liat Ben-Zur, Corporate Vice President. Along with Shopping directly from your browser, Chatterjee also hinted at new shopping options tapping directly into the Windows user base. 

Becoming a shopping recommendation engine. The new direction for Bing Shopping is to become a recommendation engine over just a search engine. Chatterjee explains that Microsoft is noticing three main types of shoppers who use Bing: trend seekers, passive shoppers, and deal seekers. Using privacy-focused shopper data, the shopping experience will eventually become “query-less” says Chatterjee. Being able to make “for you” recommendations will “add another dimension for users.” Bing will be able to customize shopping suggestions based on these shopper types and the overall retail landscape trends it’s seeing.

Bing shopper types. Trend seekers are looking for shopping recommendations based on what others are buying at the time. It could be fashion, trending holiday toys, or any other popular item or item type. For these types of shoppers, Microsoft will have recommended deals based on what the platform is seeing everyone else buying and the best pricing options for buyers. The “highly rated” indicator will also show that many other shoppers have reviewed a trending product for its quality. Passive shoppers would also benefit from the recommended or “for you” deals section. They may just be browsing to see what’s out there or out of boredom, so the personalized suggestions and indication of sales could be what tips them over the edge to buy. The deal seekers will be able to look into price history, ratings and reviews, too. A new section on the roadmap, Chatterjee explained, is a “Good/Great/Epic” deals section which will encourage these deal-seekers to buy while the prices are the best.

Stores have to opt in to make it work. In order for the model to work for both shoppers and retailers, stores will have to opt-in to providing their “entire corpus of products. Right now, they can do that through the Merchant Center:

• If you’re currently a Microsoft Shopping Campaigns customer, there’s no action required by you to participate. All approved product offers in Microsoft Merchant Center will automatically be opted into [Bing Shopping listings]. 
• If you’re not a Microsoft Shopping Campaigns customer, create a Microsoft Merchant Center store, submit all eligible products, and ensure they’re approved. When the Merchant Center store is created you’re opted-in to the free Product Listings offering, enabling your approved products to be eligible to show in the free products listings section on the Bing Shopping Tab.

Microsoft Bing’s new Shopify integration is another way they’re making this process as easy as possible for retailers. “Currently available in the U.S. and Canada, the Microsoft Channel app within Shopify allows businesses to show up automatically in the Microsoft Bing Shopping tab and the Microsoft Start Shopping tab for free as product listings,” Search Engine Land wrote in October of this year.

Going from a price comparison tool to a shopping destination. The Bing Shopping product roadmap includes new features that will bring convenience to purchase, Chatterjee also told Search Engine Land. Along with becoming a recommendation engine, Bing Shopping strives to become a shopping destination by integrating express checkout and shipping directly into Bing Shopping. Shoppers will be able to check out directly through Edge:

“To use this feature while shopping in Microsoft Edge, select guest checkout within the retailer site and then click Try express checkout in the address bar. If you’ve used this feature before, you’ll see your autofill information there. Review the information for accuracy and then click ‘Try all coupons and autofill details,’” said Ben-Zur.

The auto-fill option replicates services like Amazon’s one-click buy making the buying experience even more seamless for shoppers — and reducing checkout barriers that cause abandoned carts and prevent the final conversion.

Why we care. Chatterjee told us that there are 1 billion impressions per year in the Bing Shopping canvas. That number will likely only grow as Microsoft expands their shopping product offerings through to Edge and Windows. As a free listing service that opts in search marketers and retailers with easy-to-use integrations and feed-based systems, it seems like a no-brainer that commerce marketers and even SMBs could benefit from participating in their Shopping roadmap. Many shoppers already use the Bing Shopping tabs to price-compare, which can lead to products seeming like commodities. Many retailers would prefer their shoppers land on-site to discover the value of their products and drive value-based conversions. However, the buy now and checkout options could mean lower friction in the final buy. Either way, it’s worth participating in as the Shopping product continues to grow.

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Brands stand to lose 50% of their sales on backordered items unless they compensate with customer support, Forrester said in its Predictions 2022: Customer Experience report. The report also forecasted trends for pandemic era services as well as labor practices that may affect customer experience. The research company also published its 2022 consumer predictions as well, suggesting that brand values will continue to be a factor for customers.

Customer churn due to supply chain issues. Product availability is one of the most common reasons why U.S. consumers purchase from a retailer other than the one they originally planned on, according to Forrester. These unaddressed product shortages can lead to frustration, which negatively impacts customer loyalty. Brands that can stabilize their supply chains, suggest in-house alternatives to products that are out of stock and proactively message customers about shortages and expected availability are in the best position to curb customer churn, Forrester predicted.

Customers will want some pandemic-era services to be part of the new normal. Since the outset of the pandemic, companies have introduced new ways of doing business, like curbside pickup, senior shopping hours, easier and more flexible flight changes and virtual alternatives to traditionally in-person services or experiences. “Brands that successfully navigate the transition to the new normal will avoid a wholesale reversion and analyze current customer insights and research to evaluate which services to keep, adjust, or toss,“ Forrester said.

One-fifth of retail and consumer goods firms will compromise on customer experience. Typically, customer expectations only grow stronger, but those demands may be straining employees. The last year and a half or so has highlighted the human cost of these conveniences. Nearly 40% of U.S. consumers say concerns about companies’ labor practices influence their purchasing decisions, according to Forrester. The research company predicts that, next year, more businesses will consider their responsibility to their employees as they plan their customer experience and product offerings.

Company values will continue to be a differentiator. Brand values took center stage last summer and that will continue to be the case, but Forrester predicts that the focus will shift to environmental sustainability. By July of this year, three-fifths of Fortune 500 companies had committed to climate action, up from 32% the year prior; and just today, Microsoft announced that it aims to reduce data center water consumption by 95% by 2024.

“Brands that take a stand on more highly charged issues will cater to a small segment of hyperaware consumers with a personal connection to those values,” said Lai et al.

Why we care. Predictions can be hit or miss, and Forrester’s are no different. However, these predictions align with what many businesses have been experiencing and how consumer sentiment has changed since the start of the pandemic. While most of the predictions aren’t directly related to SEO or PPC, they may affect reviews, ad campaigns and customer loyalty, which greatly influences strategy for search marketers.

Supply chain issues have become a major factor for retailers, which may affect inventory decisions as well as ad campaigns ahead of Cyber Week. It’s no surprise that more support and transparency might prevent customers from canceling orders or going to a competitor.

Approximately 60% of U.S. and UK consumers agreed that the pandemic changed the way they shop. Having had over a year to become accustomed to services and features that convenience them while maximizing safety, it may be a shock to find that some businesses are no longer offering those services now that the pandemic is more under control. This unpleasant surprise might be reflected in reviews or churn rates as customers seek out businesses that still cater to those needs.

Whether your brand’s values and ethics are a selling point for your particular audience should be considered before making those values part of your marketing. Consumers may resonate with this kind of messaging, which might boost loyalty, but they’ll ultimately hold you accountable for your values and living up to that is almost certain to take up resources that could have been allotted elsewhere.

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Google has rolled out an integration with BigCommerce, the company announced Thursday. Similar to Google’s integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square, which were announced earlier this year, this partnership will enable BigCommerce merchants to show their products for free on Google, create ad campaigns and review performance metrics from their BigCommerce store.

Why we care

The new integration provides BigCommerce retailers with an easy way to make their listings more discoverable across Google properties, which can help drive traffic to their products. This may be especially helpful for merchants that can’t or aren’t able to dedicate extra staff or enlist the help of an agency.

For Google, all these integrations may mean more product listings it can show to users, which strengthens it as a shopping destination and helps it compete with other e-commerce platforms. If Google is able to generate value for merchants via these integrations, then merchants may also be inclined to try the platform’s advertising tools, which is also good for Google.

Related articles

• FAQ: All about Google Shopping and Surfaces across Google
• Google unveils its Shopping Graph, an expanded Shopify integration and more shopping features at I/O
• Google expands its shopping integrations to include retailers on WooCommerce, GoDaddy and Square

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