Amazon is enhancing search as Google bolsters online shopping.
A new mobile commerce pilot by Amazon is the latest initiative that brings its capabilities and that of Google closer together.
The two tech giants began operations in the 1990s as very different entities – Amazon as a digital bookseller and Google as an online search engine. But over time, Amazon has increasingly developed search features while Google has built out shopping functionality.
I have previously written about how retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Target are attempting to take positions as “tech giants.” In addition to selling products to consumers, they develop proprietary technology that enhances the shopping experience, improves enterprise operations, and in some cases is even offered to other retailers on a third-party provider basis.
[READ MORE: Is Target becoming retail’s newest tech giant?]
Amazon in particular has succeeded, establishing itself in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, frictionless shopping and space travel. But it also has been building momentum as a search engine and the default entry point for consumer Internet access.
Meanwhile, Google continues turning its informational services into e-commerce touchpoints and providing consumers more ways to conduct purchase-related searches.
Both companies may ultimately be pursuing the same goal Elon Musk has publicly set for X (formerly known as Twitter) – gradual transformation into an “everything app.”
Media outlets have speculated this means Musk wants to turn X into a “super app” such as the Chinese WeChat app, which provides functionality including mobile payment, messaging and social media from a single platform, which represents a plausible path for both Amazon and Google.
Let’s take a quick look at how Amazon has taken steps toward being more like Google, and vice versa.
Amazon
As mentioned above, Amazon is piloting a search feature with select users of its U.S. shopping app where it displays select products in its search results even if it doesn’t sell them in its store and links to the brand’s website so customers can purchase items there.
This enhances the value of Amazon as a search engine even for consumers not actively planning to make a purchase on the site. Currently, Amazon is not receiving any affiliate fee for off-site sales resulting from searches, suggesting this less of a new revenue generator and more of a means to increase traffic and dwell time.
In addition, Amazon released Rufus, a generative AI-based expert shopping assistant trained on both its proprietary data and information from across the web, in July 2024 following several months of beta testing.
This came about a year after Google began integrating generative AI capabilities in Google Search to help consumers find products. Google built its new generative AI shopping experience on its Shopping Graph, a real-time, AI-based dataset of products, inventory, and retailers with more than 35 billion listings.
Google is not a new entrant to the e-commerce space. The company has allowed consumers to shop search results for products from various brands and retailers since 2002.
However, in 2021, Google began displaying deals right on its Shopping tab, and has let retailers sell on its platform for free since 2020. Both of these features turned the Google shopping experience into more of a traditional Amazon-type e-commerce
In addition, Google has been bolstering visual search-based shopping on its site since it initially began connecting its Lens image recognition tool to shopping activities in 2021.
Amazon has also steadily been enhancing the capabilities it offers customers to search and shop for products based on image, but began those efforts in 2019 with the release of a feature called “StyleSnap,” enabling consumers to take a photograph or screenshot of an apparel item or entire look so Amazon can automatically recommend matching items. This evolved into an offering called “Shop the Look.”