Shopping Actions (Buy with Google) vs Amazon: advantages and drawbacks

Google Shopping Actions (Buy with Google) is Google’s new marketplace, designed to become a competitor for Amazon in terms of product searches. What distinguishes the two platforms in actual fact? What are their advantages and drawbacks for e-vendors?

Shopping Actions and Amazon are very similar in many respects: both are marketplaces, via which suppliers offer products at freely-defined prices. They encompass every stage of the purchasing journey: product search, viewing information, purchase and customer relations. Working on them implies knowing each one’s strengths and weaknesses.

Amazon’s “pros” and “cons”

What we like…

• The powerful purchasing experience.
• How popular the tool is among buyers.
• Its incredible logistics – namely regarding the possibility vendors have of entrusting their entire order process to the platform, including product storage (thanks to Fulfillment by Amazon).
• Product advertising on Amazon’s partner sites (Amazon Marketing Services).
• Services that draw customers in (Amazon Prime).

What we tend to dislike…

• The huge commissions (15 to 25% in addition to the monthly subscription).
• Very strict technical criteria.
• Customer service management entrusted entirely to vendors.
• No way of sending a customer to your own website.

Google Shopping Actions’ (Buy with Google) pros and cons

What we like…

• How popular Google’s search engine is: it is still the first contact for users searching for a product.
• Boosted visibility thanks to products being displayed throughout Google’s ecosystem.
• Reduced commissions and no subscription required.
• Smooth, quick and secure purchasing experience for customers, in the form of a continuous transactional process limited to Google’s ecosystem.
• Remaining in charge of logistics.
• The goldmine of data collected by Google about their customers and habits, kept well after their purchasing journey.
• The customer’s email address can be recovered, so they can be contacted (again) at a later stage.
• Customer service management done entirely by Google.

What we tend to dislike…

• Users must have their own warehouse in France, and manage their logistics.
• A test version alone is available in France for the time being, with a limited number of categories (electronic goods, toys, home & garden, media, fashion, health & beauty).

Both platforms have advantages and drawbacks. For e-vendors, the best option for now is not to choose between the two…and to use both Google Shopping Actions and Amazon in a complementary manner, with a single feed manager!