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Google to create retailer search engine

March 22, 2006 |

Google is planning a big push into the European retail industry with plans to launch a service aimed at giving bricks-and-mortar retailers a base from which to market and sell goods online.

Google is planning a big push into the European retail industry with plans to launch a service aimed at giving bricks-and-mortar retailers a base from which to market and sell goods online.

The US-based search engine is planning to develop Google Base, a product still in test, into an online retailing platform. The service is designed to give retailers direct access to Google’s billions of users.

Nikesh Arora, head of Google’s European arm, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Google wants companies in retail – and possibly other sectors, including real estate – to hand over private internal databases of goods and prices.

Google would index and package the information into a consumer-friendly search engine, giving its users a virtual supermarket across different brands.

“Google Base is going to have a huge impact on retailers,” said Mr Arora, adding that the move reflected internal research by the world’s biggest internet company which found that many leading retailers did not feel they were competitive enough online.

Get the full story at The New York Times

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