• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 11, 2013

Google has rolled out a beta version of a Google Shopping site for electrical and electronics products, clearly indicating that the search giant plans to build engines for market segments through online catalogs and tie them together similar to the way Amazon and eBay did for books, toys, automobiles and more.

Amazon also offers a site called Amazon Supply that catalogs more than 600,000 parts.

Today, Google's site only includes electrical and electronic products, but there's clearly room to expand into categories such as capacitors, circuit boards, LCD glass, and reference designs. Type in "semiconductor" and results retrieve about 114,349 parts from Google verified suppliers, which passed the verified authentication process that they paid Google to perform.

The verification process requires a credit check and business registration, although the engine clearly states on the site it does not guarantee any of the products. The site lists information such as minimum order, part number, type, whether or not it's customizable, power restrictions, and more.

Click on the supplier's name and a landing page provides the company's address, description and complete catalog of its parts. Down the right rail Google lists product categories. Some suppliers have a page allowing the ability to request more information, and it wouldn't surprise me if Google adds a request for quote (RFQ) page or ecommerce capabilities.

It's clear that Google could also offer ecommerce services, where the engine would bypass electronic component distributors and allow companies to sell direct to clients. It would mean that electronic components distributors like Avent, Arrow Electronics, and DigiKey would need to increase service offerings to keep their companies in demand.

Perhaps cataloging the world's information now means all the world's products. Imagine product listing ads (PLAs) for every product in the business-to-business (B2B) sectors, such as the millions of screws, bolts and nuts required for woodworking, plumbing tools, and automotive supplies.