According to various press reports, the buy button will allow consumers to search and compare products, as well as choose colors and sizes at retailers like Macy’s, which is one of the big companies in talks with Google about using the feature. Previously Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores also had conversations with Google about the button.
It’s worth noting, however, that the buy button is coming only to mobile, not desktop search results, at least for now, according to The Wall Street Journal: That makes sense because the majority of Google’s search traffic now comes from mobile devices in major markets, per Google executive Jerry Dischler, who said the volume of searches coming from smartphones has surpassed desktop in 10 countries, including the U.S. and Japan.
Google recently completed a major overhaul of its search algorithm to favor mobile-friendly sites on mobile devices.
Separately, in January Merkle-RKG reported that nearly half of search traffic to retail sites comes from mobile devices. In the fourth quarter of last year, smartphones and tablets contributed 42% of all organic search activity that ended in a visit to a retail site. On the paid front, Google saw more than 40% of total paid search clicks to retail sites coming from smartphones and tablets in the fourth quarter.