This week's paid media news round-up brings you updates on Google's online shopping features, including in-store product comparisons and expanded by now, pay later options. Another fresh player in the search market is Perplexity, with its launching of thorough product descriptions and free shipping for pro-members.
On a separate update, Meta's main metric for content performance will be "views".
We cover these changes in more depth and their implications for advertisers.
Google Reshapes Online and In-store Shopping with AI-powered Comparisons
Google has expanded its online shopping features, these include:
- In-store product comparisons
- Access to local product inventory searches
- Expanded buy now, pay later options
- Expanded virtual card protections
The implementation of these features could have a stronger persuasive influence over buyers on their customer journey, with the buy now, pay later options and expanded virtual card protection. Moreover, this could drive competition due to the price transparency and access to in-store inventory images.
According to Google Internal data, 72% of shoppers use their smartphones in-store; these changes facilitate and guide consumers' in-store shopping experience.
“Views” become the Main Metric Across Meta Platforms
Views are now the main metric to measure content performance on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This applies to videos, photos, text posts, and more.
On reels, a view is counted each time a video is played. On Threads and Facebook, a view is logged each time a post is displayed on the user’s screen, even if the same user is watching it repeatedly.
Similar to instagram stories and reels, creators can find view counts on thread posts.
This will make it easier for creators to understand and track performance across different platforms.
it is clear from this change that Meta is prioritizing raw visibility over specific actions such as engagement or conversions. While this is good to monitor and grow brand awareness, it might complicate the process of tracking specific actions or goals besides brand awareness.
Perplexity Introduces New Shopping Features
Perplexity joins the e-commerce world as it introduces tools for online shoppers in the U.S. These include:
- Visuals showcasing products, with seller info, advantages and disadvantages, and pricing.
- Users can check out with one-click, bringing forth stored shipping and payment details.
- Displays insightful and true results, not showing sponsored posts.
- Pro-subscribers can enjoy free shipping.
With AI-powered platforms growing in popularity as a search engine, Perplexity’s new features will give them an edge in a new market. Hence, content marketers should think about how to optimize their content and product descriptions.
While it has not yet introduced ads, there is a chance this might become a feature, and advertisers should stay updated with any changes.
Moreover, it is worthwhile to monitor any changes from Perplexity’s merchant program; as its unique affordances may impact traditional e-commerce methods and hence indicate a need for advertisers to adjust their campaigns to have a chance against the competition.
For more in-depth details of these updates, read the articles mentioned below:
Meta aligns platforms with 'Views' as primary content metric
Google tightens Customer Match rules, warns advertisers about privacy