Google Express to Close Down and Merge with Google Shopping

| Updated
by Tolu Ajiboye · 3 min read
Google Express to Close Down and Merge with Google Shopping
Photo: Google

Google will be shutting down the Google Express shopping platform and merging it with the new Google Shopping. After about 6 years, the platform has failed to properly plant its flag in the online shopping sector.

As part of an email sent to customers recently, Google has now announced that it will be closing down its online shopping platform, Google Express, sometime in the next few weeks. The functions available on the platform will now be on-boarded with a new version dubbed Google Shopping.

Back in May, the company announced a new and redesigned Google Shopping platform which will include a universal shopping cart of sorts, embedded with the company’s other offerings including Images, Search and YouTube. It will also have more specifically tailored service which will allow merchants to market their products to potential customers.

Formerly known as Google Shopping Express, the shopping service was first announced in March 2013 before it was officially launched on the 23rd of September. At the beginning, it most likely began as Google’s way of trying to enter the online shopping market and compete with other major e-commerce platforms. To try to make the platform a success, the company then began to pool offerings from all the major e-commerce platforms such as Best Buy and Walgreens.

By October 2017, the company had partnered with other merchants like Costco, Fry’s Electronics, Target and Walmart and even sought to add voice commands to the shopping experience. Google also unveiled the Google Express mobile apps for Android and iOS platforms as well as allowing customers to shop using the Google Assistant. Regardless, the platform has still not gained much in popularity and has largely been a failure.

Realizing this, Target and Walmart removed themselves from the partnership, further solidifying the company’s inability to succeed at the retail game. Now, the company has tried to play it off as integration of shorts.

“As we strive to enhance your shopping experience, we’ll be integrating Express into the new Google Shopping over the next few weeks. With Google Shopping, you get the features you know from Google Express – plus even more ways to find the best places and prices to buy, from across the web or locally.”

It would seem like Google didn’t do very much to build the platform as much as its former partners were doing, even while they were still in partnership with Google. Companies like Walmart and Target were reportedly already spending millions of dollars to build their platforms and give customers more than just products, but an attractive customer experience with the hopes that they would return.

Google is now trying to create this experience with Google Shopping, giving customers the opportunity to find and compare several products and making a purchase all through existing Google accounts. The fact that it is now taking advantage of all of its platforms with a compatible shopping cart across them all just might give the company a fighting chance.

“Google Shopping will be available on the web and through the mobile app stores later this month. The Express app will either automatically update to Google Shopping, or you’ll be prompted to download the new app. In the coming weeks, the Google Express website will also be automatically redirected to the new Google Shopping.”

Just like the Google Express was, Google Shopping will also be available in the next few weeks. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) stock’s current close is at $1,220 with a previous close of $1205.70, a 1.19% increase. Based on GOOGL’s trajectory for over a year now, key resistance has been set in the $1,200-$1,300 per share range and has not been able to break out since February 2018.

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