Think Basis It's Good For Business

By now everyone in the search community is familiar with Google’s motto of doing no evil. But without getting into a huge debate about the merits of capitalism and the economy, I think it could be argued that their product search, as it stands, might be venturing into evil territory.

At the moment, the core focus for the search product is almost exclusively based on price. It’s basically a price comparison tool so people can get the cheapest product around: great for consumers, but perhaps not so useful for the economy and the world at large. Buying cheap may not be the best course of action when it comes to sustainability, the environment or local economies.

I know I know. Lots of criticism, not a whole lot of suggestions. So how would we improve Google Product Search this holiday season? Here are a few ideas:

1. Let the consumer decide what the overriding purchasing decision is instead of price.

Personally, I like a deal but price is rarely the deciding factor when I’m making a purchasing decision. I like to know about quality, ingredients or materials and where the product is coming from. It would be nice if I could have that info right in the search results.

2. Add additional product tags for “Green” credentials.

There is a lot of talk about global warming, sustainability and pollution in general. There are also a lot of regulatory bodies including the USDA that certify organic products. Unfortunately none of these show up in Google Product search. I’d love to see these added as tags so organic and earth friendly credentials are prominently displayed. I think this would be in line with Google’s own stance on the environment so I don’t know why it’s taking so long to have it implemented.

3. Show the country of origin and Fair Trade status.

With all the talk about economic recovery and impoverished nations, it’s really surprising to me that the country of origin is not displayed for any products. In this day and age, wouldn’t you pay a dollar or two more for something made in the USA? It’s a key selling feature in many paper catalogues so let’s give the consumer the right to know where their stuff is coming from. I think a little flag icon would do the trick nicely.

While we’re at it, how about fair trade? It’s nice to know my organic chocolate came from Peru or something but are the farmers and processors being fairly treated? Was my rug made by a 5 year old kid who was forced to work? Were my electronic products made in an energy efficient manner? There are numerous bodies and organizations dedicated to these issues. If these certifications were shown in the search results, customers could opt to vote with their dollars if they deem an issue sufficiently important. At the moment, they can only be self serving by choosing the cheapest option. We can’t improve the world if we can’t make an informed choice.

4. Indicate local products.

Sadly this feature is implemented to some extent but it only works for places to buy. It would be great to see things produced within your city or state. (Bacon from a local farm, honey from within your state rather than pasteurized and blended from Argentina.) What a wonderful way to support local economies by putting the product’s origin right in the main search results and letting the consumer vote.

5. Sort by the features above.

Currently you can sort by price. You can get the cheap product or the expensive product. I’d love to be able to search by local product, or by fair trade only, or by organic only. Give me some options Google. Come on, I know you have the technology. Lead the way.

I don’t like to call Google evil often because I like a lot of their products. But it seems like Product Search is lacking in innovation and like google.com is out of sync with google.org. The great news is that a lot of these features would be pretty easy to implement and retailers would jump right on them. So, if anyone at Google happens to read this, maybe we can get a few of these changes done in time for next Christmas. Please.

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Tags: Comparison Shopping, Google, Product Search, Retail