Google and Pinterest up the ante to drive festive sales online

Google has launched free listings for retailers on its shopping tab across Europe from the middle of next month in a bid to drive online retail traffic in the run up to Christmas.

Retailers do not need to already advertise with Google to use this service. The global search engine has rolled out free listings for European businesses after launching the service in the US earlier this year.

US companies that used free listings saw their online view double and site visits spike by 50%, with small- and medium-sized businesses driving this increase.

Google has also launched free online business planning tools on its Google for Small Business site to help businesses pivot online as the result of the pandemic.

Google EMEA president Matt Brittin said: “At Google, we’re helping retailers accelerate recovery with training, tools and insights to help them adapt fast. Through September we ran Accelerating Retail, a month of training and collaboration, directly engaging with more than 7,500 retailers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Listening to retailers of all types across so many countries has helped us to adapt and develop the products and services that we’re now launching to support economic recovery around the world.”

Pinterest has separately launched a host of new shopping and advertising features across its UK platform this month in a bid to drive sales during the festive period.

The online inspiration portal has launched features including shopping from search, from a mood board or from individual pins, with shoppers able to filter results by price and brand.

Pinterest has launched shoppable features in the UK that have proved successful in its domestic US market. This move comes after customers who visited Pinterest to shop grew 50% year on year as shoppers looked for inspiration online following coronavirus-induced store closures.