14 DAY TRIAL // Mountain View-based company Google has just announced the launch of a new feature for those mobile phone users which search on the web for various products they would like to buy, namely “blue dots.” According to the company, the new feature will provide info on whether a searched product is available via a series of retailers, as well as on whether it can be purchased from a nearby store.
“Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering, demonstrated last December a preview version of Product Search for mobile with local inventory, which lets you see right in your search results whether items are in stock at nearby stores. We're happy to announce that as of today, if you're searching for a product that is sold by participating retailers, including Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, or West Elm, you can just look for the blue dots in the search results to see if it's available in a local store,” a recent post on Google Mobile Blog notes.
As soon as a blue dot is displayed, users can tap the “In stock nearby” link attached to it, which will bring one to the retailer's website, where users can see whether the product is “In Stock” or has “Limited Availability” near. Moreover, users will also receive info on how far the store is, yet one will have to have My Location enabled for this.
The owners of an iPhone, Palm WebOS phone, or of any Android-powered device that live in the US can enjoy the new feature, Google notes. For that, they should head over to Google.com via their mobile browser, where they will have to tap the “more” link and then select shopping. At the same time, they can also benefit from the feature through accessing the “Shopping results” section in Universal Search results.
Google also announced that it welcomed any retailer willing to participate at the program. "Please fill out this brief form to let us know that you'd like to be considered. In the meantime, you can get prepared by making sure your Local Business Center data is up to date, and ensuring that your Product Search data is in great shape,” the company states.