Google Makes Internet Shoppable – And Buyable

Depending on the browser used to surf the Web, there’s an almost infinite number of add-ons and extra tools that can be installed to supplement an otherwise powerful machine. For Google’s popular Chrome browser, its latest extension might just be a killer move for eCommerce.

New York-based startup Shoppable announced Tuesday (Nov. 17) that it has released a Chrome extension that allows users to scan any website they visit for a selection of products that would be rendered available for immediate purchase from the appropriate retailers. Shoppable Founder and CEO Heather Marie explained that the extension should help smooth over many of the common obstacles — such as poor site navigation and the often-tedious process of entering payment and shipping information — that lead to abandoned or empty shopping carts.

“As consumers, we’re discovering new products all around us,” Marie said in a statement. “What’s frustrating is that sometimes it’s incredibly difficult to find and purchase these products. We know there’s a retailer carrying them, but not always which retailer and where it’s available.

“As consumers increasingly demand immediate gratification, this new technology meets them at the point of inspiration. No matter where they are online, Shoppable brings the checkout to the consumer instead of leaving shoppers to find the product, enter in their information repeatedly and complete their purchase. With Shoppable, most users checkout from two or more retailers at once which enables them to complete a purchase more than twice as fast.”

Billing itself as the Internet’s first “universal shopping cart,” Shoppable already boasts partnerships with over 200 retailers and a handful of the Top 10 in the U.S. ZDNet explained that Chrome is the most popular browser in the U.S. according to raw user amounts (with 34.7 percent of users), so if Shoppable is to have any chance at proving its claim as a universal solution to Chrome-based commerce, at the very least it made the right choice in platforms.