Store Closed: Google Shopping App Is Out Of Business

Google will be shutting down the Shopping application, due to redundancy with what users can already do with the Shopping tab online, a report from 9to5Google says.

Google reportedly said it was ending support for the Shopping app on Android and iOS, and the clients will work through June.

Google has recently worked on expanding shopping functionality through its Search, Image Search and YouTube, and has also been working on leveraged augmented reality.

“We’ll continue building features within the Shopping tab and other Google surfaces, including the Google app, that make it easy for people to discover and shop for the products they love,” a Google spokesperson said, according to the report.

Version 59 of Google Shopping has already started to roll out with a “something went wrong” message, which prompts users to “continue shopping on shopping.google.com.” However, there’s not much detail on what this message entails for the users not in the know, the report says.

The Android and web interfaces are essentially identical experiences. The “Home” feed also comes with a list of recommendations for other products one might be interested in, and a list of items one has “saved.”

The report from 9to5Google notes that Shopping doesn’t need its own unique app, as many users just end up using Search when looking up products, and the tech giant will be able to save resources by shutting down the app.

With the pandemic fueling it, eCommerce has grown considerably in the past year. PYMNTS data has found a large trend toward the democratization of data, which has produced tools that consumers can use to meet transacting, work and schooling needs. That’s in spite of some disparities and inequalities that exist.

Since the pandemic, PYMNTS finds that digital consumers are more likely than before to be over 40 years old, lower-income and female. Consumers in the U.K. that made the jump to digital had an average age of 53. Sixty-one percent are female.