eBay and Google have announced a new partnership that turns shopping into a conversation, allowing consumers to ask Google Assistant to find them products on the ecommerce marketplace.
By saying ‘Ask eBay’ or ‘Talk to eBay’, shoppers can use the Assistant on their Google Home device or smartphone to search through 60 million eBay listings ranging from tech to fashion.
Tim MacKinnon, managing director of eBay Australia and New Zealand, said the partnership is about making shopping a simple and personalised experience.
“eBay has a long history of being the first to market with new innovations here in Australia, and our latest collaboration with Google is no exception,” he said. “eBay built this technology from the ground up and it’s the perfect example of how artificial intelligence is helping to make a truly personalised shopping experience.”
eBay has transformed from an online auction house to a retail powerhouse since it launched in Australia 18 years ago, and now boasts 80 of the 100 largest Australian retailers as sellers on the platform.
So far in 2017, more than 239 million hours have been spent browsing, searching, comparing and purchasing products on eBay.com.au, a process that is made more interactive with the Google partnership.
eBay is one of the first brands to take advantage of the multi-surface switching capability, which allows you to carry a voice conversation with Google Assistant on a Google Home device over to your phone. This means if a customer tells their Google Home Mini they want to purchase an item on eBay, they can easily switch to a smartphone to make the purchase.
“We are the only marketplace in Australia that has this multi-surface switching capability, supported by the years of structured data we have accumulated around the Australian shopping experience,” said MacKinnon.
“As we look to the future of shopping, powerful voice interfaces like Google Assistant will drive seamless and personal shopping experiences for consumers among all platforms.
“We are looking at the future of retail here, and we are excited to be at the early stages of this new commerce frontier, bringing the eBay shopping and selling experience closer to our customers’ everyday lives.
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