The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google will test GBuy, its online payment system, this week. Google is going hard after consumers by offering rebates to people who complete online purchases using GBuy.
According to the Journal report, the service will be tightly integrated with Google Adwords, the company's flagship advertising platform. Consumers who search for items like "shoes" or "strollers" on Google's search site will see contextual search ads that display an icon. This symbol denotes that advertisers that accept GBuy payments. The program is basically click-to-conversion. It skips the usual step of visiting another site and takes consumers straight to the checkout process on Google.
This is a natural evolution for Google's Adwords program. Getting people on your site is half the battle. Getting them to buy is another matter so anything that streamlines the process is good for marketers. As eBay pushes more transactions that avoid the lengthy auction process, this new program puts Google squarely against the auction giant. Competition is good for the consumer so I really see little downside and a lot of upside to this new program.
