Google Considering a "Buy" Button Right on Mobile Results
There had been rumors for a while that Google would eventually put a "buy" button right on the search results to allow visitors to make a purchase while skipping the retailer's own online store. Now it appears that this is becoming a reality.
Mashable and The Consumerist are reporting that google is testing this feature now for mobile searches. This is partially a response to low mobile conversion rates, as customers are two times more likely to complete a purchase on a retailer's website on a a desktop, as opposed to a mobile device. With the new addition of the BUY button directly on the mobile device Google hopes to increase overall purchase ratio for mobile shopping.
According the the reports, Google will host the entire transaction, while the products continue to be supplied from the retailers. It's not completely clear from the reports what this means for the merchant processing portion, or how inventory control is managed.
Google also will start "deep linking" into select apps, which means that clicking on that mobile search result could open up the eBay app on your phone, for example.