Google Turns Product Images Into Merchant Sales Using Generative AI

Shopping has evolved into an activity that can take place anytime and anywhere. As a result, businesses face a perpetual challenge in distinguishing themselves and establishing connections with prospective customers. And while offering up visually enticing and unique imagery can attract the attention of shoppers, creating such content has been found to require a hefty investment.

In a Google Marketing Live event held on Tuesday (May 23), the tech giant introduced a tool named Product Studio which aims to streamline the creation of unique product imagery for merchants by utilizing the power of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Through Product Studio, creating captivating and distinctive visuals has become more accessible for merchants.

Why Retailers Are Investing in Generative AI

In addition to constantly seeking ways to differentiate themselves and appeal to consumers, brands and retailers are actively searching for methods to increase highly qualified purchases in order to minimize expensive returns.

In March, Karen Webster explored how AI can help brands and retailers bridge the divide between the digital and physical realms, focusing on Tonal and Peloton as notable illustrations.

“Tonal and Peloton may both be the victims of a change in post-pandemic consumer fitness preferences, but their technology makes it possible for a consumer to have an immersive fitness experience wherever they are in the world,” Webster said. “Apps and streaming tech make it possible for consumers to shop live with influencers and to bring shoppers and sales associates together, live, to review merchandise and buy it without being in a store. At the same time, innovations in AI allow brands to deliver personalized offers or recommendations in context and in real time to consumers as they are browsing a site so they can make more sales.”

In a similar vein, brands can use AI technologies to craft personalized shopping experiences for consumers. This approach not only enhances customer purchase intent but also reduces the likelihood of returns. AI enables various capabilities such as personalized product recommendations, virtual try-ons, chatbots for customer service and predictive analytics for inventory management.

See also: Retailers Pin Hopes on AI to Increase Sales, Decrease Returns

Why Product Studio

“Our goal in building tools for merchants is to bring Google’s unique expertise to merchants at scale and help them grow their business in a time when shopping is happening anytime, anywhere. We hear from businesses that they find it challenging to stand out and connect with new customers. Eye catching unique content helps grab shoppers’ attention, but creating that content requires a lot of time and resources our teams have been building tools to help merchants meet shoppers where they are and put their best foot forward for years,” Google VP/GM, Merchant Shopping Matt Madrigal said at the event.

According to Google’s data from April 6, product offers that include multiple images exhibit a notable increase in both impressions (+76%) and clicks (+32%) compared to those with only one image.

However, for many businesses, acquiring diverse and high-quality images can pose a challenge due to the considerable costs and time investment involved in the process.

To tackle this challenge, Product Studio aims to empower businesses of all sizes to harness the advantages of generative AI, allowing them to easily generate personalized and distinctive product imagery. Moreover, businesses can utilize Product Studio for free.

How Product Studio Works

Product Studio leverages the benefits of generative AI to empower businesses of any size to create visual content tailored to their dynamic marketing requirements, including seasonal promotions, targeted campaigns or innovative projects.

The technology lets businesses remove distracting backgrounds from product images and replace them with a pristine, plain white backdrop. Additionally, it allows merchants to improve the quality of small or low-resolution images, eliminating the need to re-photograph the product.

In the upcoming months, merchants located in the United States will be granted access to Product Studio via Merchant Center Next, an enhanced platform specifically developed for product listing on Google. These functionalities will also be extended to merchants utilizing the Google and YouTube app on Shopify.

Automating Data Population for Merchants

To further optimize the process and maximize conversion potential, Merchant Center Next is also introducing a streamlined approach to product feed setup which automatically populates a merchant’s product feed by extracting information from their website. Merchants will have the flexibility to edit the populated data or disable the automatic feature, providing them with control over the displayed information.

To track these efforts, merchants can access their performance data through Google’s Performance tab which features insights reports and a centralized location for merchants to access information which reveals information such as their top-selling products, businesses that appear alongside theirs, as well as engagement metrics from shoppers on Search and Maps.

For merchants managing both online and brick-and-mortar stores, Merchant Center Next offers a unified view to simplify the management of product inventory across online and in-store channels. Additionally, it will display insights about the potential benefits of resolving product data errors, making it easier for merchants to prioritize updates.

The rollout of Merchant Center Next has already commenced for new users. Over the next coming months, the upgrade will be extended to smaller businesses, and the global rollout is expected to be finalized by 2024.