Google Shopping - Inventory and data management experience
Role
Lead Product designer
Background and goals
Google Shopping is a platform where users can compare and buy products from various retailers. To have their products listed on the Google Shopping tab, merchants and companies must first create a profile and upload their products through Google Merchant Center.
Key challenges
The process of uploading products to Google Merchant Center has long been a significant challenge for many small and medium-sized businesses due to its complex and manual nature.
To address this, I reimagined the entire product experience. By integrating automation and simple AI tools, I created a much more streamlined and straightforward process. This change enabled our retailers and merchants to establish an online presence as smoothly and quickly as possible.
Impact
The adoption rate for the new feature on automatically adding products started see an update from 0.5% to 80% after the new designs released
Google received the following feedback: “Finally Google is doing what I been needing for so long“ “This is fantastic, when can we have more features like it“
From uncovering user intent to creating a product delivery plan
I facilitated an alignment session with cross-functional teams to determine the best solution for reducing the amount of manual input required from merchants to get their products live on Google Shopping. During this session, we uncovered the potential to automate the import of merchant products directly from their websites.
After mapping out this new flow and ensuring it would meet user needs, we conducted an early usability session. The feedback confirmed that users not only expected this type of automation but also responded positively to the option of bulk editing and adjusting imported products. This feature ensures the products appear on Google Shopping exactly as merchants intend.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we moved forward with refining the designs and creating a delivery plan.
Designing a flow for all scenarios
To ensure both new and existing merchants can benefit from the newly automated process, I've created a feature discovery card on the homepage. This card allows merchants to easily import additional products from their website.
Stakeholder story boarding sessions to align conflicting user needs
To ensure products can be easily managed within Google Merchant Center after upload, I designed a dynamic user interface. During final usability testing, we discovered that merchants wanted to know the source of their uploaded products. The new UI addresses this need by dynamically displaying the product source, which allows for more intuitive management.
