Google: The European Commission's decision on online shopping: the other side of the story.
Google has just sent us its official response to the European Commission's decision that forces them to pay 2.7 bn. We quote it as is:
When you shop online, you want to find the products you are looking for quickly and easily. And merchants want to promote those same products. For this reason, Google Search displays shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large or small, in ways that are useful for everyone.
We believe that the European Commission on online shopping underestimates the value of these kinds of quick and easy links. While some comparison shopping websites obviously want Google to display them more prominently, our data shows that users typically prefer to use links that take them directly to the products they want, rather than to websites where they have to repeat their searches.
We believe that the existing shopping results we provide are useful and represent a greatly improved version of the older ads we displayed a decade ago which contained only text. Displaying ads that contain images, ratings and prices benefits us, our advertisers and, above ’ all, our users. And we display them only when your comments indicate that they are relevant. Thousands of European merchants use these ads to compete with larger companies such as Amazon and eBay.
When the European Commission asks us why some price‑comparison sites haven’t succeeded as well as others, we believe it should take into account the sheer number of sites that have been developed during this period—including major e‑commerce sites like Amazon and eBay. With the comparison tools it offers, the reviews, the millions of merchants and the huge variety of products, from shoes to everyday groceries, Amazon is a major competitor and has become the primary “destination” users turn to when searching for products. And as Amazon has grown, it is natural that some comparison services have proven less popular than others. We compete with Amazon and other sites for searches related to online shopping by displaying more useful product information.
When you use Google Search to search for products, we strive to provide you with what you're looking for. Our ability to do this so well is not a favor to us or any other website or seller - it's the result of hard work and continuous innovation, based on user feedback.
Given the evidence and respecting the positions of the European Commission, we disagree with the results announced today. We will examine the Commission's decision in detail as we consider filing an appeal and look forward to continuing to clarify our positions».
