Google Wants to Launch Trusted Stores in UK

Google is looking to bring its Trusted Stores program to the UK later this year.

The Trusted Stores program allows retailers to display a badge on their site once they meet criteria from Google on areas such as delivery times and customer service, in order to give web users confidence they are a reputable merchant.

To date this has only been available in the U.S., but with thousands of sellers now signed up to the program, the firm's UK industry retailer leader, John Gillan, is pushing to bring the service to the UK.

"We launched in the U.S. last year and thousands of retailers have joined in. I'm championing to get it launched in the UK on a test basis with a few retailers later this year," he said. "It's good for SMEs in particular to help build up brand loyalty. One firm Beaucoup, which sells flowers online, saw an eight percent improvement in online engagement once it had the Trusted Stores badge on its site."

Beaucoup's chief executive officer, Tom Cole, said on a testimonials page of the Trusted Stores service that the benefits from having the badge are numerous.

"It's a win-win situation: consumers get the assurance of seeing our performance grades based on the actual experience of customers, while Beaucoup enjoys the higher sales that come with that buyer confidence."

Gillan, speaking at the ChannelAdvisor Catalyst conference in London, added that it was not guaranteed to launch, but appeared confident that it would.

"I would love to launch Trusted Stores today but it's a lengthy process," he added.

Clearly, though, it would seem to be a logical move for the firm to expand the service given the feedback he said that U.S. businesses have shown for the program.

Another service that may come to the UK is discount offers within search results. This allows firms to send Google data from their feeds relating to any deals within their stock, so it can be displayed directly within Google results in order to try and pique user interest.

This article was originally published on V3.

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