Google Trusted Stores Program: Connecting Shoppers and Great Stores Online

We all know online shopping is great for a lot of reasons, most importantly it is convenient and fast. But why have people been refraining from buying online? The most common reason is that they get nervous about buying online because of the trust factor. Even in the US, where ecommerce became popular quite some time ago, people still get nervous about buying from online stores they don’t know.

In order to help out new businesses to create that comfort level for their potential buyers, Google has come up with a free program called Google Trusted Stores program. When shoppers see the Google Trusted Store badge, they know in a snap they’re shopping with a reputable retailer and they can feel confident making an informed purchase.

Tom Fallows, Group Product Manager, Google Shopping, said in an official blog post, “We’ve been testing the program since last fall with about 50 online merchants and more than 10 million orders. It’s working even better than we hoped, generating positive feedback from shoppers and increasing sales for merchants. Starting today, Google Trusted Stores is open to all U.S. merchants who want to apply.”

This is what Google promises to achieve through this product:

Helping shoppers choose stores they can trust
When shopping online, you may come across the Google Trusted Store badge. Hover over it and you’ll see a “report card” which shows “grades” for that merchant’s shipping and service, including more precise metrics about what the grades mean.

This badge is only awarded to online stores that deliver a great overall experience, so even if you haven’t shopped with this merchant before, you can easily tell if they are trustworthy, ship quickly and reliably, and offer exceptional customer service. When you buy from a Google Trusted Store, you can opt in to get up to $1,000 lifetime purchase protection per shopper. And our dedicated customer service team is there to work with you and the merchant to assist in resolving the issue.

Helping merchants demonstrate their excellence and earn new business
Google Trusted Stores helps online stores attract new customers, increase sales and differentiate themselves by showing off their excellent service via the badge on their websites. Soon the badge will also appear on Google.com ads and in Google Shopping results.

Google Trusted Stores is entirely free, both for shoppers and for online stores.  If you’re a merchant based in the US and would like to participate in the Google Trusted Stores program, you can apply.

As far as India is concerned, do you think a similar model would help instill confidence in our customers buying online? Leave your comments below.