Shopping for products from lesser-known websites can feel like a game of Russian roulette. While online stores like Amazon, BestBuy, and akin are well-known for selling items as advertised (unless you’re purchasing something listed by a third-party seller), many smaller and niche websites lack that same level of trust.
You take the risk and order that one thing e-commerce websites like Amazon don’t seem to have. Now you’re left wondering if your package will ever actually arrive. Google knows that this is a common pain point for online shoppers, and it’s rolling out a new feature to ease some of those worries. Oh, and it’s baking the feature right into Google Chrome!
Without detailing the update too much, Google today began rolling out what it’s calling ‘Store Reviews.’ Exactly as it sounds, the feature aims to provide reviews for online stores, and not necessarily the products you find in there. This essentially automates the due diligence you’d normally have to do yourself by scouring through multiple review sites.
According to the tech giant, the feature uses data from Google Shopping and “other popular review websites” like Trust Pilot and ScamAdvisor to give you helpful insights when shopping on a new e-commerce website.
Let Chrome handle the research for you
It goes without saying that Google is using AI for the new feature, which will scour the web for reviews about the website you’re looking to shop from, and summarize them into a digestible paragraph with key details. Said review will appear in Chrome’s ‘view site information’ section, which can be triggered by clicking the first icon to the left of the website’s address (as seen in the image above).
The section will highlight what customers who’ve previously ordered from the website have to say, alongside a start rating out of 5. The former can cover topics like the store’s customer service, whether the products it’s selling are of good quality, shipping information, pricing and return policies.
The feature is rolling out now and appears to be exclusive to the web version of Chrome. We’ve reached out to Google to inquire about Android availability. We’ll update this article if and when we hear back.
