Google to add "Shop" button to Search

Google plans to bring the online shopping experience closer to users with a new feature that would allow then to buy items right from the search results page on their mobile device.

With marketers worldwide leveraging the potential hand-held smartphones had to offer, Google is keeping up in the race as it planned to test 'buy buttons' that would be listed alongside the ads it put above its normal search results, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

The sponsored top results would redirect users  to a special purchase page, still hosted by Google, from where one could make the purchase, choose the type of product, set a price, etc.

According to The Verge, Google would also allow users to store their credit card information to offer easier transaction the next time they searched for any item and needed to buy it.

The existence of the programme was initially reported last December, but a few things had changed since then. Google, it seems would would initially test this only on the mobile version of its results pages and not the desktop, given the higher number of visitors from phones than desktops.

Google already aggregates product pricing information and offers sellers a way to promote their stores through Google Shopping, but that lands users elsewhere when they actually buy something.

Against this users could buy things from the new system without ever actually visiting a store's site - something worries companies who want control over customer information.