expertSEM

In these days of ‘recession chic’ I’ve had to cut back on one of my favorite past times. Shopping. I love to browse and look at stuff (even if I have no need for any of the shiny new toys I have my eyes on). However, that being said, when I am ready to make a purchase – I generally sit down at my computer and troll for a decent amount of time to make sure I have found the absolutely best price on the item I want. (I also religiously and unabashedly search for coupon codes, but that is a different post…)

Today Google announced that they have optimized their Google Product Search offering for mobile use. Great news for people like me who can’t seem to walk out of a store with an item for fear that it is considerably cheaper somewhere on the web.

To use the feature – navigate to Google in your phone’s browser, once on the Google home page, select ‘more’ and then ’shopping’ and from there enter your query. Or reverse it, enter your query first and it will generally suggest shopping results. If you would like to see the feature in action, Rob Stacey, Google software engineer offers a helpful video on the Google Mobile Blog.

Sure, this feature isn’t quite as ‘cool’ as the Android phone applications that provide similar information by allowing you to scan in the UPC barcode…but it is definitely a great tool for bargain hunters and savvy shoppers (and for those of us that don’t have an Android phone).