Google Products, Affiliates and Local Florists
Throw a comment in my blog post or write your own post if you have time. IMO this is an inside look into the thinking of large companies and search engines - and they need our help to understand what really happens on the inside.
This issue has been bugging me for weeks. I used to have designs shown in Google Products (formerly Froogle) but only had them displayed for my city. G decided it didn't want to be bothered with locals and eliminated area-specific products entirely.Last month, Google swapped the 'Video' link for 'Shopping' on their navigation bar and I've been curious how Google Products would handle the sale of fresh flower arrangements being hand-delivered by local florists.
Unfortunately, Google gives two sets of conflicting - and frustrating - guidelines with respect to the inclusion of items offered by real local florists for delivery.
On one hand, the Google Base program policy states
"Posting is not permitted for the promotion of affiliate sites or products sold through an affiliate marketing relationship."By that definition, every local florist-delivered product sold through a florist wire service (FTD, 1-800-Flowers or Teleflora) or an online-only or local affiliate would be precluded from being shown. The entire business model relies on local affiliates for fulfillment.
On the other hand, the actual florists who make and deliver these wire service arrangements locally are precluded from being included if we indicate we only want to offer items for delivery near our geographic locations. (The same goes for our unique products available locally as well.)
"Our system will consider feeds with the location attribute as containing local data rather than products available for online purchase, and therefore ineligible for display on Google Product Search. If you'd like your items displayed in Google Product Search, please remove the location attribute from your feed and resubmit your file."Below is an explanation of why Google Products is currently a very poor choice when it comes to searching for bargains on flower arrangements:
Product: Teleflora's Crimson Christmas
Results page:
All deliveries of this item are made by local florists, so the location of the recipient is an important part of the equation. Aside from comparing the listed prices of the Crimson Christmas bouquet, shoppers will also be charged service fees by each of these affiliate marketer companies. The real costs are as follows:
Teleflora.com - $69.95 + $ 12.99 Service Fee = $82.94
All American - $69.95 + $8.95 Service Fee = $78.90
Clarence Walker - $69.95 + $9.95 Service/Delivery Charge = $79.90
Ebay - Petals Florist - $62.95 + $13.00 Local Delivery = $75.95
(In each case, most or all of the service fee is retained by the seller as a convenience charge.)
But regardless of price, a shopper may or may not get that Crimson Christmas bouquet since not all Teleflora affiliates carry it.
I tried to send it to Pratt, Kansas (zip code 67124) and Teleflora.com told me it wasn't available for delivery there. (I already knew that since a friend, Lynn Moss, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, operates the only florist in town, The Flower Shoppe.) Teleflora.com did offer me generic alternatives so at least I wouldn't find out later that the product was substituted or not delivered at all.
Clarence Walker Florist indicated they were located in Portland, Oregon and told me "This item should be available nationwide but please be prepared with a second choice." All American and the Ebay seller simply took the delivery information for Pratt and presumably would have relied on the 'in the unlikely event of substitution' clause found on most online only florist sites. At any rate, I can't get that specific product delivered in Pratt regardless of which merchant was chosen or how much I paid.
Product: Teleflora's Ice Petals Bouquet
Results Page:
Again, all deliveries of this item are made by local florists. The real costs (including service charges) are as follows:
Teleflora.com $76.95 + $12.99 Service fee = $89.94
All American - $74.95 + $8.95 Service Fee = $83.90
GiftBaskets.com - $76.99 + $10.99 'Shipping Charge' = $87.98
Absolutely Flower - $76.97 + $12.95 Service Charge = $89.92
Ebay - The Enchanted Florist - $69.95 + $13.00 'Shipping Charge' = $ 82.95
But if it were going to Pratt, KS, the Ice Petals Bouquet is available direct from the florist who will deliver it for just $69.95 plus a $5.00 local delivery charge for a total of $74.95 - a substantial savings from any company on the Google Products page. But - Google Products won't display the Pratt Kansas flower shop's catalog because the owner doesn't want to be an order gatherer, she just wants to sell her own flowers and help shoppers in her local community send flowers out of town.
In the case of local florist-delivered arrangements, Google Products is limiting participation to national affiliate marketers. It's like a travel site refusing to list local hotels and limiting participation to brokers like Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. It's actually worse - since consumers are being offered products in may cases they won't even receive 'as shown'.
C'mon Google, lift the brick and mortar penalty and allow inherently local products - like florist delivered flowers and same-day gift basket deliveries - to be included in Google Products based on location of delivery. It will be a better experience for both your users and the local merchants who actually make and deliver those purchases.
Throw a comment in my blog post or write your own post if you have time. IMO this is an inside look into the thinking of large companies and search engines - and they need our help to understand what really happens on the inside.
