Shopper Experience
18 April
Google adds shipping, returns info to shopping listings
Merchants can show the info right alongside pricing.

Photo by Alex Dudar on Unsplash
Merchants can show the info right alongside pricing.
In ecommerce, logistics are a customer-facing function. The latest proof comes from Google.
The search engine is expanding the display of information about shipping and returns in product listings on merchant sites. This is designed to provide consumers with all of the information not just about what a product is and how much it costs, but also when it will arrive and how easy it is to send back if it’s not quite right.
“When shopping, people want to know the total price for the products they're purchasing, including the shipping price. Shipping speed, cost, and return policy are major factors considered by shoppers when buying products online,” a Google Search Central update states. “Often, consumers will not complete a purchase because the shipping cost is too high, the shipping speed is not fast enough, or return information isn't clear. Therefore, displaying shipping and return information clearly up front is critical for the success of your online sales.”
The functionality is available in the U.S., and will soon roll out in other countries.
Google said it is also making it easier to monitor and fix the structured data required to enable the shipping and returns display. Google will send warnings to merchants that don’t have the information, or when it was added incorrectly.
The shipping and returns information can now be displayed next to product pricing info at the bottom of a listing.
Shipping and returns info on a Google listing. (Courtesy photo)
The new feature comes at a time when return policies appear to be in a state of flux. Consumers are accustomed to free and flexible returns from ecommerce platforms that sought to make buying online seamless, but mounting logistics costs and higher return rates are pressuring bottom lines at brands and retailers. That’s prompting leaders to rethink the longstanding freebies. Last week, The Information reported that Amazon will begin charging a $1 fee for returns made to a UPS store when there is a Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh or Kohl’s closer to the delivery address. While this looks like a targeted test, it’s a reminder that return policies aren’t always uniform. So making it easy for consumers to access information can also provide a clearer path to clicking “Buy.”
This is the first significant shopping feature to roll out from Google in 2023 following a busy 2022. Last year, the company made a host of upgrades to shopping listings, as it sought to embed commerce within the primary search experience. The updates ranged from augmented reality shopping tools to price comparison. Given that flurry of activity, this likely won’t be the last feature update of the year.The retailer's marketplace is expanding quickly.
When it comes to ecommerce growth, was the pandemic a blip or a new trendsetter?
As we move further from the height of COVID-related closures, it’s a question that will start to be answered through the lens of history.
So far, the narrative of ecommerce growth in the U.S. from 2019-2022 has gone like this: Ecommerce’s share of overall retail saw a huge spike at the height of the pandemic in 2020-21, when goods in general were in demand and online shopping was necessary to preserve health and safety. Experts looked out and saw a permanent exponential change in the penetration of ecommerce as a share of retail that would last beyond the pandemic. Then, in 2022, everyone went back to stores and the trendline came back to 2019 levels. Growth was no longer exponential. There was still growth, but it was not happening as fast as during the pandemic period.
With this in mind, it’s worth pointing out that 2023 is the first year that there likely won’t be a pandemic-influenced swing to influence ecommerce growth. It is also a year where demand has suffered challenges amid inflation and interest rate hikes.
So as we seek to determine the importance of ecommerce to overall retail, it’s worth it to continue taking a close look at what growth trends retailers are seeing now, whether ecommerce is remaining resilient amid consumer pullback and how retailers are preparing for the future.
The latest example arrived this week from Macy’s. It’s a fitting one for the times. Overall, Macy’s is seeing a slowdown as consumers pull back on discretionary purchases, with sales declining 7% in the first quarter versus the same quarter of 2022. Digital sales were down 8%.
Macy’s is particularly susceptible to the macroeconomic headwinds that many brands and retailers are facing, as spending among the middle-income consumers it counts as a primary customer base is particularly softening, said GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders.
But while ecommerce is slowing overall, the importance it gained to Macy’s business during the pandemic is remaining in place.
In 2019, ecommerce made up 25% of Macy’s revenue, CEO Jeff Gennette told analysts on the company’s earnings call. That jumped to a high of 44% in 2020. By 2022, digital reached 33% of sales after the pandemic boom. In the first quarter of 2023, it remained at 33%. So, while the trend line dipped after shoppers returned to stores, ecommerce share still settled in at a higher post-lockdown point than it was before the pandemic.
This came in a quarter in which traffic was “relatively good” across both online and in-store, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said. It was “flattish” online, and slightly up in stores.
“We do expect that this is the reset year with the penetration between them,” Gennette said. “But we do expect more aggressive growth in digital in the future versus stores as we think about '24 and beyond. And that's going to be foisted by a lot of ideas and strategies.
Over the last year, the retailer has made investments in boosting ecommerce, even as shoppers returned to stores. In a bid to boost the assortment of goods available online, Macy’s launched a marketplace in September 2022 that welcomes goods from third-party sellers.
The marketplace had an “outstanding” first quarter, said Macy’s President Tony Spring, who is poised to succeed Gennette as CEO next year. Gross merchandise value increased over 50% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, while the average order value and units per order for marketplace customers was 50% above those not shopping at the marketplace.
Macy’s is continuing to build the marketplace even as it racks up sales. The retailer added 450 brands, ending the quarter with 950 brands.
This is helping to draw in new customers, as well as younger existing customers who are buying more items, resulting in increased basket size.
“We're very excited as to how marketplace is really attracting the Gen Z customer, particularly in categories where it was not economically feasible for us to carry in the past,” Gennette said.
In the end, Gennette said a strong digital and social presence is key to attracting younger consumers. That's a different type of shopper than other age groups.
“We know the younger customer starts first online,” Gennette said. That behavior will still be in place as the generation gets older, and gains more buying power in the process.
Going forward, Macy’s is seeking to expand the model to other retail banners in its portfolio. Bloomingdale’s will open a marketplace in the early fall.
The Macy’s ecommerce trajectory isn’t that different from the wider U.S. ecommerce narrative detailed above. With one quarter of 2023 data, there is evidence that ecommerce share settled out at a higher point after the pandemic than where it started before COVID arrived. There is flattening now, but the retailer is taking it not as a sign of a slowdown, or a signal to change course. Rather, it sees changing consumer behavior as a reason to build for the future.