Google Commerce Search Is On The Chopping Block

Despite attracting several high-profile retailers, it seems Google is quietly shuttering Commerce Search. TechCrunch reported that the company is moving away from its hosted enterprise search product in favor of lighter (and less expensive) solutions.

“We are making a strategy shift towards offering more flexible, easier to adopt modules for retailers, such as the Search As You Type widget,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement issued to TechCrunch.

Google Commerce Search (GCS) launched in 2009 to offer merchants features designed specifically for e-commerce sites. Features included product recommendations, customized ranking and filtering capabilities, promotions and attribute boosting.

Search As You Type was also a feature in GCS. Google launched it in pilot mode as a standalone product in July, 2012. It remains in pilot and is available only to merchants in the U.S. who are active AdWords advertisers. You can see it in action on Lowes.com, which is a launch partner.

The Google spokesperson added that the company will continue to support existing Commerce Search customers, which include GNC, Panasonic and Forever 21, but that the goal will be to migrate them to alternate solutions. Google Commerce Search pricing started at $25,000 per year. Search As You Type is free, up to a maximum of 25 million queries a year, after which “standard licensing fees” apply.