Google has launched a new iPad app called Catalogs, which aims to engage shoppers with a new interactive experience. Google Catalogs lets users browse multiple retail outlets with specific search terms or by chain and mark favourites for future reference. Besides having plenty of product information handy, Catalogs will also include embedded video for full demonstrations. To actually buy stuff, there are handy links to online stores, as well as a button to find nearby locations. There’s a particularly neat option to assemble a collage of of stuff you’re interested in, and share it online if you’re so inclined.
Major stores like Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Eddie Bauer, Urban Outfitters and lots more have signed on for Google Catalogs, ensuring the app will have a great range of selection. It’s easy to imagine this app expanding to tap data from Google Product Search, so you can find competitive prices locally and online. It looks like the app is focusing mostly on clothes for the time being, with a few home products tossed in, but I could see all sorts of businesses getting interested in selling through Google Catalogs.
For more info on Google Catalogs, you can hit up their minisite, or just go ahead and download it at the link after this video. No dice getting the app here in Canada unfortunately, and there’s no Android Honeycomb app just yet.