Smartphones and tablets are fast changing the way people compare different services and shop for goods. More than ever, tech-savvy consumers have constant access to user-friendly information from their devices. This trend opens up newer opportunities even for smaller businesses to influence prospects’ purchasing decisions — at any place pr time, on the go or at home. To help businesses easily reach prospective customers while they are shopping, Google has just launched a new Shopping experience.

Broadly built on Product Listing Ads, specifically for tablets and smartphones in the US, Google Shopping module for mobile, Just like that on desktop computers, is aimed at making it easier for customers to find and compare products. Illustrative images enable them to make visual comparisons while they’re browsing products. Also, search refinements on tablet devices will allow to surface features and price point the brands want. This will help shoppers buy the product or services from the merchant of their choice.

Google designed this whole new shopping experience so as to fit naturally with the various activities that people generally love to do on their tablets and smartphones. For instance, the former are more often used at home, and largely while watching television. In fact, over a third of tablet users surveyed stated that they used the devices for looking up products they came across on the TV screen. They are opting to make more and more purchases on the mobile devices – tablets and smartphone.

Google’s recent Mobile Planet research indicated almost one third of Americans have purchased something on their smartphones, and, more than 60% of people across all markets surveyed, who have made a purchase via mobile, do so on a monthly basis at least. So what are the features that businesses can use to access mobile and tablet shoppers via Google Shopping. An official post explains:

• Product Listing Ads can be set up in AdWords, after you’ve linked your Merchant Center account.
• To ensure that mobile and tablet shoppers can view your Product Listing Ads, make sure that your campaigns are targeting mobile and tablet devices with full browsers.
• To help online merchants drive sales across smartphones and tablets, as well as desktop computers, Google is offering certain incentives. Both new and existing merchants who create Product Listing Ads by August 15 will automatically receive a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend through the end of 2012.
• Existing Google Product Search merchants who are new to Product Listing Ads can receive $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they fill out a form before August 15.

Meanwhile, Google in its effort to create a whole new shopping experience, and to empower merchants to compete effectively, has just launched a simplified setup flow for Product Listing Ads in the familiar Merchant Center interface. This new setup flow offers an elaborate guide on creating an AdWords account and setting up a Product Listing Ad campaign. It informs on how to control where and when the products surface in Google Shopping with bids. Merchants can view basic campaign reporting through their Merchant Center account.

Further, one of the popular Google Commerce Search features – the Search As You Type pilot – is available to all US-based AdWords advertisers free of charge, up to 25 million searches annually. This free, stand alone feature will use Google’s predictive suggestions and instant product results for enhancing a merchant’s site search functionality. It is simpler to implement and will help in increasing sales as well as conversion rates on merchant sites, Google claims.

The ‘Search As You Type’ pilot is another step on part of Google towards providing technology, tools and traffic to strengthen the retail ecosystem.