Google Launches Boutiques.com

Take their search engine an combine it with online shopping, and you have Google's newest idea, a step in the company's development that should reinforce more than ever their international grip on the web.

Presumed preoccupied with improving their new operating system, Android, the brains behind the internet search engine leader were in reality fine-tuning the launch of a new site that, given this Californian giant's strength, could easily cause a mini earthquake in the world of online prêt-a-porter.

After a week of rumors, Google has just put an end to the suspense by launching a site that brings together products from the majority of the shopping sites (Boutiques.com currently offers more than 550,000 references from over a 1000 virtual points of sale).

While this concept may already be well known among the online shoppers, Google intends to improve it and quickly become the market leader. To this end, the American company bought the e-commerce platform Like.com in order to benefit from its system of visual recognition. For example, the surfer/shopper who sees a photo of boots worn by Blake Lively will easily be able to find the same model, or at least models that closely resemble it.

Not one to do things halfway, Google has also succeeded in convincing celebrities, bloggers, high-end labels and trendy brands to create their own corner on the site, thus benefiting from their popularity.

Sweeping up everything in their path, as is their habit, the NASDAQ star has already conquered the most prestigious players in the market; e.g., known for their elitist position, Net-a-porter.com has nevertheless already integrated itself in the long list of Boutiques.com partners.

Although some of their design choices might leave something to be desired, the ergonomics of their site as well as their plethora of offerings are very respectable. Once the first few necessary weeks of debugging have passed, no one doubts that (Google founders) Sergey Brin's and Larry Page's new toy, like so many of their other services, will quickly become the industry standard.

Official site: http://www.boutiques.com