This article was published on November 20, 2015

Put your feet up guys, Google knows who’ll be cooking and shopping this Christmas


Put your feet up guys, Google knows who’ll be cooking and shopping this Christmas

In a handy blog post headlined ‘Google helps you shop between holiday cooking and tree trimming’, Google has unveiled an update to its shopping experience, as well revealing some of its own gender assumptions.

The update to Google Shopping on mobile says it will ensure she can discover, browse and buy on mobile more easily this Christmas.

The Adwords blog for advertisers explains:

With the new mobile redesign, if a shopper searches for droids, we’ll show the most commonly searched categories to help her narrow down her search.

Struggling with your ‘tricycles for kids’ search ladies? Google will now handily suggest ways of narrowing down your hunt, such as looking at features, brand and price.

“This gives her the freedom to discover what she might want in a more organized way, while helping drive more qualified traffic to your site,” Google helpfully adds.

Finally, freedom!

Google says that it’s made this change because 40 percent of shopping searches are made on broad terms.

But it appears to have then taken the liberty of assuming those people struggling to be more specific, as well as those ultimately taking responsibility for loading the space under your tree with crap you don’t need, will be the women of the house.

Once her search is narrowed, she can now scroll or swipe through her options and look at each one in more detail without having to load new pages.

Lastly, if she’s out and about, no doubt lugging the tree back on her own with all of the kids in tow, she can add ‘near me’ to her search or apply a ‘nearby’ filter to bring up a map of local shops with the relevant product in stock.

Google research indicates that one in four people avoid shops because they aren’t sure whether the store will have what they need.

Luckily, women at least, are now armed with the tools they need to make Christmas shopping a breeze.

And if you’re single? Well, head of Apple Music Jimmy Iovine, has made a helpful offer of picking some music to help you through the holidays.

Speaking on CBS about Apple Music’s latest ad, featuring Mary J. Blige, Kerry Washington and Taraji P. Henson, Iovine said:

Girls just sitting around, you know, talking about boys. Or complaining about boys, you know, when they’re heartbroken or whatever. And they need music for that, right? So it’s hard to find the right music, you know, not everyone has the right list or knows a DJ or something.

He was called out by Engadget and has since apologized.

Now where did I put that turkey baster..?

Google Shopping [via Android Central]

Jimmy Iovine [via Engadget]

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