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Google India, in its recent blog post, has announced that users can now place food orders on their phone directly via Google search. When anyone will search for a nearby restaurant, if it’s listed with either Zomato or Swiggy, then they’ll see an option to “Place an order” in the search results.
“Just tap that button and choose your favourite delivery services like Zomato or Swiggy and you’ll be taken to their website to complete the order,” says the blog post.
One can also book a table with Google Search by clicking on a partner’s link who will then be redirected to their site to make a reservation. Initially, Google had tied up with DineOut and Bytplus and it will be adding more features and partners over time.
The feature is currently live with over 11,000 restaurants across 10 cities in India: Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Chandigarh.
Google also offers direct flight searches for Jet Airways, SpiceJet, and Air India for domestic flights. It also shows live cricket score updates, Olympics updates in India and even has dedicated Health Cards for search queries around illnesses.
App-less Commerce
Of late, there has been observed a shift towards ‘app-less’ commerce. With people spending more and more time on messaging platforms, and most settling for no more than three major apps on their smartphone, the marketers are busy finding new ways to engage with their customers. AI powered chat bots, Facebook Messenger bots, push notifications – the brands are now focussing on alternative options, moving away from the hassles of building and investing in developing apps and then brainstorm with multiple analytics.
During an earlier conversation with Inc42, Mohit Mamoria who is the founder of a Gurgaon-based tech startup, Horntel, shared that, with time there would be no need to install apps. “It’d be an incredible time to live in – where apps aren’t needed to be installed. A notification alone can do the job,” he added.
Marketers now believe that in the next five years, users will not even have to open an app to do the app-related action.
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