At present, Google only has its separate ‘shopping’ tab that is tucked away behind several other pages, making it less of a focus compared to other competitors – particularly TikTok.

All of this comes as Google announces a significant surge in spending and a marginal miss on its revenue targets for the end of 2024. The company is looking to expand its AI services and continue to improve its ‘Gemini 2.0’ features that were rolled out this week.

If anything, this news is further indication as to the dominance of TikTok with younger social media users, despite all of the controversy surrounding its privacy terms, data handling and links to China.

Short form video continue to engage and retain audiences like no other media, and this widespread, mainstream attention is reflected within the shopping habits of Gen Zers. The larger your user pool the greater chance of purchases and greater revenue streams.

Google may need to focus more on its core products to keep younger people interested. We’ve seen other platforms lose their appeal with Gen Z and eventually devolve into simple utilities; Facebook being the most prominent example.

In order to maintain cultural relevance, Google may need to re-evaluate how it entices users to search for products and purchase them through its services.