Dive Summary:
- Google's recent update, which added additional tabs to users' inboxes for e-mails from social networks and businesses, raised the ire of retailers who say their messages are now effectively junk mail.
- Retailers are afraid that the change will result in customers missing e-mails about sales and, as a result, not visiting their sites, but e-commerce e-mail open rates have only fallen around 1% as many consumers are just reading the e-mails later—though this still serves a problem for flash-sale sites.
- Complicating matters, retailers have called to attention the marketing messages from Google itself that still show up in primary inboxes, and e-commerce sites like Gilt, Gap and Groupon are now beckoning customers to drag the e-mails to their "Primary" tab to ensure future messages land there.
From the article:
... Retailers have little choice but to use Google, whether buying search ads or sending inventory feeds to Google’s comparison shopping service. But they complain that Google has been complicating the relationship. Last year, for instance, it began charging retailers to appear in its product search, leading some, including Amazon, to remove their listings from the service. ...
