Google shuts down shopping service

Google Inc announced Wednesday that it has decided to close its shopping search service in China, marking a further move by the search giant to shrink its Chinese business this year.

Google said in an online statement Wednesday that it made the decision because the shopping search product had not met its expectations.

"But we remain committed to helping Chinese businesses export their products to other countries, and Chinese merchants can still use Google Shopping to reach consumers in other markets," the post said.

Google said it will focus on developing products such as in-app mobile advertising, mobile and desktop display advertising, as well as export-oriented search advertising in China.

It is the second time the company has slimmed down its business in China this year, having closed its China-only music search and download services in September.

Google launched its shopping search service in June 2009. But many Chinese consumers have never heard of the product.

"I had no idea that Google had such a service in China. Every time I want to buy something, I always go to online retailers such as taobao.com or 360buy.com, or a shopping search engine like etao.com," Wang Rui, a 29-year-old regular online shopper in Beijing, said Wednesday.

Google's shopping search service in China faced fierce competition from Chinese rivals including Alibaba Group's etao.com and NetEase Inc's huihui.cn, analysts said.

"Though etao.com is a late comer, it has expanded very fast in the Chinese market with support from China's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group," Chen Shousong, an analyst at Internet consultancy Analysys International, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"Now, as domestic companies have a dominant position in the shopping search market, it is not a wise strategy for Google to continue to put more resources into the sector," Chen said.

"The shopping search market has huge potential in China," Dou Sheng, a spokesman for etao.com, told the Global Times Wednesday.