Google has expanded its partnership with Shopify, introducing a simplified process that lets Shopify’s 1.7 million merchants advertise their products across Google.

The integration will allow Shopify’s merchants to increase their visibility on Google’s Search, Maps, Images, Lens, and YouTube.

Shares in the Canadian e-commerce platform, which currently has a market capitalisation of around $145.53 billion, rose 4 per cent in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading following the news.

The search giant also announced other new features for its e-commerce offering at Google I/O, it’s annual San Francisco software developer conference.

Google Chrome will now let consumers see their open carts when they open a new tab, allowing users to pick up their shopping even if they open other tabs.

Google also announced that it will soon let users link loyalty programs from merchants like cosmetics company Sephora to their Google accounts, which it said will enable brands to foster stronger and direct relationships with their customers.

The news comes after Google removed commission fees for merchants that are part of its “Buy” program in July 2020, which allows customers to search and check out with merchants directly on its own platform instead of being directed to the retailer’s site.

The news comes after a period of marked growth for competitor Amazon’s digital advertising business, which generated $6.9 billion last quarter.

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