Reserve With Google, a Google Search feature allowing users to make reservations with businesses such as restaurants and gyms, has been enjoying immense growth since being introduced in March of 2017, Reuters reports. Numerous software companies which provide Google with business schedule data are claiming the service is ramping up customer acquisition numbers by a significant margin, stating that up to 75-percent of all bookings made through Reserve With Google represent new and potentially long-term customers. The positive performance of the platform is believed to be a result of its convenience as the functionality allows for the creation of valid reservations with a broad range of businesses without phone calls or anything other than an Internet browser being involved.
Reserve With Google and a number of other platforms such as the company’s shopping comparison service which landed it in hot water with European antitrust authorities represent the next step in the tech giant’s Internet search strategy; whereas the initial version of Google Search was an engine delivering lists of websites, the Mountain View, California-based firm has been looking to transform its digital portfolio and a massive set of tools used for a wide variety of online actions for over half a decade now. Whereas the original system required users to research websites Google Search delivered, the company wants its revamped version to do that research for them, though such ambitions continue to raise competition concerns.
Veteran antitrust attorney Gary Reback, Yelp co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman, and a number of other high-profile individuals from the technology industry accused Google of monopolistic behavior on prime-time TV late last month, with EU’s competition regulators now looking into various aspects of the company’s business after already handing it a historic $2.7 billion fine over its shopping comparison service last year. The tech juggernaut repeatedly insisted all of its digital tools such as Reserve with Google are meant to ennoble the overall experience of Search, adding that its engine hasn’t been designed to eliminate any kind of competition from the market.