Google is to acquire Pointy, an Irish retail tech start-up that helps traditional brick & mortar retailers list their inventory online.
Retailers using Pointy plug a small box into their barcode scanner or install the Pointy app on their PoS system, which surfaces the products that they sell directly onto the ‘See what’s in store’ section of their business profile on Google Search. This allows shoppers to find specific items that are in-stock near to them, potentially helping smaller physically stores compete with Amazon or other online specialists.
“Over the past several years we’ve developed a very close partnership with Google,” said Pointy founders Marks Cummins and Charles Bibby.
“It became clear that we shared the same vision of how technology can improve local retail businesses … By joining forces, we will be able to help people discover local stores and products on a much larger scale.”
It was not disclosed how much Google will pay to acquire Pointy, although a report by TechCrunch suggested around $160m. The Irish business has been funding its development via venture capital investment.
Analysts suggested that Google had swooped in after seeing that Pointy was starting to gain traction in US retailers.
A spokesperson for the online giant said: “Google has long been committed to helping small businesses grow and thrive in the online world. One of the challenges small merchants face is getting their in-store inventory information online in a way that is easy to manage and reliably up to date. Since organizing the world’s information is core to what we do, we’ve been working to make it easier for local merchants to better showcase their products to interested shoppers on Google.”
