For people who often bump up against ‘Out of Stock’ signs when they manage to find a store selling a coveted item, Google’s Product Search feature may be the solution for them. Owners of iPhone, Palm webOS phones or Android-run handsets can now hit Google Product Search to find out if items they wish to purchase are in stock at nearby participating retailers.
The official Google Mobile blogspot states that Best Buy, Williams-Sonoma, Sears, Pottery Barn and West Elm are listed among the participating retailers in Product Search. When the user looks up a particular item on Product Search, blue dots will appear in search results denoting availability of that item.
The adjacent ‘In stock nearby’ link can be tapped to navigate to the concerned retailers page and find out if the product is ‘In Stock’ or has been tagged with ‘Limited Availability’. If My Location is enabled or the user manually enters his location, he will be provided with information on the distance between the store and his location.
iPhone, Palm webOS and Android handset owners across the U.S. can avail of this new feature by visiting Google.com and selecting ‘Shopping’ from the ‘more’ link. Or ‘Shopping results’ may also be found on Universal Search results on the website.