Google eyes online retailers

Google is selling a special search product to online retailers, as the Internet giant widens its hunt for new sources of revenue, states Reuters.

Google Commerce Search, which the company has said would begin selling at a starting price of $50 000 a year, puts a key element of a retail Web site's shopping experience in Google's hands: the consumers' ability to find merchandise.

Google wants to operate the search capabilities for retail sites on its own computers, using a data feed the retailers provide of their product catalogue. Google can perform searches of a retailer's catalogue significantly faster than what is currently available on many retail sites, said Google Enterprise Search lead product manager, Nitin Mangtani.

Posiflex Technology, a manufacturer of point-of-sale terminals, is to set up its own subsidiary in India with the acquisition of majority stake in Bangalore-based Protocol Solutions, which used to be its distributor in India for the last eight years, reports Business Standard.

The Taiwan-based company, which competes with global majors like IBM, Fujitsu and NCR in this segment, plans to invest $10 million in India in the next three years, a part of which has gone to acquire controlling stake in Protocol Solutions, says Owen Chen, CEO of Posiflex Technology.

“We have already marked a good presence in the organised retail market in India with our relationship with Protocol,” Chen added.

Australian venture capital firm Starfish Ventures has ploughed $5 million into San Francisco-based retail technology company ZoomSystems, says Investor Daily.

This latest investment is from Starfish Ventures' Starfish Technology Fund II.

"ZoomSystems has made tremendous progress over the last few years to establish itself as the leader in automated retail," Starfish Ventures investment principal John Dyson said. "The global growth potential is enormous and we are pleased that the Starfish Ventures team will be joining ZoomSystems for its next phase of growth."