iPad Google Catalog app released to kick start tablet commerce

Google has announced the availability of the new Google Catalogs app, which is a free app that allows iPad shoppers to obtain a digital version of the glossy paper catalogs that consumers are accustomed to receiving in the mail.

The app includes popular catalogs such as the Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Lands’ End, L.L. Bean, Crate and Barrel, and others. Though the app is currently only available to users of iPad devices, a version compatible with Android tablets will also soon be released.

According to Abigail Holtz, the product manager for Google Catalogs, the concept of the app was to provide users with the ability to browse as though they were window-shopping in their favorite stores, instead of having to search for a specific product.

Holtz explained that they looked into ways to provide “the inspirational browse-shopping experience,” and considered different options that would fit the web, but then decided that this type of platform made much more sense for use with the tablet.

Forrester Research released a report that included the results of a survey of retailers that found that 21 percent of their mobile traffic was already coming from tablets, while many reported that over half of their mobile traffic came from tablets.

Retailers have already been claiming that they estimate that their m-commerce revenues reached approximately 10 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2011, and it is believed that this will rise by the completion of the year as mobile devices continue to skyrocket in their popularity.