Analytics

Etsy Connects With Google Cloud to Improve Search, Boosting Sales (SCN)

Etsy is using machine-learning technology from Google to boost sales, reports The Wall Street Journal. Etsy in 2017 began shifting its resources to Google Cloud, a move ‘partly motivated by the AI capabilities.’ Etsy expects to complete the move in early 2020.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Etsy in 2017 signed a five-year deal to make Google its primary cloud provider.

“Getting the first page right is really important,” Mike Fisher, Etsy’s chief technology officer, told the WSJ.

Fisher noted in the story that search improvements, including those that use machine learning, have helped add $260 million in incremental gross merchandise sales over the past two years.

The WSJ goes on to report that enterprise technology executives such as Mr. Fisher are at the center of Google’s new strategy to drive business for its cloud-based AI services.

Being able to scale AI experiments in a cost-efficient way is one reason that companies are migrating to the cloud, said Sam Greenfield, technical director at Google Cloud. “Overall, though, moving to the cloud means enterprises can spend less time maintaining back-end infrastructure and more time solving problems that will add competitive advantage, Mr. Greenfield said.”