Cool new Google Checkout Feature - Trends

The whizes at Google Labs have taken the Google Trends platform and re-purposed it to provide trend analysis not on search traffic but on Google Checkout transactions/GMV in a new labs project appropriately called Google Checkout Trends.

If you're like me and a big fan of the charting technology Google has in Google Finance, you'll see they are utilized here as well.  Here are some searches to show you the power of this new feature:

• Star wars vs. Star trek
• Nintendo wii vs. XBOX (check out the 6mo view to see the holiday season)
• Harry Potter - Look at 1yr and then check out the price filter at the bottom, move it from high to low and you can 'see' where the ASP fall

If you're a seller, you can start to use this data to get an idea for ASPs, and even in your sourcing decisions.

Transparency and access to data is the new trend in ecommerce platforms and it's great to see Google taking this major step.  Amazon's APIs increasingly are providing some really interesting information.  Unfortunately, eBay's mentality is upside down, charging 100's of thousands for access to historic data and requiring so much obfuscation of the data to those that do pay, their solutions are hopelessly neutered.