Google Now to bring annoying ad retargeting to your daily life

Ever been shopping online to then see the same shoes you were thinking of buying appear on EVERY web page you visit for the next week? Well that’s called retargeting and not only is it really annoying, but (in our personal experience) it never makes us go back and buy the shoes. In fact, we get so sick to death of seeing the shoes we begin to despise them and the brand that’s forcing them to haunt us everywhere we go.

Well, it looks like Google Now is set to bring retargeting into our everyday lives and offline shopping experiences. According to an update on Google’s Google+ profile, the tech giant’s new digital personal assistant will alert you when you’re walking past a shop which stocks that dress you had your eye on.

Now admittedly we’re really tired of online retargeting, but we can definitely see the benefit in Google Now presenting us with this kind of information when we’re out and about. Not only would it make shopping easier and much more stress-free, but it’d also mean we’re less likely to make online shopping mistakes because it’s simpler than ever to find things in store. But if it grinds your gears just as much as its online equivalent, then it’s easy to turn off too.