Google has bought online retail sales tracker firm Channel Intelligence for $125 million in cash. Channel Intelligence tracks almost 15 percent of all U.S. transactions online. One of ICG Group’s consolidated companies, it helps drive $2 billion in annual sales in referred online recommendations.

The deal is expected to go through by the end of the first quarter of 2013 and ICG is expected to get $60.5 million for its stake in the company.

Channel Intelligence’s expertise will be used to better the Google Shopping experience, which lags far behind industry giants such as Amazon. Although it isn’t Google’s core business, the search-giant would surely like to have a piece of the growing e-commerce pie. As of now, Google Shopping is not as widely used as other online shopping services such as Amazon or eBay, but  by offering more services and adding features to its service, it would surely improve the shopping experience.

“We want to help consumers save time and money by improving the online shopping experience,” a spokesperson told CNET in an e-mailed statement. “We think Channel Intelligence will help create a better shopping experience for users and help merchants increase sales across the web.”

Google had its shopping service revoked from China, just weeks after its music store was closed in the country. A serious internal hack by the Chinese government, which they strictly deny, is believed to be the reason behind the sullen relationship.

Via: CNET, GlobeNewswire