Google to buy Irish retail search startup

Google signed on to purchase Irish retail tech startup Pointy for an undisclosed amount.

Pointy helps people find what local stores have in physical stock through the use of a small box that plugs into retailers' barcode scanners.

"One of the challenges small merchants face is getting their in-store inventory information online in a way that is easy to manage and reliably up to date," Google officials said in a blog post. "Since organizing the world's information is core to what we do, we've been working to make it easier for local merchants to better showcase their products to interested shoppers on Google."

Read more from Business Insider.