Google’s new shopping features provide more product visibility and easier to manage promotions to help retailers respond faster to customer demand. It is also catering to deal-seekers looking to get the best prices.
Price and shipping comparisons, alerts
Customers are likely to be looking for deals more than ever this year. In fact Google research shows 58% of US holiday shoppers will delay buying gift items until they’re on sale.
A series of new features and updates on Google Shopping are designed to help shoppers get the best deal, through price insights, price comparison and price tracking.
Customers will be able to see if a product price is “high, low or typical” compared to others across the web and in nearby stores. They will also be able to track prices and receive alerts for price drops. An additional feature shows purchasing options from a range of stores, both online and local options. Google will also be adding curbside and in-store pickup annotations.
Promotions - more visible, easier to use
Promotions are now available to all US retailers, via Merchant Centre and Google says they will be significantly easier to use with faster average approval times and easier editing features. This gives retailers the ability to be more nimble and faster in reacting to consumer demand by, for example, running a flash sale, or extending a promotion.
Previously the wait time for approval and lack of ability to edit promotions once live had been a drawback for retailers.
Products on promotion will show up on more places across Google and will be annotated.
Image source: Google
Google Shopping was opened up to free listings back in April and promotions are eligible to show on both free listings and Ads in the Shopping tab. Google says products will show up in more places “regardless of whether you advertise with us or not”.
Promotions will also surface on Google images on mobile and local inventory ads on Search.
Google has also rolled out an ‘On sale’ filter in the Shopping tab across mobile and desktop. It includes product inventory across free listings and Ads that have a promotion or are on-sale.
Image source: Google
Retailers can annotate products where they offer free or fast shipping via Merchant Centre.
Promotions and curbside pickup annotations on local inventory ads are currently in Beta and Google advises you to contact your account team if you want to find out more.
New insights and reporting
Google will next month roll out auction insights in the Google Ads Report Editor for your Search and Shopping campaigns, showing performance comparison data over specific product categories.
Image source: Google
A new Report Editor will be available In Merchant Center, where you'll be able to create custom reports and see additional metrics, like impressions and click-through rate, across your free listings and ads.
Retailers need to be nimble
The continuing effects of COVID-19 mean this year’s holiday shopping will be quite different from previous years. Google is aiming to give online shopping an additional boost with these features.
With customers able to compare price and shipping options easily, and also to wait for deal alerts, retailers will have to ensure their pricing and purchasing options remain competitive.
