Local product availability on Google: more visits to your shop

Of course customers today often like to search for products they can buy online. But not only that. Some products are also researched online to find out whether they are available locally. And when interested customers see that the product they want is available nearby, they may well prefer the local shopping experience, because they can take the product home straight away instead of waiting a few days for a delivery service.

As a retailer, you should make use of this advantage. On Google you can book ads with local product availability (Google calls them “local inventory ads”) and bring the information and messages you want straight to your target group’s smartphones, at exactly the moment the customer is actively searching for a product.

How does it work?

When a user searches for a product, the ad, marked with a small flag, tells them that the item is available in a shop nearby. What is particularly clever: the local ads are only shown to users who are near the shop. And just like with regular Google Shopping ads, local ads only cost you money when someone clicks.

When that happens, the prospective customer is taken to a merchant page on Google where they can find further details about the product and browse the rest of your shop’s range. They will also find your opening hours and directions there, and can call your shop directly or visit your website.

What do you need to start ads with local product availability?

• Three things: a Merchant Center account, a Google My Business account and a Google Ads account. To use ads with local product availability, you also have to activate them in the Merchant Center.

1. Upload products

To show interested buyers your shop’s inventory, you have to upload your products to the Merchant Center.

2. Request an inventory check

Google checks whether the information you submit matches the actual product availability in your shops.

3. Use ads with local product availability in your Shopping campaign

Simply link your Merchant Center account with your Google Ads account, and you can activate local inventory ads in your campaign.

The benefits of local inventory ads at a glance:

• Bring customers into your shop who are searching for products you have in stock
• Use the Google merchant page as a presence for your bricks-and-mortar shop alongside your online shop
• Measure and review the impact of digital ads on your bricks-and-mortar shop
• Bid adjustments for users who are near your shop
• Flexible ad scheduling, e.g. only during your opening hours
• Your merchant page shows a “Buy online” link so that customers can also buy the product in your online shop if they prefer

Which industries are local inventory ads particularly suitable for?

• Retailers
• Grocery retailers
• Restaurants
• Car dealerships
• Service providers

If you work in one of these areas and want to increase walk-in customers and with them your revenue, local inventory ads can support your efforts.

Google’s local inventory ads give you as a retailer the opportunity to become visible online and then attract customers “offline” into your shop. Of course, up-to-date stock information is crucial for the campaign’s success. It would be very annoying if a prospective customer came to your shop because of an ad and then found that the product is out of stock. In that case, it will most likely have been their first and last visit.

Ready to go? If you still have questions about local product availability on Google, feel free to contact our experts at Web Labels, so that your store visits increase in future!

Image sources: Image 2: 123rf by artuhrhidden Image 3: freepik by @rawpixel.com