It’s a great time to be a business owner operating in the FMCG or product market, soley by what is possible with the platforms and capabilities at our disposal. There’s no denying what can be achieved by utilising the features and platforms of Google. Google Shopping is no different, and it’s never been a better time to jump on board with the new features giving way to even more exciting opportunities for your brand and bottom line. If your business has set sights on a more profitable 2019, find out what features can assist you in getting there.
Location extensions
Digital marketing continues to blur the line between the present and the future, offering the most intelligent features that get your products in front of the right people at the right place. Location extensions are a new affiliate feature, which serves customers your ad and then directs them to the closest retailers that offer that product for sale. Short of calling the customer yourself and telling them how to get to the nearest store – this is a highly effective feature. All the customers have to do is click on the location that best serves their preferences, and they are on their way as directed by google maps.
Local inventory ads
Falling in love with a product is one thing, but knowing it is still available and ready for purchase? Well that is quite another story altogether, and something the customer has had to research on their own to learn. Now with the local inventory ads accessible to businesses, potential customers can learn the name of the stockists and the inventory number of that item. This is a strong call to action, as it takes all mystery out of where it is available and to what extent. Imagine placing a local inventory ad for your lawn mower models, where customers can see which department stores stock that design and how many they have in inventory.
Price variation across the competition
Hotels and airlines are great at showing price transparency across competing chains and airlines, and this is starting to trickle down into other industry segment types. It’s a timely move from Google as that’s ultimately what the shopper wants to see so that they can make their decision and complete the purchase. It also saves the customer jumping from page to page to compare manually, with everything now presenting on the one clear platform. This new Google Shopping feature will line up the same product against competing retailers. An incredibly effective strategy if you know yourself to be the most affordable option on the market, or at least quite competitive with other retailers.
Merchant Centre Optimisation
Merchant Centre isn’t so much a new feature, but the layout and capabilities continue to unfold and so it’s never been more critical that you make this feature work for your business. Merchant Centre is the platform where you input and shape your data, so that you are selling true stock volume and at the static or flexible price you need it to be. It’s also completely variable, and can cost you as much or little as you like depending on what you need from the platform. Research conducted by Moz.com on Merchant Centre revealed that for every $11.30 spend, $100 is generated.
Google Shopping continues to shift and evolve to keep inline with market expectation, while providing critical intelligence that keeps the customer on the page and interacting with your brand. Try and integrate these additions into your marketing mix, and put your brand and product offering in front of the right people, at the right time.
