Many of our merchants sell online as well as from their brick-n-mortar stores, which is why we support Google Local Inventory Ads as one of our channels. By showcasing your physical store’s location, hours and available stock, you can market your online store and generate foot traffic simultaneously.
To use this guide you need to have an active ShoppingFeeder account, Google Merchant Center Account and Google Ad account. Your Merchant Center and Ad accounts must also be linked (see this guide to link your accounts).
You can follow the steps below using Google’s guidelines to begin setting up your local inventory ads:
Link your Google My Business Locations to your Google Merchant Center.
Verify your About page (European countries only).
With the above steps complete, you can now begin working with your local inventory feed.
METHOD 1
NB: This method is used when your in-store inventory and online inventory are the same i.e. products in-stock at your physical location are also in-stock via your online store.
Subscribe to Google local inventory
Log into ShoppingFeeder and then head to Feed Management > Channel Management from the left menu.
Scroll down to the channel search box and search for ‘Google local inventory feed’. Then check the box besides the feed you want to subscribe to.
Copy your Google local inventory feed
Now that you’ve subscribed to the channel, you can scroll up to the top of the Channel Management page to view your subscribed channels. Next to the local Google local inventory feed, click on the link icon as shown below:
Copy the URL that appears as shown below:
Add feed to Google Merchant Center
Log into your merchant center account and go to Products > Feeds from the left menu. Then click the ‘ + ‘ icon to add a Primary feed.
Next, select the country your store is located in and your language. Then select Local inventory ads and Shopping ads as your destination and click on ‘Continue’
Name your feed and select Scheduled Fetch as your input method. Then click ‘Continue’
Enter a file name and select your fetch schedule (this determines when merchant center will access the data feed from your server).
Under File URL, paste the Google local inventory feed you copied from ShoppingFeeder.
Your URL is not password protected so username and password fields can remain blank. Then click ‘Create Feed’
You have now created your google local inventory feed. The next step is to create a shopping campaign in order for your local inventory ads to show in searches.
See how to create a shopping campaign here >>>. Once you've completed this step, your local inventory ads are completed!
METHOD 2
NB: This method is used when your in-store inventory differs from your online inventory and requires you providing two separate feeds to the merchant center.
Subscribe to Google local inventory feed
Log into ShoppingFeeder and then head to Feed Management > Channel Management from the left menu.
Scroll down to the channel search box and search for ‘Google local inventory feed’. Then check the box besides the feed you want to subscribe to.
Copy your Google local inventory feed
Now that you’ve subscribed to the channel, you can scroll up to the top of the Channel Management page to view your subscribed channels. Next to the local Google local inventory feed, click on the link icon as shown below:
Copy the URL that appears as shown below:
Add local inventory feed to Google Merchant Center
Log into your merchant center account and go to Products > Feeds from the left menu. Then click the ‘ + ‘ icon to add a Primary feed.
Next, select the country your store is located in and your language. Then select Local inventory ads as your destination and click on ‘Continue’
Name your feed and select Scheduled Fetch as your input method. Then click ‘Continue’
Enter a file name and select your fetch schedule (this determines when merchant center will access the data feed from your server).
Under File URL, paste the Google local inventory feed you copied from ShoppingFeeder.
Your URL is not password protected so username and password fields can remain blank. Then click ‘Create Feed’
Subscribe to Google Feed
Go to Feed Management > Channel Management
Search for 'Google' in the channel search box and check the box besides the correct channel you wish to subscribe to.
Choose your channel settings, then click Save.
Add Google feed to Google Merchant Center
Go to your Google Merchant Center, then go to Products > Feeds and add a primary feed.
Select Country of sale and language, then select Shopping ads as your destination. Click Continue.
Name your feed and select Scheduled Fetch as your input method. Then click ‘Continue’
Name your feed. Then, copy your Google feed URL in ShoppingFeeder and paste it as shown below:
You have now created two separate feeds; one for in-store inventory and one for your online inventory. The next step is to create a shopping campaign to complete your local inventory and shopping ads setup.
See how to create a shopping campaign here >>>. Once you've completed this step, your local inventory ads will show!
NB: If you are out of stock of a certain product, you will need to remove it from your local inventory feed. You can do this from the Manage Offers page, using this helpful guide>>
This is how your local inventory ads and local storefront will appear if you have followed our guide correctly:
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