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This Help Centre shows articles applicable to Merchant Center Next. Learn more about the upgrade and get answers to frequently asked questions.

Local inventory ads and free local listings overview

The local inventory ads and free local listings add-on allow you to showcase your products and store information to nearby shoppers searching with Google. If your website doesn't contain inventory information for your physical shops, you can show your in-store inventory using a Google-hosted page for your shop.

We're currently working with retailers who have brick-and-mortar shops in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, Ukraine, the US, UAE and Vietnam.

Tip: Eligible retailers in the UK, IE, US and CA can use the product reader or local inventory app to automatically add their in-store products to Google for free. US-based merchants can also run local inventory ads using the local inventory app. Get started.

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Benefits

  • Promote your in-store inventory: Let local shoppers know that your shop has the products that they're looking for, at the moment that they search on Google.
  • Bring your physical shop online: Show your in-store product and price availability hosted on Google, or for local inventory ads, show your own website with a product page with in-store availability as a robust, digital in-store experience.
  • Measure performance: Monitor the impact your digital ads have on online and in-store performance goals. Note that shop visit measurement is only available in these countries.

Local add-ons

You can choose to use either free local listings or local inventory ads in presenting your products and shop information.

Free local listings

With free local listings, the in-store products that you sell can appear at no cost on Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, the Shopping tab, Google Images and Google Lens.

For Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, Ukraine, the US, UAE and Vietnam, after clicking on a local listing, users will be redirected to an in-store product and price availability page hosted on Google:

An animation of a Local Inventory Ad showing buying options for an in store product.

For Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, after clicking on a local listing, we will show a product viewer with product and shop information:

An animation of a Local Inventory Ad showing buying options for an in store product.

Local inventory ads

Local inventory ads can help you boost online and in-store sales by reaching customers from more places across Google. You can leverage pick up later with product data or add in-store inventory automatically from your online shop to Merchant Center to provide inventory data faster.

You are also able to highlight your click and collect options directly on your ads:

  • Use the pick up today feature to showcase which of your products can be reserved or bought online and picked up in store within the same day or the next day.
  • Use the pick up later with in-store inventory data feature to advertise products that are currently not available in your shops but that can be picked up in store within a specific SLA.
  • Use pick up later with product data without being required to provide full inventory information. Advertise your products that can be picked up in store within a specific SLA.

Activate the local add-on

Follow these steps to manually activate local inventory ads or free local listings:

Step 1 In your Merchant Center account, click the Setting and tools icon Tools and settings menu icon [Gear]

Step 2 Select Add-ons.

Step 3 Select Free local listings or Local inventory ads add-on card under the 'Discover' tab.

Step 4 Click Activate.

Step 5 Select which country you would like to activate the add-on for. You'll be able to add countries once the add-on has been enabled.


Implementation guide

Step 1 of 9 – Select your country

Once the local inventory ads or free local listings add-on has been activated, you'll be able to select the countries that you want to participate in.

Click Continue setup next to the country where you want your add-on to be activated.

Step 2 of 9 – Add shops

Add your shops. If you haven't added shops to your Merchant Center account, you can either add shops or connect your existing shops' business profiles to Merchant Center to enable local inventory ads and free local listings.

As an option, you can add your logos and colours. Logos and colours will be used for free local listings. It'll also be used if you have local inventory ads and your product pages do not show in-store availability.

Step 3 of 9 – Your in-store product availability (only required for local inventory ads)

For your in-store product availability, if you know the inventory information for your physical shops, click let customers know what I have in stock in my individual shops.

You must regularly provide Google your inventory information per shop. This can be done using inventory data or by assigning inventory to your shops directly using Merchant Center.

If you don't know the inventory information for your physical shops but you can deliver products to your shops for collection, click let customers know that I can deliver products to shops.

You must provide the pick-up turnaround time of your products on your website and in your product data to let customers know when the item will be available in your shop for collection. Learn more about implementing pick up later with product data.

If you select let customers know that I can deliver products to shops, skip to step 5.

Step 4 of 9 – Your product page experience (only required for local inventory ads)

This step is required for merchants that know their physical shops' inventory to indicate the website functionality.

Product pages with in-store availability: Choose this option if your website loads the product pages with an option to browse availability of products in different physical locations. You'll be asked to provide the link to a product that contains the ability to browse locations for verification. This option is also recommended for single-shop merchants that show their in-store availability alongside their online availability.

This is an animation that demonstrates how a customer can check the availability of an item in your store by entering their zip code.

By choosing this option, the price served will be the one provided in the primary data source. Learn more about product pages with in-store availability.

Shop-specific product pages with availability and price: Choose this option if your website is able to load the product price and availability for a specific shop based on the Google Business Profile shop code that will be embedded in your product page URL. You'll be asked to provide the link to a shop-specific product with a Google Business Profile shop code attached to it for verification.

This is an image that demonstrates how a customer can check the availability of an item in your store when you apply your store code parameter.

By choosing this option, you'll also have to provide the link template [link_template] attribute in your product data with the {store_code} ValueTrack parameter. Products without link template [link_template] attribute will be disapproved.

Learn more about shop-specific product pages with in-store availability and price.

Product pages without in-store availability: Choose this option if your website doesn't display the availability of a product in your physical shop. Google will generate an experience where your product will be displayed, along with shop information. Learn more about in-store product and price availability hosted on Google.

Step 5 of 9 – Your pick-up experience (optional) or products on display in store (optional)

If you have product pages with in-store availability and are onboarding into local inventory ads, you can enhance your in-store products with a pick-up annotation that is compatible with your website:

  • Customers can collect them on the same or next day: If customers are able to buy or reserve an item online and pick it up in store on the same or the next day, you can select this option to promote your local products as 'pick up today' or 'pick up tomorrow'. You'll have to provide the collection method and turnaround time (collection SLA) through your inventory data and the turnaround time must also be clearly displayed on your website's product pages or at checkout. Enter a URL to a product available for pick up today for validation. Learn more about pick up today requirements.
  • Customers can collect them later at a shop: If customers are able to buy or reserve an item online and have it delivered to a selected shop for collection, you can select this option to promote your local products with the pick-up later annotation. You'll have to provide the collection method and turnaround time (collection SLA) through your product or inventory data and the turnaround time must also be clearly displayed on your website's product pages or at check out. Enter a URL to a product available for pick up later for validation. Learn more about pick up later requirements.
On display in store: With the on display in store feature, you can show products that can be experienced and bought in your shops but that are delivered directly to your customers. Enter a URL of your delivery policy for products on display in shops. Learn more about on display in store.

Step 6 of 9 – Add inventory

This step is required for merchants that know their physical shops' inventory. After clicking Add inventory, you'll be asked to provide inventory data using a file.

There are three options that can be used for the inventory data file:

  • Scheduled fetch: You'll be requested to provide a link from which your inventory data file can be fetched, and set the schedule to when the inventory data file should be fetched.
  • sFTP
  • Manually uploading a feed: You can manually upload a file from your computer. Bear in mind that inventory data should be uploaded at least once a day, to ensure up-to-date inventory information.
As an alternative, you can provide your inventory data via API. This option is recommended for merchants that have large quantities of inventory to manage. For more information, go to the Local inventory service API help.

Step 7 of 9 (only for DE, AT and CH) – Add Impressum

This step is required for merchants that want to run local inventory ads or free local listings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You must provide the Impressum (About page) of your website in accordance with Article 5 of the EU E-Commerce Directive as implemented by local laws

Step 8 of 9 – Verify your inventory

This step is for merchants whose product pages don't show what's in stock at their shops. You'll need to submit an inventory verification contact who will coordinate the verification process with Google. This person can be different from the main admin contact in your Merchant Center account settings.

To start the process, follow these steps:

Step 1 Select Verify inventory.

Step 2 Provide contact information of your inventory verification contact.

Step 3 Verify the inventory verification contact through email.

Step 4 Click Request inventory verification.

Note: The Request inventory verification button will only be enabled within 48 hours after the contact name and email address are verified and your shops, product data and inventory data have been added.

Step 9 of 9 (only required for local inventory ads) – Link Google Ads

In order to run local inventory ads you must have a Google Ads account. In this step you must link your Google Ads account and your Merchant Center, if you haven't done so. You must also enable local products in your campaigns (this step is not necessary if you use a Performance Max campaign).

Policies

Google's policies provide important guidance for retailers participating in local inventory ads and free local listings. To make sure that you understand the expectations, review the Local inventory ads and free local listings policies. Google disapproves products and accounts that don't comply with these policies.


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