How to fix: No physical shops found in countries of sale

On this page

• Reasons why the issue is happening
• How to fix the issue
• Next steps

Reasons why the issue is happening

This error, 'No physical shops found in countries of sale,' typically means that your Merchant Center account is configured for local inventory ads or cost-free local listings but we couldn't find valid physical shop information.

This can happen if:

• You are an online-only business: If you don't have a physical shop where customers can visit and purchase products, but 'Local inventory ads' or 'Cost-free local listings' are enabled in your Merchant Center.
• Business Profiles are not linked or verified: You haven't linked your Google Business Profiles to your Merchant Center account, the linked profiles aren't for actual physical shops or your Business Profiles haven't been verified.
• Incomplete or inconsistent shop information: The physical shop address is missing or not clearly displayed on your website, or it doesn't exactly match the address in your Google Business Profile.
• Missing inventory data for local programmes: If you have physical shops, local inventory ads and cost-free local listings require a separate local product inventory data source and this might be missing or incorrectly configured.

How to fix the issue

Follow the steps below based on your business type:

If you are an online-only business (no physical shops):

• Disable local programmes:
  1. In your Merchant Centre account, select Settings in the left navigation menu and then select Add-ons.
  2. Go to the Your add-ons tab.
  3. Scroll down to the 'Local inventory ads' and 'Cost-free local product listings' cards.
  4. Select Remove.
• Shopify users: If you use Shopify, also disconnect your Google Business Profile from Shopify within the Google & YouTube app. Ensure that your website does not display any local shop information.

If you have physical shops:

• Verify correct Google Business Profile (GBP) linking:
  1. In your Merchant Centre account, select Settings in the left navigation menu.
  2. Go to Business info.
  3. Select Shops.
  4. You should find a list of shops linked to your Merchant Center. If not, you need to add shops to your Merchant Center.
• Ensure that GBP is verified and information is consistent:
  • Check your GBP verification status. For details on verification, check how to verify your business on Google.
  • Ensure that your physical shop address is clearly displayed on your website and exactly matches the address in your verified Google Business Profile. Resolve any GBP issues (like 'DUPLICATE' status) with Google Business Profile support first.
• Upload or check your local product inventory data source:
  • Local inventory ads and cost-free local listings require both a primary product data source and a local product inventory data source.
  • This data source must include attributes like ID [id], shop code [store_code], price [price] and availability [availability]. Product IDs must match your primary data source.
  • Upload this data source to Merchant Center as a 'Local product inventory' data source type.
  • Ensure that shop code [store_code] values in your data source exactly match the shop codes in your Google Business Profile (they are case-sensitive).
  • Make sure that 'Cost-free local listings' and/or 'Local inventory ads' are selected as destinations for your data sources.
  • Verify that your Shopify app is correctly configured to sync local inventory data. This includes ensuring that you meet Shopify's local inventory ads (LIA) requirements (physical retail shop location in Shopify, Shopify Point of Sale (POS) active, inventory stocked at POS location). Check that shop codes are correctly set up in Shopify and match your Google Business Profile (GBP). Allow up to six hours for Shopify changes to be reflected in Merchant Center.
• Reprocess data sources: After making any corrections or uploads, reprocess your data source(s) in Merchant Center.

Next steps

After completing the relevant fixes outlined above:

1. Reprocess your data sources: In Merchant Center, reprocess your primary data source and your local product inventory data source (if applicable).
2. Request a review: If your account or product offers were disapproved due to this issue, you can request a review in Merchant Center once you've fixed the underlying problem. A successful review will resolve the issue.

Note: If you use a third-party platform like Shopify to list your products, ensure that all settings are correct within that platform first. Some platforms may also offer a way to trigger a re-review or resync with Merchant Center. You may also check third-party application to request a review.