Pickup today with merchant hosted local storefront (full)

The pickup today feature with merchant hosted local storefront full represents only a single merchant’s local storefront information. It lets you direct shoppers to your website when they click on an ad or free listing that shows your local product. By directing shoppers to your website instead of your Google-hosted local storefront, you can manage and track your shoppers' entire experience.

This article helps you understand how the feature works and what’s required for your primary feed and website.

How it works

Pickup today with merchant hosted local storefront full surfaces all your purchase options and includes local product information in your existing website.

Here’s how the process works:

  1. A shopper clicks a local inventory ad or free listing with distance annotation plus pickup availability text.
  2. Google passes a Google My Business store code where the item is available to the retailer.
  3. The retailer generates the store customized landing page for the clicked product where the shopper has the option to buy it online and pick it up at the store nearby.

You can self-detect users’ locations; however, you must direct users to the store Google passes in the URL generated by the user’s click.

Step 1. Update feed attributes

In addition to feed requirements for the merchant hosted local storefront full feature (see full list), the following pickup today attributes must be added to the correct feed:
Attribute Optional or required? Feed Possible values
pickup_method Required Primary feed or local product inventory feed buy, reserve, not supported
pickup_SLA Required Primary feed or local product inventory feed same day, next day
pickup_link_template Required Primary feed URL parameter or URL path
store_code ValueTrack parameter in pickup_link_template Required Primary feed ValueTrack parameter
mobile_pickup_link_template Optional Primary feed URL parameter or URL path
ads_redirect Optional Primary feed URL parameter or URL path

Important:

  • Add the required attributes to any items in your primary feed where the same pickup today offering is available for all stores (e.g. a customer can buy and pick up the XYZ television same day in any of your stores nationally).
  • Add the pickup_method and pickup_SLA required attributes to your local product inventory feed when the pickup today offering is available at specific stores only, or if specific stores offer a different pickup_method or pickup_SLA.
  • Note that pickup_SLA cannot be blank. Set a default value for pickup_SLA if pickup_method is set to ‘not supported’.

For full details, see the local inventory ads product data specification and summary of required attributes for merchant hosted local storefront and store pickup features.

  • Add the attribute, pickup_link_template, to your primary feed and make sure you include the store_code ValueTrack parameter.
  • The pickup_link_template should simply provide a link to a product’s store-specific landing page.

URL structures vary across websites. Store codes can be URL parameters, or part of the URL path. See examples below:

Example: store_code as URL parameter

itemid title price ads_redirect link_template
123 2-Person Camping Tent - Adventure Series 249.99 USD http://mikemart.com/123?store=
{store_code}&trackingParameter=value		 http://mikemart.com/123?store={store_code}

Example: store_code as part of URL path

itemid title price ads_redirect link_template
abc LED flashlight and carrying case 19.99 USD http://acmestores.com/456/
store/{store_code}?trackingParameter=value		 http://acmestores.com/456/
store/{store_code}
  • You can also add the optional attribute mobile_pickup_link_template if you have separate mobile landing pages optimized for mobile devices and mobile tracking.

Note: If you are already submitting the ads_redirect and/or mobile_pickup_link_template attribute in your primary feed, you must include the store_code ValueTrack parameter for both the ads_redirect and/or pickup_link_template attributes.

Ensure the ads_redirect URL matches with the pickup_link_template URL. If the URLs do not match, the ads_redirect attribute will be rejected.

Important:

  • ​Verify and claim your website URL, and make sure the website URL registered in Merchant Center matches the domain in the pickup_link_template. If the website URL doesn’t match the registered domain, learn how to resolve this issue.

Step 2: Review landing page requirements

The landing page must represent only a single retailer’s store and meet the following requirements on both desktop and mobile devices, including tablets:

  • Show the following information on the product page:
    • Be able to display a local storefront based on the store codes from your Google My Business account in order to populate store-specific pricing and availability.
    • Display your pickup option as prominently as the option to buy online.
      • Pickup availability (1. Pickup method: reserve online or buy online 2. Pickup SLA: same day or next day pickup) should be visible prior to adding the item to cart.
    • Display store name and store location information on the landing page.
      • Make sure the local information (such as store name, store location, local product price, and availability) is clearly visible on opening the page, without user interaction. This information should be visible upon loading of the page, without requiring the page visitor to scroll.
      • When you first open the page, the store name and city can represent the store location if the full store address isn't present. In this case, the full store address should be displayed when the user clicks to view store location details or change to other store locations.
    • Display your store’s local product price or ensure that local prices match online prices, if only online prices are displayed.
    • Provide the option to choose another store location prior to adding the item to cart.
    • Pickup cutoff time and price (if applicable) prior to adding item to cart.
  • Allow users to complete their order (e.g. complete the purchase or reserve the item) on your website.
  • Provide a pickup confirmation message when order is ready (e.g. email and SMS).
You can use either your online price or local price when a user checks out with store pickup on your website. However, Google shows the local price only on local inventory ads and free listings that show your local products, and on the local storefront.

Step 3: Submit your account for review

Once you have updated your feed attributes and reviewed the landing page requirements, request a review of your account using the local inventory ads contact us form.

When filling out the form, make the following selections to request a review of your account.

  • Please select your issue:
    • “I have questions about the local inventory ads onboarding process or, implementing additional features”
  • Type of issue:
    • “I want to implement additional features (Merchant-hosted local storefront, Store pickup, On Display to order)”
  • Please select the feature you are interested in implementing:
    • “Store Pickup”

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