More Retailers Can Now Compete In Google Shopping!

It's the biggest change to happen to Google Shopping Campaigns in a while. Google recently announced that advertisers can now run Shopping Campaigns when the previously-required Unique Product Identifiers (UPIs) are missing.

What was the situation?

Previously when advertisers wanted to run Google Shopping Campaigns, the product feed needed to include at least 2 of 3 parameters in order for the product to be promoted. These parameters are:

• Brand
• MPN – Manufacturer Part Number – this is the part number that is assigned by the manufacturer
• GTIN – Global Trade Item Numbers – this is typically the 13 digit barcode number

If these parameters weren’t found within the feed, the product would be disapproved by Google and the advertiser would not be able to advertise the product on the Google Shopping Feed. But their recent announcement has seen these rules change…

What does this change mean?

Products that are missing the required UPIs can now be served on Google Shopping, albeit at a lower priority than advertisers with accurate and detailed shopping feed, but a product will no longer be disapproved without them.

This means that advertisers with scarce Shopping feeds will need to pay more than advertisers with complete Shopping feeds to appear in the same position in the auction. However, by taking away the requirement for UPI’s it means that one of the biggest barriers to entry for e-commerce clients wanting to advertise on Google Shopping is removed. Increasing the choice of retailers available to online shoppers.

Although, you need to ensure that your Shopping feed is accurate. For example, if an item has its identifier_exists parameter set to false insinuating that the brand, MPN and GTIN parameters don’t exist but there’s evidence that a UPI does in fact exists, the product will still be disapproved. Quality Google Shopping management is key.

The bottom line…

Our PPC service team always promote the importance of having a detailed and accurate Google Shopping Product feed to our clients, however, this barrier removal ensures that more prospective advertisers can experience the benefits Google Shopping can bring.

Whilst the success these advertisers experience will not equal the quality of those with accurate Shopping feeds, it should be enough to get their foot in the door and make incremental changes over time which we expect will have a positive impact on sales.