Showcase your promotions and get your customers’ attention

Shoppers are savvier than ever. They use social recommendations, web searches and smartphone apps to make informed purchase decisions. So how can a retailer stand out and get a shopper’s attention?

Today, we're rolling out a new way for retailers to reach shoppers at the moment of interest. Retailers can now add promotions to their product listings on Google Shopping to make them stand out. In addition, they can distribute their promotions on other Google properties such as Google Maps for Android and the Google Offers app, and attract shoppers to their store.

Promotions are highlighted in product listings on Google Shopping

In a few simple steps retailers can create a promotions list, map it to the right products in Google Shopping and upload to Google Merchant Center.  Our system supports user specific redemption codes and associated reporting, enabling retailers to measure the performance of each promotion.

 

Shoppers can see nearby promotions while searching in Google Maps for Android

This is one of the many steps we’re taking to provide traffic, technology and tools to help retailers grow their business. Over 25 well-known U.S. retailers, including 1-800-flowers.com, OfficeMax®, Inc., Tommy Hilfiger, Express, Chico’s, Overstock, Guitar Center, Drugstore.com and Wayfair, are already part of this program. In the coming months, we plan to expand the program to include more retailers. If you are interested in featuring your promotions on Google properties, you can learn more here.

Posted by Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager, Google Offers and Michaela Feller, Product Manager, Google Shopping

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Google Shopping: transition update and new functionality in time for the holidays

Over the last 4 months, Google Shopping has been moving to a commercial model built on Product Listing Ads. One of the reasons we decided to make this transition was to get better data from merchants in order to build a better shopping experience for users. We are very pleased with the participation from retailers in our new model and many are starting to report success.

Starting on October 17, Google Shopping results in the US will come only from merchants who are Product Listing Ads advertisers. We will be ranking these results based on relevance, with bidding as an additional factor. The ranking of natural search results on Google.com will not change.

Help for the Holidays 

For merchants who have not yet made the transition, it’s not too late to get your products on Google Shopping and optimized in time for the holiday season. You can do so by signing up for Product Listing Ads; please visit www.google.com/ads/shopping for more information. For merchants attending SMX East in New York City this week, we would love to hear from you during the Google Shopping Q&A session on October 4 at 2:30 PM local time. We look forward to making ourselves available to answer any questions you may have regarding Product Listing Ads on Google Shopping.

For help optimizing your Product Listing Ads, check out our Google Shopping best practices guide or watch our optimization video. Additionally, we’ll be hosting a ‘Bidding Strategies for the Holidays’ Hangout on Air on October 19 at 10:00am PST. Visit the Ads Google+ page to join the Hangout.

A New Way to Optimize Campaigns

We’ve gotten a lot of requests for tools that make it easier to manage campaigns at a more granular level, so we’re pleased to announce the availability of product level bidding. This addition to the Product Listing Ads toolkit will help merchants during the holiday season and beyond in a number of ways.

• Optimize bids for individual products. You can now improve your Product Listing Ad performance by setting your cost per click bid at the item level. This functionality should help you meet your volume and profit targets at the product level.
  
• Easily create product targets. It is now possible to create product targets using the product ID in your Merchant Center feed to manage your bids at the product level.

We believe this feature will create new opportunities for optimization by allowing you to easily target individual products, and will help you make the most out of your Google Shopping campaigns.

For more information on product targets please visit the AdWords Help Center.

We look forward to releasing more tools and features in the coming months to help you reach new customers on Google Shopping. Stay tuned!

Posted by Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product Management, Google Shopping

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Browse your favorite catalogs on the web

Last year we introduced Google Catalogs, giving shoppers a rich, new way to browse and explore their favorite catalogs on a tablet device. Since then, Google Catalogs has grown to become one of the largest collections of digital catalogs, featuring thousands of issues from over 300 retail brands, including catalog favorites like Williams Sonoma, J.Crew, Eddie Bauer, and more.

Today we’re excited to announce that shoppers can now browse our entire catalog inventory on the web through Google Shopping, making it easier than ever to stay up to date on the latest styles, shop for products, or maybe even get a head start on holiday wishlists.

To start shopping, visit www.google.com/shopping/catalogs. From here, you can browse our editor’s weekly picks and see what’s new in the ‘Latest catalogs’ section. Click ‘Brands’ to view an alphabetical list of catalogs, or select ‘Categories’ to browse over 25 catalog categories, including Women’s Fashion & Apparel, Home, Kids & Baby, Outdoor Adventure, Toys, and many more.

Once you find a catalog you like, click on the issue to open the catalog viewer where you can flip through catalog pages and zoom in to see products up close. To view information about specific products, roll your mouse over the page and click the tag for the product you’re interested in. This opens a box with more information, additional views, and price. Clicking ‘View Details’ takes you directly to the retailer’s site to learn more or make a purchase.

You can also browse a selection of the latest catalogs in the ‘Featured Catalogs’ section on the Google Shopping home page. Over time, we plan to incorporate catalogs more deeply throughout the Google Shopping experience, giving you more ways to find ideas and inspiration as you shop and engage with your favorite brands.

'Featured Catalogs' on the Google Shopping home page

If you’re a retailer interested in submitting your catalog for inclusion in both the tablet app and web experience, we’d love to hear from you. 

Posted by Abigail Holtz, Business Product Manager, Google Shopping

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