How to use Google Local Inventory Ads to advertise your local outlet
E-commerce is pushing traditional physical stores out of the market. People who like to shop at malls seek help online to check the availability of goods at the physical point of sale. According to Google statistics, since 2020, the number of requests to search for stores near users’ locations has increased 3-fold. These dynamics suggest that regular stores should pay attention to online promotions. An effective tool for this is Local Inventory Ads, which Google offers.
The service allows the creation of ads in search results. The user enters a query for a product, and if it is available in a physical store, the person sees the object’s location. This way, customers can buy the product at a standard point of sale. The user can access the store address and the product’s price, rating, characteristics, and customer reviews, thanks to LIA.
Local Inventory Ads opportunities
Google service will be an excellent tool for physical store owners who do not plan to trade online but want to increase awareness and the number of customers. With Local Inventory, you can:
- promote the brand simultaneously on several platforms;
- attract new customers;
- make the store more recognizable;
- promote an online store that has self-delivery points;
- expand the business and prepare the basis for opening an online and conventional store.
Google’s service analyzes the effectiveness of ads. To do this, it compares data from different channels. This can be data from Google Maps, GPS signals, point-of-sale coordinates, etc. The program provides up-to-date statistics on which ads can be adjusted to improve effectiveness. In addition, you can assign a specific status to an item in LIA. For example, “available for order” or “pick up today.”
Even though Inventory Ads provides store owners with a convenient set of tools for promotion, it has a number of limitations. It should be understood that the service is new, which means that not all features meet real user needs. One of the main disadvantages of the LIA tool is the limitation of its availability – it only works in some countries. However, the authors promise that geography will soon be expanded.
To start working in the service, you must first register three accounts in the Google ecosystem: My Business, Ads, and Merchant Center. It is essential to comply with the terms of the company: regularly update information about products in the store, refuse to collect data about customers, and agree to verify the assortment of the store, carried out by the specialized service Google.