Google LIA for Ecommerce advertisers

Many brands and retailers don’t always have the product information they need to start listing and advertising products online.

 

Google Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) are an effective marketing tool, designed to help brick-and-mortar businesses to connect online shoppers with physical product offers available in-store. 

It is a new feature for Google Shopping, which now shows whether or not a product is in stock at the physical store at that time. Google started the LIA project in January 2017 and now it’s available in more than 20 countries - Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

How does Google LIA work? 

When a potential customer searches for a product within the geographic area set by the business, LIA is displayed as a dynamically generated ad, appearing on the top of the search results page.

Shoppers can quickly review local businesses that have what they’re looking for, as well as the item they can see, price, and description. Furthermore, businesses can choose to direct users to a Google storefront page or their own landing page. 

 

 

Google Local Storefront

The storefront is the page to which any shoppers will be sent from LIAs that they click. From your local storefront customers can see more information, such as the below:

 

At your local storefront or landing page, the potential customers have the option to buy the product directly from you, either through home delivery or in-store pickup. In addition to that, Google recently added a “pick up later” option, for when the item chosen by the customer is not available at the moment but will be delivered to the store later.

The positive of this is that you can increase ready-to-buy foot traffic to your shop.

 

Since there are various ways that a potential buyer will shop the inventory ads are integral to different shopping journeys.

Specific Product Search 

Customers might look for a specific product, Google will show the particular item or branded product available in the geographic area. In this case, inventory is used in ranking and relevant products shown in search results.

Navigational Search

This refers to when a customer is looking for a particular store, branded product in a particular geography. In this scenario, Google can redirect the potential customer to ‘Google my business’ and shoppers can explore products sold in the store.

Categorical Search

When a potential customer searches for a product and geo-location is used to ensure that the shopper will view the product available near him. Here google up-ranks relevant stores in search which had the category in stock.

Chain Search 

Often customers search for specific chains or brands. When this happens they get a list of all the chain/brands’ locations and can also explore products sold at various branches.

Free shopping listings showcase products and shop information to potential customers inside a specific geographical area. The free listing appears on the Google Shopping tab or Shopping app right under the paid ads.

How does Google LIA benefit eCommerce advertisers