Improve your ad setup with Google LIA’s new store pickup options

Did you know that 8 out of 10 sales globally happen offline? (source: Statistics by Google) 

Local Inventory Ads lets you show products and store information to consumers who are nearby and searching on Google.

How does LIA work?

A customer searches for an item they are interested in, for example, ‘dancing shoes near me’ or ‘mattresses London”. They will see your ad along with some chosen additional information about your store (ie.: 800m away) or your stock levels (ie.: In-store). They click on your ad which takes them either to your site or to a version hosted by Google.

Use Google Lia to achieve your goals

When we think about Local Inventory Ads, the first use that comes to our mind is increasing traffic in offline stores. That essentially is the fundamental advantage, but the effects go a much longer way.

Increase reach and drive awareness

By driving customers to a specific location you can drive awareness to new store locations and reopenings and increase store visits during key (maybe local) promotional periods. Besides, new customers will come across your store who normally wouldn’t know about it.

Manage your inventory smarter

You can also use the opportunity to provide inventory relief for certain stores and use the opportunity to maintain profits by advertising at specific stores versus deeply discounting your products.

Don’t forget: Over half of holiday shoppers say they will confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it. (source: Statistics by Google) 

Increase ROI

Additionally, let’s not forget about the opportunity to upsell. In-store conversions generally have higher average order values, meaning that your customers are much more likely to leave your store with additional items in person than on your website.

Appeal to your most valuable customers: Omnichannel customers

Are Omnichannel customers considered the most valuable customers? 76% of customers shop both online and in-store. On average, they spend 3x as much as online-only customers. (source: Statistics by Google) 

Improve ad performance

On average, Local Inventory Ads report 20% higher CTR than online Shopping ads. If you have an offline location it is a sin to miss out on all this additional traffic.

Google LIA store pick-up options 2023

In today’s rapidly changing environment, people are looking for real-time updates when it comes to store information and product availability. Many shoppers prefer to also go online to buy or reserve an item to later pick it up in the store.

So how is the market changing?

There is a  +600% increase in searches for “click + collect” globally YoY. (source: 2020 Google Statistics). In the first half of 2021, 22% of shoppers have used Click and Collect 11 or more times. 

Ways of promoting in-store pickup

There are two ways available currently, Pickup Today and Pickup Later. 

The first option helps you advertise products that are available for immediate pickup. Pickup Today increases the omnichannel conversion rates by 14% compared to running LIA without store pickup. (source: Google Statistics)

Meanwhile, Pickup Later lets you promote products that may not be available in store now but can be available for store pickup within a few days. They can be either out of stock at the moment, or you don’t have precise inventory on them, or you don’t carry them in your store but can be shipped thereupon order.