Google will soon allow retailers to optimize Smart Shopping Campaigns for store visits and display their local inventory information.
Smart Shopping campaigns were introduced last year as a new advertising product that uses machine learning to optimize for performance as well as ad placement.
These campaigns let retailers specify where their shopping ads are shown. Shopping ads can be shown on Google.com, Image Search, YouTube, and millions of sites and apps across the web.
Today, Smart Shopping campaigns let retailers optimize for online conversions. Soon, they will also help retailers drive store visits.
Google highlights the results businesses have seen since Smart Shopping campaigns were introduced last year:
“80% of advertisers who have tried both Standard and Smart Shopping campaigns, now use Smart Shopping campaigns for the majority of their Shopping ad investment in the last year.”
To get started with Smart Shopping Campaigns, retailers need a product feed, a remarking list, and conversion tracking.
Alternatively, retailers can seamlessly join through an ecommerce platform integration, like Shopify, or through Google’s new Shopping integration with Magento.
Drive Store Visits With Local Inventory Ads
In a related announcement, Google is working on a way for retailers to drive store visits with local inventory ads.
Google is making it possible to offer ‘buy-online, pick-up in-store’ service through Shopping ads.
To utilize this capability, retailers will need product landing pages on their site showing when in-store pick-up is available and a local inventory feed in Merchant Center.
This is currently being tested in a beta which retailers can join by filling out this form.