Why use and optimise Local Inventory Ads?

Are you a retailer, and you want to offer the very best omnichannel shopping experience to your customers? 

To achieve that, Google has developed Local Inventory Ads. These ads offer you a more comprehensive web-to-store strategy. 

Local Inventory Ads (LIA) allow you to display Shopping ads in the Google search engine which promote your product inventory available in local stores. These ads trigger a strong local signal, like when a user is searching for a product and includes the term "In Paris".

This omnichannel format allows you to enter several pieces of information: the price, stocks available in store, opening times and how to get to the closest store where the product in question is located. It helps push purchases both in store and online.

This article reveals all the secrets of LIA. So, why not take a look at our video on the subject too?

What do Local Inventory Ads campaigns look like?

If you put yourself in a typical LIA buying journey, this is what a shopper may be faced with.

In the first case, a shopper is searching for a product and Google shows them Shopping ads that should interest them, with products available on a website. In addition to the product details, key information appears, such as the availability of the product in a nearby store.

In the second case, we see that Google is adapting to retailers' omnichannel paths. The “click & collect” option can be added, for example. The shopper sees the richness of the omnichannel path on offer, right at the very moment when they're searching for a product.

In the third case, it's more like a showroom scenario. Local Inventory Ads can inform the shopper that a product is in a store without being available for purchase. This option triggers visits to stores to see/try out the product, and goes on to trigger an order, either in-store or online.

Why use Local Inventory Ads?

LIAs offer great performance. On average, these ads have a 20% higher click rate  than traditional ads and generate 3.5x more visits to stores than text ads.

• To promote your in-store inventory.
• To enhance your online shop: Google's shop window page allows you to present your store attractively.
• To measure performance: with Local Inventory Ads, you can measure the impact of your online campaigns on your shop visits and even your in-store sales.

How do you set up Local Inventory Ads?

A certain number of steps are involved in setting up Local Inventory Ads: 

1. Draw up the list of addresses of your physical stores on Google My Business.
2. Create an inventory feed of in-store products to show the stock and retail price available in each store.
3. Match the products in the different databases by setting up a store product feed that centralises the data relating to the products that are sold there.
4. This information should be sent to the Google Merchant Center and updated as regularly as possible to avoid running ads for products that are no longer in stock.

Optimising Local Inventory Ads campaigns

To get the best out of your advertising campaigns, we recommend that you carry out certain optimisations. LIA campaigns aren't managed in the same way as other Google advertising.

In terms of the customer experience, certain options can be activated. Like the local shop window hosted by the seller or the on  display to order below.

 In addition, ensure good visibility of your mobile campaigns. Because these ads respond to local searches, it must be possible to pick up the searches on a smartphone. To achieve that, you can increase your bids on this device. 

For the same reason, you must pay attention to the localisation of your ads. To achieve that, just apply higher bids depending on the catchment area and position of your physical stores. 

Lastly, don't forget to increase the bids for your ads so that they match your opening times and busy periods identified from your reports. 

Opportunities of Local Inventory Ads

Once Local Inventory Ads have been activated, you can take advantage of a range of free opportunities.

Free promotion of products available in store

If you have uploaded the product feed information by store to Google, the store's Google My Business page will display your bestselling products with the right price and level of availability 

This increases traffic to your website free of charge.

Free promotion of your stores

Secondly, Google can also highlight your ad free of charge in the search results. 

This option is activated for searches with a “strong local signal” and will display your stores in the Google Maps results with the indication that you sell similar products, all free of charge.

Testing LIA with very little effort

That's what the Pick-up Later in Beta programme is offering. It enables highlighting of products that aren't available in-store straight away.

This option is very similar what we see on Local Inventory Ads, it's not necessary to provide stock feeds by stores . 

We have observed an extra 17% higher click rate compared to traditional Shopping ads. It's a good way to begin LIAs

Local Inventory Ads are therefore an excellent way to improve your omnichannel strategy.