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Each year, Google host their Google Marketing Live event to share key upcoming opportunities and the latest product ideas for businesses using Ads. This year their main takeaway was clear – AI is the future of digital marketing.

AI is a huge part of digital marketing and is fast becoming one of the most exciting opportunities in our sector. Google Marketing Live alluded to this in their annual event, particularly explaining the benefits that AI can have when it comes to Google Ads - in the three key areas of customer connections, creativity, and confidence.

We’ve pulled together some of the latest insights and changes that you’ll need to know for your shopping campaigns.

What does this mean for me?

With the latest AI technology, new features will start rolling out in the coming months to inform and improve your campaigns. The two main points that will transform the way that we think about advertising are:

The Future of the Merchant Centre

Merchant Centre Next will be introduced to new Merchant Centre accounts from this month, eventually rolling out to all existing accounts by 2024. This evolution is an exciting opportunity for businesses. Not only will it be simpler to navigate but will also contain additional AI-driven features to improve user experience and performance.

This will roll out to existing accounts over the course of this year, with ETAs still to be determined, though more features and further improvements to the user experience are being promised.

How will I know if my account is transitioning to Merchant Centre Next?

When your account is ready to be upgraded to Merchant Centre Next, a banner will appear in the Merchant Centre and a notification will be sent via email to the admins of the account. The user can then choose to manually initiate the transition immediately or for it to happen automatically in several weeks. There will be no change to your existing set up or feeds, and ad campaigns will run as usual.

What can I expect in the new version of the Merchant Centre?

One of the main upgraded features of Merchant Centre Next is that it simplifies Google advertising for businesses. For example, you no longer have to manually input product data (when serving without a Product Feed). With Merchant Centre Next, there is an option to populate product data automatically using information from your website.

All insights reports will now be situated in the Performance tab so that merchants can review performance and competitor information in one location. In addition, businesses that have both online and local stores will be able to view all products in one place, making it easier to manage inventory.

AI-Driven Campaign Management

Since Performance Max became available last year, we have seen more integration of AI-based features appearing around Google ads and campaigns. New features will start to be introduced throughout the remainder of 2023 to improve campaign performance. Here are some of the upcoming features to look out for over the next few months.

Search Generative Experience (SGE)

SGE is transforming the way that we think about Search. Using the latest advancements in AI technology, it will become simpler for users to obtain the most relevant information and pose more complex queries. AI-powered snapshots will start to appear, offering more detail and further links for users to follow. SGE will be particularly helpful with shopping as the snapshot will contain up-to-date information about each product, which makes the purchasing journey easier for your customers.

Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding is continuously improving, with AI features helping to predict which search queries will lead to purchases for your business. The latest advancements will bring language models into the bidding process to understand customer’s intent and will also drive better performance by optimising brand-new search queries. These will help your products to show in more searches and present new opportunities.

Generate new, high-quality assets in Performance Max

Google are launching a new AI-driven asset creation flow in Pmax. With context about your business, it will offer suggestions for text and image assets that could improve your campaigns. You can work collaboratively with asset creation flow to generate more ideas based on your goals and visions. Insights will report on the best performing assets and provide recommendations on where additional assets would be successful. These improvements will become available to desktop advertisers in English-speaking countries later in 2023.

Experiment and unlock insights to see what is driving performance

Experimenting with different configurations within one Pmax campaign can help to highlight areas that might improve performance. Betas for these experiments will become available later this year. More search term categories will be available in the Insights page, including custom date ranges and historical insights to identify customer intent. These can be found through the Google Ads API as well as the Google Ads interface. Change history and auction insights will be two of the insights available in the new performance indicating features. They will be made into one unified view to help improve performance. Recommendations on AI-generated assets or stock assets will be available to improve creative performance.

Drive online and in-store goals with omnichannel solutions

Performance Max was designed to help merchants advertise across a range of different channels. It uses AI to optimise ROI on channels such as Search, YouTube, Display, Discover and Google Maps. To help retailers who are looking to increase online sales, Google are testing customer lifecycle goals, starting with customer acquisition which leads to high lifetime value. Later in 2023, they will also be launching a re-engagement goal to improve customer retention.

And thus concludes our Google Marketing Live summary. With so many new features and insights available, it’s an exciting time for businesses – but it can also be quite confusing.

If you’d like to find out how you can make the most of the latest opportunities surrounding AI for your campaigns or if you’d like further information about how you can optimise your Omnichannel experience for the best performance, talk to the Productcaster team about our CSS and FeedManager solutions today.

With three Bank Holiday long weekends coming up in the UK over the next month (1st, 8th and 29th May), there is plenty of opportunity for shoppers to spend their hard earned money. But with such significant competition for the cash, what are you doing to make sure that you are top of your customers minds? 

Prep for the extraordinary Bank Holiday in 2023

May holds a very different Bank Holiday this year, with the upcoming King’s Coronation. There have been a number of royal events over the last couple of years, and it is important to learn from these events to understand how your performance may differ. You may see a reduction in demand during the Coronation and Procession whilst consumers focus elsewhere. We are seeing search interest for the Coronation gradually increase, and now is the time to make sure you’re as prepared as possible to make the most of this period.

Research has shown that the economy is top of the concern list for Britons at the moment, alongside the more consistent worries around good health. With the cost of living crisis a major fixture in our psyche, many people are choosing to stay at home over the Bank Holidays and summer periods and…

How to get the most sales for your budget

So, what do you need to do to make sure you get the most sales for your spend this month? We’ve picked out four main areas for you to check out. 

  1. Check your deals - people are looking for discounts. Make sure that your pricing and discounts are correct; price driven people will click on the cheapest offer. Remember to use Merchant Promotions and promotional sales copy to entice customers. 
  2. Check your copy - Are there opportunities to optimise titles and descriptions to appear for more relevant search terms?  If you’re concerned about your feed quality, you can take our free FeedCheck review. 
  3. Check your feed - do you have a high approval/disapproval rate within the Merchant Centre? Is it up-to-date with stock levels so you’re not seeing unnecessary disapprovals? Automatic item updates are a good option if you’re struggling to keep on top of this.
  4. Check your visuals - make sure that your visuals are up-to-date and eye-catching. Performance Max activity works best when you have strong assets, so get your images in order to drive strong performance, this May and beyond. 

 If you’re concerned about any of these areas or want support in driving success through our CSS and FeedManagement tools, drop us an email and let our expert team take a look. 

Continuing our introduction to the faces behind the Productcaster success, we’d like to introduce our new Client Success Manager, Alejandra Guerrero.

A multilingual citizen of the world, Alejandra has travelled the world and worked in many different countries. We asked her a few questions about her role, her experience and her goals for the future. Take a read below.

How long have you been at Productcaster and what did you do before working here? 

I have been working at Productcaster since the end of March. Immediately before this, I was working as a marketing assistant in Sheffield while also doing my Masters degree in International Management and Marketing. I left my home in Mexico to take up a role in Istanbul, Turkey, so I am used to taking the plunge and being very quick to adapt to new roles and circumstances.

What's your role at Productcaster? 

I’m the new Client Success Manager, and my main responsibilities will be maintaining and building client relationships with existing and new clients. I’ll also be offering support as and when it’s needed for both Productcaster and FeedManager queries.

I am multilingual, which will come in handy when we are communicating with our many French brand and agency clients. Basically, everything related to CSS and FeedManager will be my focus.

What’s your work goal for the next 3 months? 

I’d say the first step is to get up-to-speed and take over all the responsibilities of my new role, prioritizing tasks and getting to know our clients more. Secondly, I will be getting involved with all the processes, including finance and invoicing, as well as learning more about the Productcaster tech of CSS and FeedManager.

Lastly, I’ll be working with our team to deliver results for our clients. We have the talent and the technology, so I’m looking forward to taking on new challenges and being a great asset to Summit.

Tell us a fascinating fact about yourself.

One of my hobbies is learning foreign languages! I studied Chinese, Russian and German on a basic level, and I’m trying to take them up again. I also spent a year and a half working and living in Istanbul where I had to learn some Turkish to communicate with everyone. I know we have tools like Google Translate but the satisfaction of learning something new that I’m passionate about is what counts.

If you're interested in finding out more about working with Productcaster through our CSS and FeedManager tools, please drop us an email and we'll be in touch very shortly.

The UK cost of living crisis is in full swing. The war in Ukraine, COVID-19 battle scars, rising energy costs, spiraling inflation, rising interest rates… there’s no wonder that the consumer mindset is one of caution. 

This isn’t to say that people have stopped buying. Far from it, as a survey from Experian shows that although most consumers are mindful of the increase in costs, a ‘significant proportion’ of the population still intend to carry on spending as normal or only cut back slightly.

The key message seems to be that consumers are being more mindful of where they splash the cash, which means more research, more exploration, and less spontaneity. 

What does this mean for online retailers? 

This need to spend wisely means that there is a far longer path to purchase for retailers to negotiate. In Google-speak, there is a ‘messy middle’ of complicated touchpoints, where customers get into a loop of exploration and evaluation before popping out (at any point in the process) to purchase.  

Retailers need to capture and keep the attention of their customers throughout the whole process. Providing the right information, presented in an understandable way, and easy to find (i.e. great quality SEO optimised content) is vital to ensuring consumers pop out to purchase with you. 

While slow economic growth and rising prices have prompted many people to actively pause on large cost purchases, smaller luxury items like make-up are still selling, according to Murray Lambell, UK general manager at eBay. In addition, it is clear that there are still some categories that remain in demand. For example, as sustainability climbs the agenda, vintage furniture and secondhand clothing are in demand (RetailX Top 500 Report 2023). 

How do online retailers keep the attention of customers 

According to successive ONS Retail Sales reports, consumers are starting to return to the high street, thanks to the receding threat of the pandemic and the effect of industrial action on online deliveries. 

So, what actions do online retailers need to take to keep and grow their market share? 

The strategies behind the tactics 

Before we talk about the practical tactics, we need to understand the underpinning strategies that are going to guide business growth. 

1.Smart full-funnel strategy 

Marketing funnels traditionally start with the awareness stage at the top and end with conversion (purchase) at the bottom. Marketing funnels are linear, but customer journeys are not. The ‘messy middle’ means that many shoppers research, explore, evaluate, and discover all at the same time, across multiple channels. Build your content to engage with customers at their stage of the journey - blogs, display ads, sponsored content, remarketing. 

2. Create connections with consumers 

Authenticity has become a buzz word but doesn’t mean it’s any less important to your marketing strategy. With so much choice and competition in the online space, you need to create a strong brand in order to stand out and stop the online scroll in its tracks. People buy from people, so share your human side. Captivate with your content, inspire with your results, and be consistent with your values. 

3. Build trust first, sell later 

Focusing on building long lasting relationships and fostering brand loyalty is the key to increasing the lifetime value of customers and growing your business (The Consumer Trends Index 2023). Show consumers why they should shop with you and reward them for doing so - loyalty and affiliate programmes, personalised content, and offers. As 59% of consumers are prepared to pay more to purchase from their preferred brands, creating that loyalty is vital to increasing sales. 

Sell the way they want to shop 

We’ve already mentioned that delivery options can have a real impact on online shopper decision making, but how else can you move the needle in your favour? Selling to consumers the way they want to shop is the only way to grow 

1.Functional ecommerce sites for smartphones 

Mobile optimisation is essential for a frictionless user experience. Make it as easy as possible for consumers to find what they are looking for, without any design or functionality barriers getting in the way. Bigger buttons, smaller images, auto-fill forms, and relevant content optimised for SEO. 

2. Live commerce

Selling specific products through an online livestream broadcast can catapult consumers from the awareness stage to purchase. It gives consumers the opportunity to ask questions about the products, get to know the brand, and access to on-the-spot promotions. If it’s done well, it’s a great way of raising brand profile and awareness, and is a growing trend on platforms such as TikTok, as well as through retailers own websites. Analysis by McKinley indicates that live commerce could account for as much as 20% of all e-commerce by 2026. 

3. Easy to find and access 

Using Google Shopping ads is still one of the best ways of getting visibility for your products. There are over 3.5bn searches per day on Google, and Shopping Ads massively outpace standard search ads overall. And by using a 3rd party Comparison Shopping Service (CSS), like Productcaster, could help you save up to an additional 20% on your marketing spend (compared to PLAs serviced by Google), meaning you can invest in even more bid auctions.

With Google’s latest AI powered tech - PMax - you can increase your reach even further, getting in front of the right people at the right time, every time. 

How are we helping our clients 

What’s the good in having all these strategies and tactics in place if nobody can find you? At Summit and Productcaster, we are retail performance marketing experts. Our client roster currently includes 31 of the RetailX UK Top500 retailers, and we are both a Google Premium CSS Partner and Google Premier Partner agency, one of the only businesses in the UK to hold both accreditations.

It’s this close association with Google that has enabled us to get PMax up and running so quickly with so many of our clients. This optimisation of their shopping campaigns has created some amazing results, such as a 70% increase on ROI for an online jewellery retailer. 

We also have Productcaster CSS and FeedManager technology which ensures that our clients have the best, more efficient and effective tools at their disposal. Productcaster CSS is the largest in Europe with over 3bn products listed. We’re proud that ads served by Productcaster have had over 101m clicks in the last 30 days, and 12.1bn impressions, creating amazing ROI for our clients.

Want to be part of something bigger? To find out how you can switch your CSS and feed management to Productcaster, drop us an email to info@productcaster.com. 

It’s been a busy time for us as a business and we’ve welcomed a lot of new clients and partner agencies to Productcaster in the past few months. With so many new contacts, now seems like the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the people that make Productcaster the massive success that it is today.

We’re kicking off the introductions with Client Success Executive Jasmine (aka Jas). We asked her a few questions about her role, her experience, and herself. Take a read and get to know the face behind the name.

How long have you been at Productcaster and what did you do before working here?

I’ve been at Productcaster since August 2022. This is my first job since I left University, where I got a first in Modern Languages. I speak Spanish and Italian, having spent time living in both countries, and really enjoy using my language skills getting to know our mainland Europe-based clients.  

What’s your role at Productcaster?

I’m the newly appointed Client Success Executive, which means that I will be responsible for communicating with Productcaster clients when they have questions and issues, both in the UK and mainland Europe. I’ll also be helping to on-board our new clients, making sure that they have all the right information they need to make the best decisions – to use our tech for their CSS and feeds (via FeedManager)!  

What’s your work goal for the next 3 months?

Over the next 3 months I’ll be getting to grips with my new role, arranging meetings with lots of new retailers and brands who are looking to optimise their shopping campaigns. I’m really looking forward to using my language skills with more European clients – we’ve got some really exciting opportunities on the horizon and I’m really pleased to be a part of such an exciting team!  

Tell us a fascinating fact about yourself.

In 2022, I visited 6 different countries, spending around 6 months of the year abroad.

To join the growing Productcaster family of brands for CSS and FeedManager, please drop us an email to info@productcaster.com.

Complaints about monopoly hold that ecommerce giants have on the marketplace, and the disadvantages that brings for smaller competitors have come to a head in the past five years. In Europe, the result is the proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA).

In this article, we’ll give you an overview of the regulation, and more importantly, what it could mean for your Google Shopping campaigns in the future.

What is the DMA?

The Digital Markets Act is a proposed European Union regulation. Its purpose is to regulate the behaviour of large online platforms, known as Gate Keepers, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

One of the key areas of the act is the regulation of online marketplaces, like Google Shopping. The idea is that the bigger platforms will have to be more transparent in their business practices, with the aim of giving smaller businesses fairer access to the marketplace.

Despite being proposed in December 2020, the DMA is currently still under consideration by the European Union and it's not clear yet when the EU will agree on the final form – it needs to be ratified by all member states before it is adopted. Therefore, it's hard to predict an exact date for when the EU will pass the regulation to law.

Part of the initial legal challenge focused on the monopoly element around Google Shopping – namely that Google was both media owner and advertiser, which makes for a less competitive and less efficient environment for other CSS providers and consumers.

How is Productcaster involved in the DMA?

Productcaster’s CEO and owner, Martin Corcoran, was invited to Brussels in December 2022 to join 30 other key stakeholders (plus 1,500 joining online) to discuss the future of the search channel and feedback on Google’s plans to become compliant with EU, and likely UK, law.

His experience on the day and feedback was very clear – the Google Shopping channel will change substantially by March 2024.

So, what will the DMA mean for your Google Shopping campaigns?

Google knows that it needs to change and comply quickly, but how is yet to be decided. There have been calls for the Google Shopping boxes to be removed completely, citing them as economically ineffective as they supposedly limit choice for the consumer and competition.

We don’t think that this is likely to happen.

What is more probable is that CSS such as Productcaster will continue to work with Google to develop the existing Google Shopping Channel and drive better performance across the board. Which can only result in better service for businesses running Shopping campaigns and the end user.

Everyone wins.

What if you’re still using Google as your CSS?

As a leader in the CSS industry, we are very clear on this – we firmly believe that all brands should be using a 3rd party CSS. Brands that develop Google Shopping campaigns through an independent, marketing focussed CSS, like Productcaster find that they are more effective.

Not only that but working with a CSS like Productcaster saves businesses like yours up to 20% with each click (the fee charged by Google to use their service). We know this saving is real because we already represent 1,000s of brands across Europe – just look at Wayfair, New Balance, Ann Summers, Cult Beauty, La Redoute, Jo Jo Mama Bebe, Aldi – all saving money using Productcaster.

Switching to Productcaster is so simple and causes no disruption or downtime to your Shopping campaigns. And if you do have any issues, our first-class support team is on-hand to talk you through a solution quickly and efficiently.

If you'd like to find out more about switching your Google Shopping campaigns to Productcaster, either visit our FAQ section or drop us an email at info@productcaster.com.

 

 

Who are Bigvits?

Bigvits is an online retailer of food supplements and multi-vitamins, supplying premium US vitamin products to the UK and European markets. They offer a vast range of products, providing their customers with an extensive choice that they simply wouldn’t find elsewhere.

With such a wide range of products available online, it’s not surprising that Google Shopping is an essential part of their marketing activity. Bigvits allocates significant spend through the channel, so the team were very open to conversations with Productcaster about significant cost savings and campaign performance improvement.

What was the trial objective?

Simply put, Bigvits wanted to understand how far campaign performance could be improved, and what cost efficiencies could be made by moving away from Google’s own CSS to partner with Productcaster.

If performance improved and savings were made across the campaigns, the team could then either keep the budget savings and move it to the bottom line or choose to reinvest the cash into the Shopping campaign to drive sales.

So, how did we prove it?

The Productcaster team knew we had to deliver a fair test that would show the financial impact that Productcaster has on Shopping campaigns when compared directly with Google CSS.

The test was simple but effective:  For the duration of the four week trial period, we collected data on the key metrics of success according to the business

This data was then compared to the previous four weeks to observe the key differences and provide sound results.  In addition, to ensure we removed the effect of seasonality, we also compared this eight-week data period with the same period from the previous year, where Google had been the sole CSS provider.

What were the results?

The results were very encouraging to say the least.  The key results were:

In the words of our client

Ian Simmons, Bigvits’ Head of Ecommerce said, “Given our business model, it’s not surprising we rely heavily on Google Shopping to deliver a significant proportion of sales. So, any budget savings we make can have a major impact.

“The team at Productcaster approached me because they’d noticed that we were running campaigns through Google’s own CSS. They put together a trial that allowed us to test the impact Productcaster could have, and the results made the decision to switch a very easy one.

“I was quite surprised at how easy it was to move to Productcaster. I assumed it would be a lengthy integration process, or there’d be some advertising downtime, or both.  But we were up and running within an hour or two.

“The trial ran without any hitches – the only difference you could see was that our PLAs were now serving by Productcaster. And the end analysis demonstrated great results, which were qualified by the uplifts we’d seen.

“For me this has been a real eye opener, it’s not every day you can find savings like that in your marketing budget. The savings we’ve made are being reinvested into more activity, qualifying us for more auctions and delivering more traffic. That traffic gives us more opportunities to sell, which ultimately helps our bottom line.”

What’s the next step?

Bigvits continue to partner with Productcaster. As the UK has been a successful test bed for the switch, the Vyta Health Group are now looking at its European portfolio to see where Productcaster could offer similar improvements. And we’re delighted to have them onboard.

For more information on the benefits of partnering with the Google accredited Productcaster CSS, take a look at our FAQ section. Or to discuss your swap to Productcaster, just drop us an email at info@productcaster.com.

Google recently announced the launch of Comparison Listing Ads (CLAs), a new shopping ad feature for Comparison Shopping Services (CSS).

In this article, we take a look at what this entirely new advertising format means for both Productcaster, our CSS partners and consumers.

What are Comparison Listing Ads?

Comparison Listing Ads allow CSS providers to advertise a group of products in the Google Shopping auction from the CSS website.

Designed to drive additional traffic to CSS providers, Comparison Listing Ads consist of images related to the user’s search, displaying a collection of similar or related products that are available on the respective CSS platform.

Comparison Listing Ads

The CLA format will give consumers greater choice by being able to compare product prices across a number of retailers.

Where will CLAs appear?

An additional tab within the usual shopping results will indicate the presence of ‘comparison sites’. Consumers will be able to switch between both a product view and the new comparison site view.

The CLAs will appear in a second carousel for relevant searches, below the traditional Google Shopping carousel. The CLA carousel will show the user a collection of products available, allowing them to click through to view and compare on the CSS provider’s site.

However, it is worth noting that Comparison Listing Ads will only trigger when there are enough relevant ads available for a given query, currently understood to be three.

What does this mean for current Shopping results?

Comparison Listing Ads and their visibility is entirely separate to traditional Google Shopping results, and does not impact on the Shopping carousel served when a user makes a search.

The impact on the traffic available to those Shopping results as a result of consumers clicking through CLAs is not known at this stage as the ad format is still in beta. However, we will be working with our partners to understand this impact, and more so the wider opportunity that this new format presents.

Will CLAs be available on Productcaster?

Yes, Productcaster will offer CLAs.

As a Google Premium Partner, we were approached to be a part of the initial beta group and will be testing the new format prior to us launching it fully to ensure our approach really does add value both to our CSS partners and their customers.

To learn more about how you can benefit from CLAs and CSS, contact us today via email cssteam@productcaster.com or phone +44 (0)203 910 7026.

Are you a brand or agency who wants to learn how to save up to 75% on your feed management solution? Join us for our 45-minute webinar to find out how you can do exactly that.

Register for the webinar here.

The webinar will be hosted by Commercial Director of Productcaster, John Readman, and Managing Director of Marketing Technology for Summit, Dave Trolle.

Here’s what the webinar will cover:

The value of feed driven marketing

Feed driven marketing drives up to 60% of brand’s online revenue. Over recent years there has been exponential growth in channels which are primarily dependent on product feeds. We take a look at the opportunity for brands and agencies to better grow their feed driven marketing strategy.

How you can immediately profit from Feed Manager

Discover how to unlock the hidden value and gain insight into how you can profit from using a trusted feed management solution. This is an essential step that you must get right in order to maximise ROI on your feed driven marketing.

The simplicity and sophistication of our software as a service platform

Take a look at our Feed Manager solution including, publishing, optimisation, enrichment and diagnostics.

The success of brand and agencies using Productcaster

Listen to real-life case studies from brands and agencies and learn how using Productcaster has improved their online marketing strategy to drive success.

Interactive live Q&A

At the end of the webinar, you’ll be given the opportunity to learn, discuss and debate with like-minded peers and industry specialists.

Register for the webinar here.

In the meantime, why not sign up for your own FREE feed report to reveal missed opportunities, and improve the efficiency and revenue from your feed driven marketing.

Ensuring you keep your feed well optimised is one of the most important areas of your Shopping Campaigns. In fact, it’s key to their success. Making sure all the parts come together harmoniously to entice shoppers to click on your product will result in more revenue and engagement.

There are, however, there are numerous opportunities that agencies and brands miss when it comes to product feeds. In this article, we share our thoughts on what some of those opportunities are and how to make the most of them.

Poorly Structured Titles

Google has been kind enough to give a decent character count for your titles, so utilise it. It’s important to list any relevant product details as well as the brand, if the item is a branded product of course. The first 45 characters should include the most important attributes with the last 25 including other relevant information like product colour and size.

Titles should always be unique to the product you are marketing. If it’s a product variant, make sure you add something unique into the title to differentiate them from one another. Avoid keyword stuffing however and leave out block capital letters. Promotional text that discusses price and sale dates should be left out of your titles and added to the product descriptions.

In a nutshell, view your ads from the consumer’s perspective. If something isn’t obvious from the product image, then try to put this information at the beginning of your title so that it becomes obvious to your customers.

Tommy Hilfiger Poor Title Structure Ad

Short & Dull Product Descriptions

If you are selling a couch, should you call it a couch, a sofa or a settee? The right keywords are paramount in both your title and description. In this instance, sofa has a higher search volume than the other two, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t use those words elsewhere. Add sofa to the title and expand your reach by including settee and couch in the description.

On the subject of keywords, it’s important not to overwhelm your description by stuffing search terms in there. Try to make it sound as natural as possible while providing all the relevant information in engaging and attractive copy. You have up to 5,000 characters to play with, but users will need to click to expand a longer description, so it’s worth bearing that in mind.

Stock Availability Discrepancies

It is important to keep your availability information up to date. Imagine it from a consumer perspective: you see a stylish table lamp for sale at a great price and even better, it’s in stock.

Naturally, you click through to buy the product only to be told it’s out of stock. Not only is this frustrating but it reduces the chance of you buying from that brand again, and brand loyalty is especially important in the current retail climate.

Ensuring that the availability attribute in your product data matches that of your landing page will mean users shouldn’t try to buy a product that you don’t have in stock.

Pricing Issues

A common oversight brands and agencies often make is relying on a site scrape alone to update their pricing. Although not an issue if the site is relevant and up to date, challenges may arise if the site does not align with promotions and frequent pricing changes.

A more reliable process would include a feed management solution which accounts for numerous price changes per day. This is particularly important for retailers who change promotions or are in sales.

Missing/Incorrect Unique Product Identifiers

Unique product identifiers do pretty much what they say on the tin. They define the product that you are selling within the global marketplace. Common examples of UPIs include Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs) and brand names.

Unique Product Identifiers

The purpose of including UPIs is to simply make your ads richer and easier for users to find. When it comes to GTINs however, not all products have one assigned, meaning there is no need to submit one. It’s important though that if an item does have a GTIN, it is submitted as the product could be disapproved if you don’t. Some examples of products that may not have an assigned GTIN include:

It’s important to note that the GTIN/EAN number must be valid and match what is in Google’s own database. If the number isn’t valid, it will be flagged by Google in the Merchant Centre.

Those are just a few of the opportunities that agencies and brands can miss in their product feeds. If you’d like to find out more about how Productcaster can help you unlock the hidden value in your feed and beyond, get in touch with the team today by calling +44 (0)203 910 7026 or email cssteam@productcaster.com