As you may have noticed, Google My Business listings have been gradually increasing in size over recent years, notably with the introduction of Google Posts, Q&A and Popular times! But when we think ‘omni-channel’, we also think about our products, inventory and pricing

You may have noticed with some retailers that it is now possible to display product inventory directly on an establishment’s Google listing, as shown below: the Samsung Galaxy is in stock at Darty Rennes, but there could also be limited stock remaining or it could be sold out. In this case, the Internet user would be redirected to the nearest point of sale that had this product in stock.
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According to a study performed by Google and Ipsos in 2014, 83% of Internet users would be more likely to visit a store if they could check the availability of a product beforehand! This Google feature helps avoid calls from customers who want to check the availability of their iPhone 7, for example, as they can check product inventory at the point of sale and also get information on prices, scores and precise specifications, as shown below! This feature is very much in keeping with an omni-channel offering,

but how do you access it? The Partoo teams are here to tell you a little more about it...

You’re probably already familiar with Google Shopping, a Google product that allows e-commerce websites to sell their products on Google, if you type ‘washing machine’, for example, in your search bar. When you want to enter information into Google Shopping, you will need to access what is known as the Merchant Center, where you can manage the catalogue of products that you sell online (SKUs, pricing, description, etc.). If you offer a very large number of product lines, you may already be using the Merchant Center API or have decided to outsource this task to a specialist service provider.

As you may have already realised, there is just one step that separates the Google Shopping product catalogue and the point-of-sale catalogue on Google My Business: inventory levels! With the launch of Local Inventory Ads in the US in 2016, Google started bridging the gap between e-commerce and physical commerce by allowing retailers to add inventory from physical points of sale to Google Shopping.

Anyone with admin access to your Merchant Center account can contact the Partoo team and link your GMB accounts to your Merchant Center one.

Follow these simple steps to send us an account link request:

1. Firstly, go to your Merchant Center account

2. Click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner to display the menu, then go to Account linking

3. Then click on the Google My Business tab

4. Click on the + sign under Google My Business account

5. Ask your Partoo account manager for the Google My Business management email address and enter it

6. Click on Send request and the Partoo teams will automatically be notified

You can track the status of your link request via your Merchant Center (approved, pending or denied). Once the link has been approved, simply proceed as follows:

1. Click on + Establishments on the Google My Business tab in the Merchant Center

2. Choose the establishments you want to connect and click on Add

Now that you have linked your Google My Business and Merchant Center accounts, you need to update your point-of-sale inventory:

To do this, you will need to set up your in-store product inventory feed directly in your Merchant Center, either via CSV feed or JSON API. The idea here is to link an inventory to each product and for each ‘Store code’, i.e. for each of your establishments. This information, which should ideally be updated daily, will then be displayed on your Google My Business pages, making it visible to millions of Internet users every day

This is where Partoo's expertise in product inventory management ends! To learn more about this topic, you can either visit the Google FAQs covering this issue or contact us using the Partoo chat feature so that we can put you in touch with a service provider who can help you with any point-of-sale product flow issues you might have.