Google Shopping has been rolled out in Canada for all users just in time for the holiday shopping season. With Google Shopping, businesses can list their products for free on the Google Shopping tab. This gives businesses an advantage when marketing their products because it will create greater engagement with customers. During COVID-19, more people are likely to shop online, and that shopping journey often starts on Google.
To make the most of this rollout, businesses can shift their focus to eCommerce activities and combine the free listings on Google Shopping with paid ads to get even more exposure for their products. However, the process to get your eCommerce business set-up with Google Shopping requires time and important set-up work before it goes live.
While the process to connect your website and eCommerce plugin is fairly simple, it can be a more complex process to get approval and complete the set-up with Google Shopping.
To get started with Google Shopping, you will need to:
Connect your eCommerce plugin
The first step is to connect the eCommerce platform you are using on your website, like Shopify and WooCommerce. Other platforms with existing partnerships with Google will also be available to connect with Google Shopping. Once the account is launched, you can start to set-up your products on Google Shopping.
Submit your shopping feed
Once the connection is made, you will need to submit your shopping feed (a listing of your products) to Google Merchant. Similar to Google My Business, this process can be time-consuming to set-up. However, there are some tricks you can use – like this extension for WooCommerce – to assist with the process. It will take a couple of weeks to complete the set-up process and get approved. You can find more tips on how to complete this process here.
Create your policy page
A policy page is essential for eCommerce sites to let customers know about your shipping and return/refund processes. Before you create the page, it’s important to consider what options you are offering to customers. For example, if you are not offering shipping and only pick-up options, then you’ll need to make this clear in your policy.
At a minimum, your shipping policy should describe what shipping options are available, how long it will take, what price each option is, any cut-off times for orders, and restrictions on shipping locations. A return/refund policy must include details on if returns or exchanges are possible, what needs to be done by the customer to complete the process, time restrictions, and any fee reductions for returns. This online guide provides templates to set up these policies for your eCommerce website.
The time needed to completely get set-up with Google Shopping means the earlier you can start, the better. At this time of year, customers are looking for online retail options more than ever. This is the time to take advantage of the holiday season and upcoming major retail shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day.
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