Holiday Preparation Part 3: Preparing for Holiday Sales with Google Shopping Actions

[Ed. Note: If you’d like to have a quick conversation with one of our e-commerce consultants about Google Shopping Actions, or start the approval process with Google, fill out this quick form.] 

Late summer is traditionally when we see online sellers expand to new third-party marketplaces. It’s the perfect time of year to identify new markets, take the steps to get approved by the marketplaces and ensure all your listings are live and ready to go before the busy holiday season hits.  

One of the most popular new marketplaces we’ve seen in 2018 is Google Express.

Since Google unveiled its new Google Shopping Actions program earlier this year, the race to get products on Google Express has heated up. Naturally, the increase in Google Express sellers will become especially relevant this holiday season, as more Google Express listings appear on the Google search results page and ultimately take a bigger share of search traffic and clicks.

What is Google Shopping Actions?

If you weren’t already aware, Google Shopping Actions is a relatively new program that allows sellers to surface their products across multiple Google touchpoints at once, including Google search, Google Express and via Google Assistant.

For the consumer, Shopping Actions connects the expanding Google ecosystem with a single, universal cart — across desktops, mobile devices and Google Home.

With summer now drawing to a close and the holiday shopping frenzy approaching quickly, sellers are racing to sign up for Shopping Actions and get their products listed and live on Google Express.

Not sure where to start? This week, we held the third webinar in our Holiday E-Commerce Strategy Series, which focused on Google Shopping Actions and how you can leverage it for this holiday season.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what you missed:

Mobile shopping has changed the game

Mobile has made shopping more convenient for consumers, but the proliferation of mobile devices in recent years has also changed — and continues to change — consumer expectations.

According to Google data from the past two years, modern consumers are more curious, more demanding and more impatient than ever before:

• More curious — Consumers increasingly research the small stuff. In the past two years, there has been a 55% increase in searches for “ideas” on mobile.
• More demanding — They demand personal relevance in-the-moment — even without spelling out the request. One in three mobile users expect personalized recommendations.
• More impatient — They expect their needs to be met immediately. Search interest in “same day shipping” has increased 120%.

As technology advances, users have come to expect all digital experiences to be helpful, personal, frictionless. And armed with more information at their fingertips than ever before, mobile shoppers are able to sneak important shopping tasks into quick, otherwise wasted moments.

Getting Prepped for the Holidays

After you’ve initiated the onboarding process, make sure your listings are ready for the holiday season.

1. Feeds — Ensure all eligible SKUs in your product feed are opted into Shopping Actions — you can’t sell it if it isn’t opted in! Also, frequently check the Diagnostics tab of Merchant Center using the “Shopping Actions” drop down to ensure all opted in SKUs are approved — data quality is an easy fix.
2. Orders — Fulfill orders as quickly as possible and within the stated handling time. It gets busy during the holidays, but staying ahead of your order volume will ensure you provide the best customer experience.
3. Offers — When possible, offer competitive pricing and quick shipping. Price and shipping SLAs are often the deciding factors for customers when multiple retailers sell the same product.

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If you haven’t signed up with Google Actions yet, take time today to get the process started. That way, you’ll have ample opportunity to start testing different types of product ads to see which work best for your products.

Don’t forget! There are still two more upcoming sessions in our five-part holiday strategy series. View the full series to see what’s next, secure your spot for live events and catch up on any sessions you missed.