Google Local Inventory Integration

Google Local Inventory Integration

This guide will help you set up local product feeds to showcase your in-store inventory through Google Ads campaigns and free listings. Local inventory ads allow customers to see what products are available in your physical stores when they search on Google.

Prerequisites

Before setting up your local feeds, ensure you have:
  1. Google Business Profile for each store location
  2. Google Merchant Center account
  3. Store locations configured in your PushRetail dashboard
  4. Valid user credentials for accessing protected feeds

Step 1: Configure Google Place IDs


Each physical store location needs to be associated with its Google Place ID.

  1. Log into your PushRetail dashboard
  2. Navigate to Marketing → Stores
  3. Select the store location you want to configure
  4. Scroll to Store Settings at the bottom of the page
  5. Find your Google Place ID:
    - Visit https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/place-id
    - Search for your store location on the map
    - Copy the Place ID code
  6. Paste the Place ID into the Google Place ID field
  7. Save your changes

Important: Each store location requires its own unique Place ID. Repeat this process for all store locations.

Step 2: Access Your Local Feed URLs

PushRetail provides four types of local feeds:

All Products Feeds

  1. Local Inventory Feed: https://yourwebsite.com/csv/local-inventory.csv
    1. Contains: store_code, itemid, price, quantity, sale_price, availability
    2. Shows real-time stock levels for all products across all stores
  2. Local Products Feed: https://yourwebsite.com/csv/local-products.csv
    1. Contains: id, title, description, image_link, condition, gtin, brand, price
    2. Provides product catalog information for all products

Product Group Feeds

For targeted campaigns, you can use product group-specific feeds:
  1. Group Inventory Feed: https://yourwebsite.com/csv/{group-id}/local-inventory.csv
    1. Replace {group-id} with your product group ID
    2. Shows inventory only for products in that group
  2. Group Products Feed: https://yourwebsite.com/csv/{group-id}/local-products.csv
    1. Replace {group-id} with your product group ID
    2. Shows product data only for products in that group

Step 3: Feed Authentication

All local feeds are password-protected for security. You'll need:
  - Username: Your Push dashboard username
  - Password: Your Push dashboard password

When accessing feeds directly or configuring them in Google Merchant Center, use HTTP Basic Authentication with these credentials.

Step 4: Configure Feeds in Google Merchant Center

  1. Sign in to https://merchants.google.com
  2. Navigate to Products → Feeds
  3. Click the + button to add a new feed
  4. Select Local products inventory as the feed type
  5. Configure the primary feed:
    - Name: "Local Products"
    - Input method: "Scheduled fetch"
    - File URL: Your local products feed URL
    - Fetch frequency: Daily
    - Authentication: Basic auth with your credentials
  6. Add the supplemental inventory feed:
    - Click "Add supplemental feed"
    - Name: "Local Inventory"
    - File URL: Your local inventory feed URL
    - Same authentication settings
  7. Map your store codes to Google Business Profile locations
  8. Review and activate the feed

Step 5: Verify Feed Processing

After setup:
  1. Check feed status in Merchant Center (may take 24-48 hours)
  2. Review any errors or warnings
  3. Ensure products show "in_stock" availability for stores with inventory
  4. Verify Place IDs are correctly matched

Using Product Groups

Product groups allow you to create targeted local campaigns for specific product categories, brands, or custom selections:

  1. Create product groups in your PushRetail dashboard
  2. Note the group ID from the URL or admin panel
  3. Use the group-specific feed URLs in separate Merchant Center feeds
  4. Create targeted local campaigns for each product group

Troubleshooting

Feed returns "Authorisation Required"

  - Verify your username and password are correct
  - Ensure you're using HTTP Basic Authentication
  - Contact your account manager if credentials don't work

Products not showing in local results

  - Confirm Google Place IDs are correctly set for all stores
  - Verify stock levels are greater than 0 in the inventory feed
  - Check that products have all required fields (brand, title, barcode)
  - Ensure products are marked with merchant_feed = 1

Store locations not matching

  - Verify store_code in feeds matches Google Business Profile setup
  - Check that Google Place IDs are valid and active
  - Ensure stores have google_id field populated in the database

Best Practices

  1. Update Frequency: Set inventory feeds to update multiple times daily for accurate stock levels
  2. Product Groups: Use product groups for seasonal campaigns or category-specific promotions
  3. Monitoring: Regularly check feed health in Merchant Center
  4. Testing: Start with a small product group to test your setup before enabling all products

Need Help?

 If you encounter issues or need assistance:
  - Contact your Push PaidAds account manager
  - Provide specific error messages from Google Merchant Center
  - Include your feed URLs and any authentication issues

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