In April 2019, Google Shopping clients were notified of shipping requirement changes for sellers in certain countries.
As of July 31st, 2019, the countries listed in this blog post require google shipping rates to be provided for their products in Google Shopping. Any missing information will generate errors in Google Merchant Center (GMC) and won’t be eligible to appear in ads.
Find out which countries are affected, why Google made this update, and what you can do as a seller to comply with the new rules.
Google Shipping Changes: Countries Affected
Google Shopping sellers from the following countries are required to provide shipping rates for their products or they won’t be eligible to appear on the platform as of July 31st, 2019.
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Ireland
- Poland
Why Google Shopping Ads Shipping Changed
Why did Google Merchant Centre decide to make shipping rates mandatory?
“When trying to find the best deal online, users prefer to know the full cost of an item, including the cost of shipping. Many abandon purchases at the checkout once they discover that they will be charged an additional shipping fee. We require shipping rates for all products so that we can display the full cost of products on Shopping ads.”
Google is looking at the entire user experience and wants to provide the best experience for its audience so they will keep clicking on its ads. The easier it is for people to shop on their platform, the more they will click on the ads. The ROI then increases for both Google and the seller.
How to Comply with Google Shipping Changes
Here are a few tips to get started complying with the new rules.
- Be proactive before the deadline of July 31st, 2019. Go to the Diagnostics page of your GMC account to review which products are impacted.
- Once you have an idea of your current status, go to the Shipping page in your GMC account to add the information for every product.
Another other option is to add this data through your feed. You can add it at the item level by using the ‘shipping’ attribute in your feed.
Get more details about Google Shopping account-level shipping and item-level shipping.
Next Steps
Looking to get more information about Google shipping changes? Send us an email at info@highstreet.io and learn how we can help you optimize your product feed for the best Google Shopping Campaigns results.