Get Ready Merchants – Official New Google Shopping Date is Approaching

Posted by on October 8, 2012 in Comparison Shopping, Google Shopping, Paid Search

 

Get ready retailers, the day of reckoning is approaching.  No I’m not talking about December 21, I’m talking about October 17th. Google Shopping will officially be a paid engine as of October 17th.  There will be no more freebies from Google after that, and all of its traffic will go through Paid Listing Advertisements and Adwords.

Prepare yourselves with CPC and CPA knowledge for this change if you haven’t already.  Fortunately, we’re already prepared and our willing to share to ensure your survival.  Check out our comprehensive ebook on Google Shopping so that you’re not left in the dark.

About the AuthorStudying Psychology and Business, Jon Gregoire is an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego while working as a Social Media Content Strategist for CPC Strategy. Jon is dedicated to delivering inspirational, thought-provoking articles for the CPC blog and is not afraid of "stirring the pot" a little. You can reach Jon at jon@cpcstrategy.com. See all posts by this author here.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=573352563 Jordan McClements

    Not in the UK.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=532559310 Terri Elofson Bly

    Here is my experience thus far of Google Shopping as a replacement for Google Merchant:

    1. I now pay for traffic I used to get for free, assuming:
    2. I spend the countless hours required to figure out just how the h*** Google Shopping works, even with the use of CPC’s guide. And let’s face it, it is only semi-helpful, which I reckon is on purpose, so that I hire them (or someone else) to figure this all out for me, in which case I’m:
    3. Now spending even more money to hire someone to figure out how I can pay Google for traffic and sales I used to get for free.

    And I’m supposed to do all this with money I don’t have, during the free time I haven’t had since launching my own business. Google needs to stop trying to justify this change as some kind of improvement to anyone’s eCommerce experience, as that just adds insult to injury. It’s about profit, obviously, and if it comes at the expense of small business, so be it. After all, that’s how capitalism works.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000442788728 Andrew Davis

      Ok lets real: You shouldn’t be managing Google Shopping in the first place. You’re a business owner, and to have you sit down and read that book and try to master Google Shopping is a waste of your time. You have bigger fish to fry.

      Maybe you hire an intern who can handle the marketing channel more directly than you. You have 100 things on your plate to do at all times. You’re not going to spend the time to manage the channel effectively.

      Lets get more real: We’ve been managing Google Shopping for more than 5 years now. Expecting to master a marketing channel and data feeds through a book, is, you’re right, not realistic at all.

      For beauty products, it’s a tough category on any paid marketing channel. Your AOVs are usually lower than other retailers, but your margins are high. The only retailers I’ve found that are successful in your category have an extremely strong repeat customer business where they can use paid marketing channels as a loss leader in order to get more customers to come back direct and convert.

      One of our clients does this with nearly 1 out of every 2 new customers that comes to his store. This is the code you need to focus on unlocking. Until then, most CPC channels are going to look like a waste of time to you, and they probably are!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=532559310 Terri Elofson Bly

      Thanks for the reply, Andrew. What has me most frustrated, though, is that the website was doing fine before, with Google Merchant. I had a steady revenue stream, while focusing growth on targeting new customers through other marketing strategies (blogs, online magazines, etc). I have a brick and mortar, too, and the reliable web revenue allowed me to focus more on the local biz, which is growing as well. But then Google decides to get greedy(er), and just like that, web revenue tumbles, and I have to figure out how and where to divert funds and time to what had been the easiest part (although hardly EASY) of the business to maintain. Thus, the brick and mortar suffers, along with my sanity.

      To be clear, I get that business is never something that will function on auto-pilot. But it’s the bit abut having to spend time and money in an area – Google Shopping – that required little of either that feels like an unnecessary and unfortunate setback.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000442788728 Andrew Davis

      How much of your web revenue was coming from Google Shopping when it was free? Sounds like that was a problem waiting to happen. Just like you mentioned with Amazon, these two juggernauts are not traffic sources you want to rely on for your livelihood (or say more than 20% of total revenue each).

      Have you checked out working with affiliates? Sounds like you have the right idea around content, just figuring out how to make that remarkable and to stomp out your competition is always a challenge, but I’d be happy to have a conversation with you if you’re interested to see what markets you could better serve.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000442788728 Andrew Davis

      Terri you should join this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecommercegroup/ I’d add you but I’m not a friend of yours on Facebook. If you want to friend request me I can add you, or you might be able to request to join and John Lawson the owner will let you in.

      Really cool group of merchants that share a lot of similar issues that you do. We all work together to solve them.