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We can all agree that 2020 has been a roller coaster ride since the start. Be it wildfires, COVID-19, or the major Google free listing update. And with updates comes confusion and questions. Do Google free listing mean no “Buy on Google” commissions? How does Google free listing affect the Buy On Google listings? And so on and so forth. So let’s clear the air with these FAQs about Buy On Google.
Did you know about the new opportunity that lets you keep all your profits to yourself? With the exclusion of commission fees from the “Buy on Google” programs, you can enjoy all the profits made through your sales. Grab the opportunity with us today!
What is “Buy on Google”?
In the year 2013, Google launched its marketplace called Google Express and in the year 2018 Buy On Google was launched. Buy On Google is a program in the Merchant Center that lets you list on the marketplace. In late 2019, Google eliminated the term Google Express and Buy On Google became the marketplace where you can list your products for free. Now, Google has updated the term Google Shopping Actions to “Buy on Google”.
What is the eligibility for the “Buy on Google”?
To be able to list your products on “Buy on Google”, you require two things essentially: a Merchant Center account and an error-free product feed(your product details arranged in a way Google understands). Moreover, Keep in mind that currently, it’s mandatory to link your PayPal business account to Google Merchant Center in order to get approval for Buy on Google.
Eligibility criteria:(for the US)
- You must be able to deliver your products in the US, handle returns within the US, and be a legally registered business incorporated in either of these countries- India, Canada, and the US. You must accept payments using a US bank account. Now you can accept payments with your PayPal account.
- Your inventory should be free of the prohibited products.
- You must comply with returns and customer support standards and policies.
- A valid government-issued ID. eg: driver’s license or passport.
‘Buy on Google’ program in France will be ending on December 7, 2021. For more updates or support, get in touch with the experts at CedCommerce here!
How is the “Buy on Google” program beneficial to me?
“Buy on Google” is packed with everything you need to skyrocket your eCommerce business.
- Getting your products on Buy On Google means you give your products a global platform with an abundance of high buying intent customers. And with 3.5 billion searches happening every day on Google Search guarantees a boost to your business.
- There are absolutely no seller fees and listing your products on Buy On Google is free. However, there are “Buy on Google” commissions, where you pay when you make a sale (as of July 2020, “Buy on Google” is commission-free).
- The one prevalent thing with modern-day shoppers is the ease while shopping. With the ease of shopping comes loyalty. “Buy on Google” takes care of just that. With same-day and free delivery, shoppers are inclined to shop more on Google Shopping and this, in turn, will increase your sales.
- When you start to sell on Google Shopping, your brand visibility grows as your Google Shopping stores will have your own logo.
- You get to sell amongst the giants such as Target and Costco that give you a competitive environment, which is an important ingredient for success.
Is “Buy on Google” Free?
Yes, listing and selling your products on the “Buy on Google” program is absolutely free as of July 2020.
Is the “Buy on Google” program more useful than Ads?
Buy On Google is as beneficial as Shopping Ads because:
- “Buy on Google” is totally free.
- You get to keep customer data such as their email addresses that you can later use for your email marketing campaigns. Also, different studies have shown that email marketing has accounted for upto 25% of the ROAS.
- “Buy on Google” offers loyalty programs to sellers, in which they are rewarded by “Buy on Google” buy box wins and other incentives! You can choose customer support by Google for the Buy on Google program and it will manage all your customer support requests without you having to worry about it.
Read more about Shopping Ads here.
Do people get lots of orders on “Buy on Google” Products?
Approximately 40% of global users say they use Google to find the best deal which means your products get exposure to this 40% of high buying intent users. Moreover, many retailers on “Buy on Google” products reported a 33% GMV growth.
How do I set up “Buy on Google” Products?
Before you set up you would require a Merchant Center account and a product feed. Additionally, you will require:
- Your branding assets
- Taxing and shipping details
- Return Details
- Establish user roles
- Banking information
- Tax ID
Upon logging into your Merchant Center account, you can easily navigate to Merchant Programs in the left-hand navigation panel. Apply to the “Buy on Google” program, where you will fill out all the above information and upload your product feed. And voila your store is live!
Top product categories to sell on Buy on Google in 2021
Any product category performs best on Buy on Google but considering the current pandemic, these product categories are doing well:
- Beauty and makeup tools
- Fashion and footwear items
- Toys, hobbies, and DIY
- Electronics and media
- Food, health, and wellness
- Furniture and appliances
- Home garden
- Fragrance and oils
- Pet products
- Hi-tech products and accessories
- Sport and travel accessories
- Fine jewelry
What are the commission rates for Buy on Google?
Commission rates are usually between 5 to 15% and depend upon different product categories. For instance, the Animals and Pets supplies category has 12% commission rate. Check out the entire list here.
Did you hear about the fantastic news from Google? Google has now allowed sellers to showcase their products on Google Shopping through Google Merchant Center. Thus, a major part of the Google Shopping page is going to be occupied by these free listings. All they need to do is create an optimized Shopping Feed via the Merchant Center and make sure Surfaces Across Google is Active. Enjoy this unpaid experience and create your Google Shopping Feed now:
Does Google’s free listing mean no Buy on Google commission?
Yes, As of July 2020, “Buy on Google” products are absolutely commission-free.
As both the programs, Free listing and Buy On Google are free, combining the power of both of these programs can be beneficial, as your products will appear on Google Search and Google Shopping which will boost your product’s exposure. Don’t have an online business? This is not only a great step to move online, but also it is totally free.
If you own a local business, Google has a program for you as well. To test the waters, you can use Local free listing that lets you get your offline inventory organically on Google, and it is a free program. Once you have a knowledge of how your products are doing online, you can go further with Local Inventory Ads, which could really skyrocket your sales.
Be it Free Listings, Buy On Google, Local Free Listings, or Local Inventory Ads, we have resources and integration that can help you get closer to your success.
Are there any third-party tools for product feed?
An essential aspect of selling on Google Shopping is nailing the product feed because if you mess this up, your products will be rejected. In order to make sure that you get it right and there is no error, you can use the third-party tools which not only offer an error-free product feed but also provides bulk uploads, inventory synchronization, category mapping, order management and much more.
Wherever you are, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify, or Opencart, we have an integration for you! Check it out. Now list your products on Google Shopping through WooCommerce Google Product feed integration, BigCommerce Google Shopping integration, and Shopify Google Shopping Feed & Actions app are absolutely free.
How are orders fulfilled?
Merchants are responsible for the fulfillment. Here is a list of carriers supported by Buy On Google:
- UPS
- USPS
- FedEx
- DHL
- eCourier
- CXT
- OnTrac
- Emsy
- Ont
- Deliv
- Dynamex
- Lasership
- MPX
- UDS
What is the average GMV with Buy On Google?
Google itself reported upto 30% GMV growth for most of the merchants on the Buy On Google program. Combining Buy on Google with our integration, some retailers even saw a mind-blowing 500% GMV growth. Which is something you can achieve too!
Note GMV- Gross Merchandise Value, defined as the total value of goods sold.
Conclusion
There you have it, all FAQs about Buy on Google. If you have any further queries about Buy On Google, please feel free to ask them in the comment section below.
So if you are an Indian seller, US seller, or Canadian seller, you can join the “Buy on Google” program today, which is backed up with a CedCommerce guarantee since we are an official partner of Buy On Google. Experience our award-winning services!
I'm happy to give Google our information if it helps more people to find our stores, but allowing the entire transaction to happen on Google? Honestly I don't see how this can benefit us, or any other retailer for that matter.
No branding, no analytics and no customer data means that we can't build a relationship with the people we sell to. If you work for Google, you might think this is a good thing. Like most businesses, marketing isn't our core function, so as a fashion retailer we can devote more time to sourcing the best clothes. Win/Win Right?
But clothes aren't the product we sell. We sell advice. It's how to structure the perfect outfit, how to style yourself and how to wear things with confidence.
If we encourage our customers to buy on Google we don't just lose the ability to upsell or build an email list. It's not even the increased exposure to competitors and the risk that Google will pitch us against each other in an ad bidding war that's the worst thing. The greatest downside is that we'd cannibalise our core product. Instead of helping our customers find a person who has empathy and can assist them in real life, we're giving them substandard ML recommendations which show the same products everyone else bought.
The survival of our business is dependant on converting our online relationships into real life ones. Buy on Google does the opposite.
Hello Lachlan,
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable views with us. It is really a great experience to gain different perspectives. Here we are addressing your concerns one by one to the best of our capacity:
1. Actually, exactly like any other marketplace, the Buy on Google (formerly known as Google Shopping Actions) is the only platform that offers the convenience of completing the transaction on the Google platform. Please remember for this transaction as well as the sale you make through Google Shopping Actions, you do not pay a single dime to Google. This is because Google Shopping Actions is completely commission-free. So even if the transaction is made through the Google platform, you get the entire amount for the sale in your account.
2. Additionally, the Google Shopping platform organically ranks your store based on the keywords that match the customer's search (and Google does not charge you anything for this service as well). Once the customer selects a product from your store organically listed on Google Shopping, they are redirected to your store where they complete the transaction.
Note: These services are only available for customers in the US for now.
3. Google Shopping platform extensively provides you with branding opportunities. Your brand name appears right on top, with the product name. The customer is also redirected to the online store hosting your product and your brand identity. Furthermore, the same thing happens with Buy on Google. These platfroms do not hide your brand identity or uniqueness. Whereas Google Merchant Center is riddled with different provisions for you to gain insights into your performance and in-depth analytics.
4. Your business model, on the other hand, does not fit the Product based platform, that is Google Shopping and Buy on Google. As your core product is service or "advice" as we have understood based on your explanation, you have other options to list yourself. Google My Business and Google Ads are two alternatives you can pick up.
Once again, we really enjoyed this interaction. Thank you for reaching out to us. If you wish, we can further assist you or take is discussion one step ahead. Get in touch with us at: https://cedcommerce.com/contacts
Team CedCommerce
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