Google Shopping Roundup 2020: Growth In An Unexpected Year

One of the prominent words in 2020 was- Unexpected times. Yet all the marketplaces set an example by still supporting the sellers and customers, which resulted in significant growth. One such eCommerce giant is – Google Shopping. Google Shopping brought about many changes and updates that resonate well with consumers’ changed behavior and help empower sellers. So how did Google Shopping do it? What were the significant changes and updates? And how did it bring positive change for sellers and consumers? Let’s dive into this Google Shopping roundup for 2020!

Major changes in the Q1: Google Shopping roundup 2020

Towards the end of the year 2019, Google Shopping went through some major changes. Google diminished the term Google Express, and Google Shopping Actions became the new marketplace.

Towards the end of the Q1, when the world was going under lockdowns, Google Shopping went under no new changes. During Q1, brands adapted to the new consumers’ needs and tried to find new ways to balance remote working and business.

Google Shopping took this time to closely study the behavior changes and address the sellers’ needs.

Opened doors for Indian and Canadian business owners

Google offered this excellent opportunity for the Indian and Canadian business owners looking for business expansion. This update allowed the respective countries’ business owners to sell cross border.

To make sellers feel safe while doing business in other countries, Google implemented order cut-off time, which excludes the day of the order placed from the total delivery time. To create trustworthiness from a customer’s point of view, this program comes with a Google-backed guarantee.

Major changes in the Q2, Q3, and Q4- Google Shopping roundup 2020

Free advertising for business

In Q2, Google Shopping took the eCommerce world by storm with its series of amazing updates. It started with the announcement that it will be free to list your products on Google Shopping. This update allowed sellers to surface their products on Google Shopping at no cost. For the pandemic stricken businesses, it was a sigh of relief.

Next came the announcement that Google is bringing the free listing to the Google search. This announcement now makes advertising on Google free and accessible to all businesses.

You can access the detailed reports of your free listing on your Google Merchant Center account.

Initially, the free listings rolled out for the US only, but later in October, Google introduced this program in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Paypal partnership

With the Paypal partnership introduction, sellers can simplify the onboarding and payment process, subsequently making the checkout process easier for its customers.

Small, medium, and local businesses

One of the major highlights of Google Shopping roundup 2020 was how Google supported small, medium and local businesses. In this and the subsequent quarters, Google Shopping mainly focused on the small, medium, and local businesses as these were the most affected businesses.

To tackle this issue, Google compiled many free and incredible tools for local and small businesses. It includes tools to test your websites, create free surveys, industry trends to help gain an edge against your competitors, an all-in-one local business tool- Google My Business, keyword planner tool that helps select the best keywords for your ad campaigns. Feel free to read more about it here!

Google introduced a local free listing program in Google Merchant Center, which made it free for every local business to advertise on Google. Moreover, advertising on Google Maps became free.

Simplifying selling

Google also announced that you can now submit other marketplaces’ feeds directly on Google Merchant Center. So you can now submit the product feed that you already use for different marketplaces without much tweaking.

Buy On Google- Commission free!

Google excluded all the commission fees and made the Buy On Google platform available for all businesses. This update allows sellers to keep all their profits to themselves.

Shop by stores- Addition of some amazing filters

Shop by stores lets one filter out the Google Shopping search results by stores. This update saves a lot of time for customers. This also allows your loyal customers to find your brand better.

Local Services Ads

As the consumers stayed home, Local services such as Home Improvement, Electricians, Plumbings, and other domestic maintenance services became mostly popular across the Globe. The searches for local services increased by 25% in Europe alone.

Google devised a program called- Local Services Ads, which surfaced for the first time in 2015. It was limited to the US only. But when the need came, Google made this program available in 10 European countries including, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.

The professionals can now connect with the local population with a Google Guarantee Badge, which creates a sense of trustworthiness.

How CedCommerce helped in unexpected times?

To empower the Google Shopping sellers, CedCommerce made its different integrations free:

1. Shopify app: Shopping Feed for Google. We made it free for merchants to list unlimited Shopify products on Google Shopping.
2. WooCommerce integration: You can get your products on Google Shopping straight from your WooCommerce store for free without worrying about creating a quality product feed that complies with all of Google’s guidelines.
3. Bigcommerce integration: You can submit upto 10k SKUs for free to Google Shopping.

We are not stopping there. We want to help you further create your dream business and boost it. Let’s connect today and discuss your business.

Think we missed something in this Google Shopping roundup 2020? Want a personalized solution? Connect with us in the comment section below!

Check out this Google Shopping trends 2020.