According to a marketing report, 38% of holiday shoppers use smartphones to search for products and service information on Google before visiting a store. 

Google shopping ads offer online marketers and e-retailers an excellent platform to showcase their products, reach out to their audience, and build brand visibility. So let’s start with Local Inventory ads or LIA, LIA are the local information users ask for. 

We also know that 44% of shoppers wish that retailers could do a better job sharing inventory information, well the good news is LA or LIA actually do help retailers provide this information to customers and when they do the retailers themselves see an upside so where local inventory information was provided in the US retailers actually saw 3 times increase in the CTR and an 80% improvement in CPA. 

So our recommendation to you is to use local inventory ads to drive increased ad engagement clicks as well as store visits which are a really special and important piece here and then take advantage of that local location-based targeting feature to really drive performance to specific stores.

So how does LIA work?

As you search for something in the Google Search Bar like a Fitbit in your body, Google will display results of stores that are selling the Fitbit with distance from your location, opening hours, and price. 

If you click right there on this ad you will be navigated to a Google-hosted storefront, this it pulls information from the retailers feed Merchant Center feed actually.

Who should Use LIA?

1. Retailers who have separate online & offline merchandising and marketing teams
2. Have separate offline budgets and success KPIs
3. Have a strong in-store assortment
4. A retailer who rely on auto-bidding tools for their online campaigns 

How to Setup LIA’s?

1. Startup a new shopping campaign supporting all categories and then within settings you will have to enable the local inventory ads through a feature called enable local inventory ads. Moreover, you need to set up an inventory filter for the channel.
2. Next thing is to do the bidding, don’t select conversions as a goal for LIA, here opt-in for maximizing clicks bidding strategy.

LIA Campaign Strategy Tips 

• Local only is the preferred setup for departments funding drive-to-store separate from e-comm programs as they can control, optimize & report on performance separate from the e-comm program.
• Set a 20% higher base bid than your average Google Shopping bid, and adjust the mobile bid modifiers to +100% to drive store visits. Separate campaigns help optimize these specific goals.
• Mirror programs that are happening in-store to make the most of LIA/Local Campaign. For example – bid up on seasonal items featured in stores, end caps, or in the circular. Some advertisers use LIA to drive inventory relief (bidding up on certain stores or on certain inventory)

Example of Interpreting Store Visit Data :

Online Spend  = $1000

Store Visits = 100

In-store Conversion Rate  = 50% (Assumed)

In-store AOV = $100 (Assumed)

In-store Sales = $5,000

ROAS = 5:1

 

LIA Campaign Optimizing Tips 

 

Bid Higher to reach shoppers closer to your location

Location-based bid modifiers help merchants to increase bids for shoppers closest to their stores.

Increase bids when stores are open

Ad scheduling bid modifiers allow merchants to bid higher during store open hours or high traffic hours.

But don’t “turn off” when your stores are closed because late night/ early morning LIAs help drive shoppers planning their route in advance.

Bid higher by Device

Merchants can boost their bids on the device (Computer, Tablet, and mobile)

As LIA is a mobile-first ad format, we recommend store mobile bid modifiers of at least 100% to start out.

Final Words

Local inventory ads don’t cost any more than regular shopping campaigns, as today most of the searches are shifting from desktop to mobile and consumers grow continually more reliant on Google to guide their purchase, LIAs can help ensure they will find you -online or nearby.