Measuring company performance and prices relative to the competition is an extremely important aspect of marketing any online store. Thanks to a thorough analysis, stores can assess their progress and better understand how they’re doing in relation to the competition. Google is well aware of the importance of this knowledge, which is why a new service — Market Insights has been added to the Merchant Center tool.
Google Merchant Center — tailored to the online stores
The Google Merchant Center tool was created for people selling their products on the Internet. It enables sending information about the online store and offered products to Google. This data is then made available to potential clients who search Google.
If you run an online store and do not yet use Google Merchant Center, we encourage you to catch up as soon as possible. With this tool, all data about your store and products is available to buyers throughout the Google ecosystem. You decide the frequency with which product information is to be updated. It can happen as often as every day. After pairing your Google Ads account with Google Merchant Center, you can manage your shopping campaigns more effectively, which has a real impact on sales in your online store. To set up your Google Merchant Center account, click this link. More information about registration in Google Merchant Center and the tool itself can be found here.
Even more possibilities in GMC thanks to Market Insights
Recently, through the Merchant Center you also have access to full reports and statistics on discounts and prices from other sellers. The Market Insights tool is only available to people who already have a Google Merchant Center account. With its help, vendors are presented with data on best-selling products and the most competitive product prices in a particular industry.
People who use Market Insights will appreciate the opportunity to use the tips on making assortment and pricing strategy decisions in the online store. Thanks to Market Insights, you can also find out which products are looking good against the competition and will give you an advantage over other sellers.
Market Insights operates based on a juxtaposition of two key reports generated by Google Merchant Center
1. Bestsellers report — it informs you about the products and brands that are currently the most popular in product ads. This data is updated weekly. Depending on the specifics of your brand, you can use the report to view data covering sellers of products in many categories or specializing in a particular category.
Unfortunately, at this moment the bestseller report is only available for products popular in the United States, France, and Great Britain. However, by using the possibilities of this report, you will certainly get a lot of useful information. In Poland, the Suggested Product Report is currently available, but Google has already announced the extension of the bestseller report to other countries and replacing the suggested product report with it.
2. Price competitiveness report — you will learn how other vendors price the same products you offer. The report presents the average price for each product. Thanks to this, it’s possible to estimate which price drives users to click the most.
There are two ways to view the data presented by the competitiveness report. The first option is to view data by category, brand or type of product. The second option offers data display for particular products.
One tool — lots of benefits
The new service in Merchant Center expands reporting capabilities with information useful when planning an advertising campaign. On the basis of collected market data, Google illustrates price ranges in the form of charts and tables. The data includes information about the price of our product. That way we can check whether our price is below or above the reference price.
The availability of competition data and product prices offered by other stores in one place saves time spent on preparing competition analysis. The combination of current and historical data also increases the value of performed analyzes. Product prices can play a big role in both product visibility and traffic from Google Shopping campaigns.
Market Insights offers exclusive access to retail data on Google. It will also be useful when planning the company’s pricing policy, operation strategy or an effective SEM campaign.
Acquired price reports will allow you to increase the quality of analysis and influence tactical decisions regarding marketing in the company. Knowing where your products are currently competitive, you can decide to intensify your activities in this area.
Join Market Insights
Market Insights users are subject to the Merchant Center Terms of Service. All reports are available only for internal use of the seller and people acting on his behalf. In other words, only the person who owns the domain on which the products are sold or the seller who offers his products on the trading platform can have access to the data. To be able to join Market Insights, you must be an administrator of the Merchant Center account and meet certain requirements for participation in shopping ads or purchasing actions. You can launch the service in the “Manage programs” section of the GMC panel. If you qualify, you’ll get access to all price competitiveness reports, development opportunities, and bestsellers reports that will help you expand your online sales.
