We recently covered the topic of using Google Shopping ads with a BigCommerce store. Today, the focus is on Google’s other shopping-related service, Buy on Google, as it applies to BigCommerce store merchants. Learn how to get the most from Buy on Google with a BigCommerce store.
About Buy on Google 
Formerly known as Google Shopping Actions, Buy on Google is the service that allows merchants to offer and sell their items on Google through product pages that surface directly from a standard search result for that product. They can view the product details and check out directly from the Google-generated product page. The buyer never visits your actual store. Google collects the payment and transfers it to your merchant account.
No commissions or payment processing fees get charged to participating merchants. Unlike Google Shopping ads, merchants don’t pay a fee for the Buy on Google service. Google acts as the product locator and platform provider, facilitating seamless transactions between consumers and any merchants signed up for the service. Google Merchant Center remains the central storehouse for all product listing data for both the Google Shopping and Buy on Google services. It pulls from your BigCommerce inventory list as the master source of truth.
Technically, you don’t even need a storefront for Buy on Google, since all of the product browsing and checkout occurs inside Google’s domain. But that’s only recommended for small sellers and startups with limited inventory. They don’t need all the other marketing and sales advantages of keeping an online store with the BigCommerce platform. Whether or not you have a store, Google has innovated a lot of different ways for merchants to sell for free on their service.
Getting started with Buy on Google from a BigCommerce store
Already signed up for Google Shopping ads? Then you’re already set up with a Merchant Center account on Google. If not, you’ll need to start there. Merchant Center houses all of your product listing data, the source for any Google Shopping or Buy on Google product sales. With a Merchant Center account, it’s simply a matter of checking a box in the dashboard and filling in some business information. You will become a participating merchant in Buy on Google once your application is approved.
Connecting your BigCommerce product listings to Google Merchant Center comes next. Y0u will need an app extension from the BigCommerce store for syncing your product feed and order information between your store and Merchant Center. Here, the choice of features can affect your ultimate success with Buy on Google. The more robust the extension, the better the sales results. This becomes especially important if you only want certain products listed in Buy on Google, for a certain price or period of time.
What to look for in a product feed extension
Shoppingfeed’s app offers one of the most robust extensions, with many features specifically built for BigCommerce users selling with Google. There’s title stacking for increased keyword visibility, and custom labels assignments. Define special prices and availability on specific channels. Automatically remove individual listings from channels. Our Rules feature enables all that and more.
Keeping your inventory synced
It’s essential for your product inventory to remain synced across all your channels and back to your BigCommerce store. Seller rankings decline if you can’t immediately fulfill an order due to an inventory shortfall. A continuously updated product feed syndication service assures that you can’t oversell. A robust channel extension assures that inventory levels get synced across every channel where you sell.
Selecting the right source for order fulfillment
It’s preferable that all orders from any channel be fulfilled directly from yourBigCommerce store, to minimize the amount of manual work required to keep it all coordinated.
Shoppingfeed uses your BigCommerce store as the master source of truth for all inventory and orders. It’s all managed from your BigCommerce order pane for quick and easy fulfillment. Orders placed on a channel import into your BigCommerce orders. Shopping Feed automatically alerts the channel, which sends the tracking and fulfillment information to your buyer.
Getting past buyer filters and oddly phrased search criteria
Buy on Google allows for extra product data to be included in your listings, because it’s Google, and they’re all about improving search. Power sellers use this extra data to ensure their products make it past buyer filters. They enable discovery from detailed or oddly phrased product searches. Shoppingfeed’s ProductGraph(R) technology makes assigning this extra product data easy and automated. As a result, your products surface higher in search results.
Participating in Buy on Google from your BigCommerce store doesn’t take a lot of extra time or effort. You will have to give up the customer relationship since the buyer never comes into contact with your store. But the sales potential you can realize by selling a product directly from a Google search will make up for it in volume over time.
