Google lets any business list products on Google Shopping for free

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Google is advancing plans to make it free for merchants to sell on its Google Shopping platform.

Usually, an e-commerce operation would need to pay for ad placement on Google Shopping. But beginning next week, Google will let anyone who operates a website or manages a store on a marketplace platform list without paying. It still plans to charge companies for top placement as promoted listings.

This is rolling out first in the US and the aim is to expand globally by the end of the year. “With hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google each day, we know that many retailers have the items people need in stock and ready to ship, but are less discoverable online,” says Bill Ready, President, Commerce.

“For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs. For shoppers, it means more products from more stores, discoverable through the Google Shopping tab. For advertisers, this means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings.”

“If you’re an existing user of Merchant Centre and Shopping ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings, and for new users of Merchant Centre, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months.”

As part of the effort, Google is kicking off a new partnership with PayPal to allow merchants to link their accounts. It says that this will speed up its onboarding process and ensure it is surfacing the highest quality results for its users.

Google is also continuing to work closely with many of its existing partners that help merchants manage their products and inventory, including Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce, “to make digital commerce more accessible for businesses of all sizes,” Ready comments.

“Solutions during this crisis will not be fast or easy, but we hope to provide a measure of relief for businesses and lay the groundwork for a healthier retail ecosystem in the future,” he concludes.