One area where Google has an edge over Amazon? Local retail. In response to COVID-19 restrictions, Google has been giving local businesses more messaging options such as special store hours, pickup and delivery options and more in Google My Business. Now, it has also enabled “Curbside pickup” badges for Local Inventory Ads.

Curbside pickup. Google has been piloting the “Curbside pickup” feature with a small group of Local Inventory Ad (LIA) retailers since the end of April. Officially announced Monday, the badges appear at the top of eligible ads.

To get “Curbside pickup” enabled in your LIAs, you’ll need to meet the criteria for Store Pickup and offer same day or next day pickup from the time the order is placed. The badges appear on both mobile and desktop results.

It is available where Local Inventory Ads have launched: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S.

“In Store ” tab. Google also shows an “In Store” and “Shop Online” slider on mobile searches when it determines there might be local intent. This feature has been out for awhile, but the gift below from Emil Kirk, senior paid search specialist at performance marketing agency s360 in Denmark, shows how the In Store and Shop Online slider in the Shopping ad carousel on mobile works.

Users can either click on either tab or swipe along the carousel to navigate between the “In Store” and “Shop Online” options.

Why we care. The shift in consumer demands during the pandemic has put great strains on e-commerce fulfillment capabilities. Amazon, as the key example, has experienced significant shipping delays, stopped accepting non-essential inventory from sellers for a period and hired more than 175,000 fulfillment workers since mid-March. In response to slow e-commerce delivery times, Google says searches for “in stock” have increased more than 70% from the week of March 28 to April 4.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

http://feeds.searchengineland.com/~r/searchengineland/~3/pgTcY05s7go/google-tests-curbside-pickup-badge-for-local-shopping-ads-334304