Why Retailers Should Avoid The Google Merchant Center Direct Feed Import
Import Feeds from GMC Ecommerce Platform
Google recently added a new feature functionality for directly importing feeds from various eCommerce platforms (as seen in the image below).
Although the new tool promises to improve efficiency by saving marketers time and effort, this feature unfortunately might not be the one-stop solution for all retailers.
According to Google, the feed import tool is beneficial to retailers because
- Its uses a retailer’s product information without requiring retailers to create separate files to submit to Google.
- Continuously imports fresh information from their store without any additional work.
- Makes new features available with no additional effort if the data is already available.
From a retailer’s perspective, it eliminates some of the reasons businesses look for feed solutions. The problem is, the feed import via Google overrides any previous optimization which could be devastating for larger, established brands.
The feed import could be a good option for brand new retailers who want to get their small feed uploaded quickly. (Example: if you have 100 products or less and want to get set up in minutes).
Larger established retailers should avoid using the tool and instead – focus on feed optimization.
“I have seen some pretty terrible feeds coming directly from sites, but while this makes things ‘easier’ from an initial tech standpoint, feed optimization still needs to be done either site-side, or by an expert feed solution,” Josh Brisco, Senior Retail Search Manager said.
Reasons To Avoid GMC Direct Feed Import
“The downside, there is no customization or optimization allowed. So if you want titles a certain way or if you want custom labels, you can’t do that through Google’s latest option ,” Tien Nguyen, Director of Technology at CPC Strategy said.
“The main benefit it can provide (if possible) is regular pricing/inventory updates for clients that update multiple times a day and because it directly integrates, retailers can be assured it’s quality data.”
“It’s designed for new stores, any current store shouldn’t use it – the only reason you might use it is if you’re already using a third party platform that you want to stop paying for.”
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