With the country slowly opening stores and resuming some level of normalcy, there are still considerations to be made for the protection of health and well being. Despite many who are eager and willing to get back into the habit of browsing shelves in traditional brick and mortar locations, many segments of the population are still weary of shopping in retail settings due to age or other conditions. Even after the events we find ourselves in now, there are many advantages to consumers in curbside pickup options. Just take notice at how popular curbside grocery pickup has become over the last couple of years - including "normal" times.
Furthermore, Google reports that, "In today’s rapidly changing environment, people are looking for real-time updates when it comes to store information and product availability. Searches for “in-stock” grew more than 70 percent globally from the week of March 28 to April 4, as consumers sought to avoid ecommerce shipping delays."
A Current Solution; A Permanent Convenience
If you are already promoting your local inventory for in-store pickup via Google shopping Ads, you can now indicate that you offer curbside pickup as an option for receiving merchandise with a Curbside Pickup badge that appears directly in your ad. We see these challenging times as an opportunity to expand upon your offerings, by including this option as a necessity, but that you consider continuing to offer such a program, indefinitely, out of a factor of convenience.
According to Google, the local inventory ads curbside pickup badge is in beta who have already completed the process to offer in store pickup, but if you're interested, you can reach out to your account team, or complete the following interest form.
Not Just For Paid Advertisers
If you aren't running local inventory ads, you can however indicate whether your store offers pickup, delivery or curbside pickup in your Google My Business account that will appear in search and maps. Just click here to find directions to implement these settings for your store.