Local inventory ads are Google product ads that tell shoppers an item is in stock at a shop near them, showing the store’s distance, the price and availability. They are for retailers with physical shops who want product searches to turn into store visits or click and collect orders.
How local inventory ads work
They run on the same system as Shopping ads, with two extra ingredients. First, each shop must be listed on your Google Business Profile account, and that account must be linked to Merchant Center so Google knows where your stores are. Each store has a store code. Second, you send Merchant Center local inventory data saying, for each store code and product, whether it is in stock (and ideally how many) and the in-store price if it differs from the online price.
Google checks your stock data before approving local products, and at the time of writing (October 2026) that can include an inventory check in which Google confirms that a sample of items really are on the shelves. Once approved, you turn on local products in a Shopping or Performance Max campaign.
When someone searches for a product near one of your branches, the ad can show “In stock” or “In store” with the distance. A click opens a Google-hosted storefront page for that branch, with opening hours, directions and the product, or your own product page with the local stock shown, depending on how you set it up. If you send pickup information, options such as collection later today can also appear.
Why it matters
A lot of searching for physical goods is checking before travelling: does the shop in town have this, in my size, today. If someone in Kingston upon Thames searches for a specific running shoe and your Kingston branch has it, an ad that says so answers the question when it is asked. Without local stock data your ad can only send them to the website, where they may decide to order from someone else.
For UK retailers with several branches, these ads also connect online spend with what happens in the shops, through click and collect orders and, where Google has enough data to report them, store visit conversions.
Common mistakes
- Stock data updated weekly. If the ad says in stock and the shelf is empty, you have paid to disappoint a customer. Daily updates are the minimum; fast-moving lines need more.
- Store codes in the inventory data that do not match the codes in the Business Profile, so stock cannot be tied to a shop.
- Wrong opening hours in the Business Profile, which the storefront page then repeats, including on bank holidays.
- Different prices in store and online without sending the in-store price, which risks disapprovals for price mismatches.
- Expecting store visit reporting from day one. It needs enough visits and enough opted-in users before it appears, and many smaller retailers never see it.
How to act on it
Start with the Business Profile: every shop verified, accurate and grouped under one account, then linked to Merchant Center. Next, find out how your till or stock system can export quantities per store at least daily, as a scheduled file or through Google’s API. Turn on local listings in Merchant Center, complete Google’s checks, then enable local products in a campaign.
Measure fairly: compare branch sales and click and collect volumes for advertised products, not only online conversions. Local products can run in Standard Shopping or Performance Max campaigns. Whichever you use, segment product reports by channel (online or local) so local results are judged on their own. If you are not ready to pay for ads, free listings can use the same local stock data to show your products in Google’s shopping results at no cost.