Google Merchant Center Next - HOW TO CONNECT WITH ONLINE CONSUMERS

In May 2023, Google unveiled its latest offering, Merchant Center Next (GMC Next), at Google Marketing Live. This new iteration promises a revamped advertising experience driven by cutting-edge AI tools across Google's suite of platforms, including Google Merchant Center and Google Ads.

GMC Next is currently rolling out to new merchants, with existing ones set to follow suit in the coming months, aiming for a full transition by 2024. While merchants have the option to opt in or accept invitations to GMC Next, it's essential to note that it doesn't yet offer full feature parity with the classic experience known as GMC Classic.

If a merchant activates GMC Next and finds it limiting for their needs, they can revert to GMC Classic. However, they won't be allowed to switch back to GMC Next until Google initiates another migration.

The vision behind GMC Next is to simplify the e-commerce experience, making it more accessible, especially for smaller merchants. Here's a closer look at what's new and what's lacking:

New Features in GMC Next:

• Automated Product Feed Creation: Google can now crawl websites to automatically detect and import product data. This feature is a boon for new merchants as it simplifies the process of building initial product feeds. However, the resulting feed may not be optimized for Search or Shopping campaigns, as it may not meet Google's listing requirements and best practices.

• In-Platform Product Data Editing: GMC Next allows direct editing of product details within the interface. This includes attributes like titles, descriptions, brand names, and more. While this feature enhances flexibility, it's primarily suited for businesses with smaller catalogues due to its product-by-product limitation.
• Product Studio: This new visual editing tool enables quick enhancement and editing of product images. It leverages AI to remove backgrounds, enlarge images, and create new scenes, providing greater visual appeal to product listings.

• Click Potential Metric: GMC Next introduces a "click potential" metric, estimating a product's performance potential in comparison to top-performing products. While this metric provides insights, it doesn't directly address poorly optimized listings.
• Design and Layout Changes: The updated design offers a cleaner and more user-friendly experience, akin to previous Google Ads interface upgrades. However, some features have been relocated or are missing, and there's currently no way to access historical data or product feeds.
• Easier Support Information Addition: GMC Next makes it easier for retailers to provide customer service information within the Merchant Center, including phone numbers, email addresses, web pages, and chat availability.

Feed Limitations in GMC Next:

Despite these new features, GMC Next has its limitations:

• Automated feed creation may lack optimization.
• In-platform editing is not scalable for businesses with large catalogues.
• No efficient way to create optimization rules.
• Limited syndication and manual synchronization.
• Lack of data governance safeguards.

To overcome these limitations and truly excel in product feed management, businesses may need to consider robust feed management platforms that offer more scalability, optimization, and syndication capabilities.

In conclusion, while GMC Next offers exciting new features and a simplified e-commerce experience, businesses must carefully assess their needs and consider supplementing them with specialized tools to maximize their e-commerce potential.

Businesses should consider supplementing in order to genuinely excel at product feed management.

To work around the restrictions of Google Merchant Centre Next, a strong feed management solution such as WakeupData is required.

We provide you with the opportunity to manage your advertising efforts on Google Ads as well as a variety of other paid search, social media, and affiliate platforms. Furthermore, we allow you to compile and share your source data across many marketplaces, allowing you to implement a comprehensive omnichannel approach.

Our comprehensive solution is intended to streamline product listings, optimise feeds, protect your data, and more, with the goal of maximising your performance across all of your selling channels.

Let us enable your performance.