Pickup later allows you to provide a direct online to offline experience for your customers. For items that can be picked up in store within a specific SLA regardless of store availability, pickup later allows you to use your stores as an omnichannel asset and differentiator.
Pickup later with in-store inventory data gives you full flexibility for granular SLA information at the store level for each product. Additionally, pickup later with in-store inventory data is compatible with all of the other local inventory ads products: you can advertise pickup later alongside in-stock inventory in a way that maximizes the value of your stores as omnichannel assets.
On this page
- Eligibility
- Website requirements
- Data requirements
- Select participating Business Profile locations
- Opt into on Pickup later with in-store inventory data
Eligibility
In order to implement pickup later with in-store inventory data, you must meet the following requirements:
- You must be able to identify your store locations that are eligible to fulfill online orders.
- You must be able to fulfill store pickup orders even when a product isn't physically in-stock at your store locations.
- Your website must be eligible for store-specific product page with in-store availability and price or product page with in-store availability requirements
- Verify that your inventory data contains out of stock items (with availability
[availability]set to “out_of_stock”). - Add the required attributes to your primary and inventory data.
Website requirements
Your website must meet the requirements listed below on both desktop and mobile devices, including tablets:
- Must provide option to pick up a product: The landing page or the checkout flow must display the option to pick up the product at a later day.
- Pick up SLA must be clear: When showing the pick up option in your website, it must be clear when the item will be available for pick up.
- Allow customers to select the store where their order will be shipped: Customers should be able to select to which store a product will be shipped
- When using the product page with in-store availability feature: The pickup availability can be displayed after interaction with the store selector or during the checkout flow.
- When using the store-specific product page with in-store availability and price feature: The pickup availability can be shown in the landing page or during the checkout flow.
- Allow customers to complete their order on your website: Customers must be able to purchase or reserve a product via your website for pickup.
- If charged, display the pickup fee: If there are any extra charges for pickup, it must be clear. This can be shown on the checkout flow.
- Must provide pickup confirmation: A notification must be sent when the order is ready to be picked up (for example, by sending an email or SMS).
- Must show fulfillment option before payment information is entered: Allow customers to see your fulfillment options before checking out. For a more detailed overview of what constitutes a misrepresentation, please consult our misrepresentation policy.
- Display the item’s price on your product page: The price must match the value of the price
[price]attribute in your primary data source or local inventory data source. Submit the price[price]attribute in your primary data source for national default pricing and in the inventory data for any store-specific overrides. For a more detailed overview of what constitutes a misrepresentation, please consult our misrepresentation policy.
Website recommendations
In addition to the website requirements above, we recommend the following:
- Don't require customers to create an account before showing your fulfillment options (for example: provide a “checkout as guest” option).
- Don't require customers to enter address information before showing your fulfillment options.
Data Requirements
To implement pickup later with in-store inventory data you'll need to add the following attributes to your primary data source or to your inventory data.
[availability] set as "in stock" will be treated as regular local inventory ads.| Attribute | Required or optional? | Data Source | Possible values | Note |
Pickup method [pickup_method] |
Optional from September 1, 2024 |
Inventory data (recommended if there are differences between your stores) or primary data source |
Text/tab delimited example <g:pickup_method>ship to store</g:pickup_method> |
Submit “ not_supported” if the product can't be shipped to the relevant stores. |
Pickup SLA [pickup_sla] |
Required | Inventory data (recommended if there are differences between your stores ) or primary data source |
Text/tab delimited example <g:pickup_sla>multi-week</g:pickup_sla> |
If the item's pickup method [pickup_sla] to multi-week if you want to show a fixed annotation, the ad will render the annotation “Store pick-up”. |
| Required | inventory data | Out of stock |
In order to serve pick up later annotation, the availability of your product must be out of stock in the store |
Implement both the pickup later feature and the pickup today feature to show your full range of fulfillment options to customers.
Select participating Business Profile locations
By default, Google will show in-store products for the linked Business Profile location group.
If all of your store locations are eligible to fulfill online orders, select the Business Profile location group that contains all of your store locations during account linking.
If only a subset of your store locations are eligible to fulfill online orders, organize these stores into a separate location group. During account linking, select this location group.
If you're unable to re-organize your store locations into groups, please reach out to our support team by filling out the contact us form and selecting “I want to implement additional features.” Under “Summary of issue” please specify the store codes and addresses of the locations that aren't eligible to allow users to pick up your products.
Opt into pickup later with in-store inventory
If you have already onboarded into free local listings or local inventory ads and have product pages with in-store availability, follow the steps below to enable pickup today:
In your Merchant Center account, click the Tools icon
. Then, select Add-ons.
Select your add-ons.
In the "Free local listings" or “Local inventory ads” card, click Go to Free local listings or Go to Local inventory ads.
Click Show me next to the country you want to set it up.
Select “Your pickup experience (optional)”.
Select “Customers can pick them up later at a store”.
Add a URL that shows a product page pickup information.
If you have not started onboarding yet, follow the implementation guide.
Review your pickup later with in-store inventory status
After providing the example product URL, Google will review the landing page to ensure it has all the requirements. Follow the steps below to see the status:
In your Merchant Center account, click the Tools icon
. Then, select Add-ons.
Select your add-ons.
In the "Free local listings" or “Local inventory ads” card, click Go to Free local listings or Go to Local inventory ads.
Click Show me next to the country you want to view status.
Select “Your pickup experience (optional)”.
Check the icon next to “Customers can pick them up later at a store”.
Your pickup later with in-store inventory can be:
- Verified: No further action needed.
- Under review: Check back soon. The URL for your web page is under review. This process can take up to a week.
- Request Review: Google reviewed and rejected your URL. Ensure that your URL and business meet the pickup later with in-store inventory requirements and make any necessary updates. Then, re-submit your product url example.
- Action required: An invalid URL has been submitted. Please review and update the provided link and click “Save”.