Google Automated discounts

Fundamentals

This program of Google Shopping could be a game changer for merchants on Shopify. It allows Google to dynamically choose discounted price products, based on its enormous intelligence of the products and the market. The discounted price is guarded by the 2 attributes submitted in product feeds

• auto_pricing_min_price
• cost_of_goods_sold

Dynamic discount would help maximize revenue. Please read more about Google Automated discounts here.

How it works

1. Product feed is submitted, with product price (e.g. 10 USD) and auto_pricing_min_price (e.g. 7 USD), and cost_of_goods_sold (e.g. 5 USD)
2. Given that all the requirements are met and the store had been approved for the program, Google will calculate a discounted price for this product (e.g. 8 USD) to show in advertisement. The discounted value would be calculated dynamically based on various factors, and never be less than the auto_pricing_min_price or cost_of_goods_sold.
3. Attracted by the discount, the customer click on the ads, and redirected to the product page.
4. With URL integration feature enabled, on the product page, and though out the shopping session, the product would be shown together with the discounted price (e.g. 8 USD). The discounted price only apply to the specific session of the customer, and does not apply to other sessions of customers from other channels.
5. The customer continue with the checkout process (i.e. add to cart, check out, etc.)
6. If the product is added to cart, the discounted price shall remain in the cart for the next 48 hours, as required by the Google Automated discounts program

How to enable Google Automated discounts with Multifeeds

This is the checklist that you need to complete for your Shopify store, or more precisely, the Google Merchant Center account of your Shopify store, to join Google Automated discounts program.

Required feed attributes

The 2 attributes Cost of goods sold and Auto pricing min price need to be submitted in product feed.

This can be done from the Target screen of the feed editor. Make use of expressions to create sensible values, e.g. setting min price to a percentage of the price.

URL integration add-on

The add-on can be enabled in the same screen. Click "Enable feature", review and give consent to the additional cost of the add-on.

The add-on can also be managed (and turned off if no longer needed) in the Information tab

Grant additional permissions

The app will inform you of any missing permissions. Since URL integration is integrated in your theme, you might be asked for read_themes permission

And (obviously), permission to create discounts.

Checkout how the app is using different granted permissions.

Google Automated discount app embed

This app embed is created by Multifeeds, "embedded" into your active theme to automatically adjust the product price according to Google automated discounts.

You can get to the app embed configuration by either

• From Shopify admin > Online store > Customize the active theme
• From inside the app by clicking "Check app embed" button

App embed options

1. Show discount price
   1. "Instantly": the product price will be updated to discounted value instantly without validating with the back-end.

   2. "After confirmed": only update the price value after validating

      Should be set to "Instantly" unless there is reason not to.

2. Price-selector

   This is the CSS selector of the price element on the product page, so the app embed can locate and update the price to the discounted value.

   It is different from themes to themes so we cannot provide a sensible default value. Reach out for our Support team for your case

3. Advanced selector map

   This option is helpful when your theme is showing price related elements that need to be updated with the price change.

   The app embed make use of the following tokens, which are calculated together with the Google Automated discounted price

   - {discountPercent}

   - {discountAmount}

Below is a demonstration of how the app would locate the elements on the product page using the entered price selector and advanced selectors.

• ".price-ui .price .money" is the price selector pointing to the price element, which will be updated to the discounted price when applicable

• ".gad-saving-percent" is the selector of the sale text that is showing discount percentage. To have it updated together with the discounted price, it is being "mapped" to the token {discountPercent}

  '.gad-saving-percent':'{discountPercent}'

• ".gad-saving-amount" is the selector of the sale text that is showing discount amount. To have it updated together with the discounted price, it is being "mapped" to the token {discountAmount}

  '.gad-saving-amount':'{discountAmount}'

Note how the advance selectors are separated by commas (,)

It was a rather edge case when the are multiple price-related items on the product need to be updated together with the price. In most of the case, the price is the only element on the page that needs to be updated.

Purchase conversion tracking with Cart Data

Integration of conversions with cart data (CwCD) allows Google to monitor, evaluate, and optimize performance across your entire inventory and take into account cross-sell and cannibalisation effects.

If your current conversion tracking solution already support Cart Data submission, you can skip this step.

Otherwise, you can create a 'Purchase' conversion tracking tag with our app Pixel and Tags feature. Have your Merchant ID, feed country and feed language information ready, which can all be taken from your feed settings. You will need them to turn on the Cart data option for the 'Purchase' tag.

Wait for Google review

Regularly check for Google review result in your Google Merchant Center