Policies for Local Inventory Ads

Local Inventory Ads (formerly Local Shopping ad) are designed to alert users to local stores that carry inventory for selected products. This is available for retailers who have local brick and mortar business locations in the US, UK, DE, FR, JP and AU.

Local Inventory Ads will adhere to Google Shopping policies, with a few exceptions and additions. These exceptions and additions are made to accommodate the unique nature of the Local Inventory Ads product.

The following Google Shopping policies do NOT apply to the Local Inventory Ads product:

• Online payment and transaction requirements. Given that Local Inventory Ads involves in-store payment and pickup, merchant sites are not required to have an online checkout and payment option. However, merchants who also offer online checkout and payment must ensure adherence with other website policies, including the posting of return and refund information, etc.
• Shipping. Given that Local Inventory Ads requires an in-store purchase and pickup, no shipping information is required from merchants.
• Retailers who maintain a website must adhere to Google Shopping’s user experience policy requirements.

The following additional restrictions apply to Local Inventory Ads (but not to Google Shopping):

• Merchants participating in the Local Inventory Ads product must have a local brick and mortar business location where customers can physically visit, view, and purchase the desired item.
• Merchants who require customers to be club or store members in order to purchase products must clearly and prominently disclose this requirement in the product title or promotional text.
• Stores whose primary purpose is to promote products that are in violation of Google Shopping’s content policies may not advertise via Local Inventory Ads.
• You may specify a parameter, "lsft", in your dynamic tracking URL in AdWords which may be used to append parameters on links to your website or product pages from the local storefront. The purpose of "lsft" is to allow you to identify traffic on your own website resulting from Local Inventory Ads. You will not (and will not allow any third party to) use "lsft" to track, collect or upload any data that personally identifies an individual (such as a name, email address or billing information), or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information by Google.

As a reminder, merchants participating in Local Inventory Ads must adhere to standard data quality policy requirements, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Inventory and pricing data must remain accurate and up-to-date, even for offline inventory. Google may request participation in inventory checks.