To simplify! the variables for the success of a commercial initiative can be summarized! thanks to the usual 4Ps of Porter’s Marketing Mix: Product! Price! Placement! Promotion . That is: Product! Price! Market (Distribution)! Promotion (Advertising).

If the first three! namely product! price and distribution! are not studied well! the blame for the failure cannot be placed on the advertising side.Marketing works if business works (and vice versa).

With today’s article we try to explain what an e-commerce needs to be competitive and truly effective on Google Ads! and in particular on Google Shopping ! a particularly useful promotional channel for those who have an online store. 

In short! for those who don’t know! Google Shopping is that advertising format of Google that allows you to show directly in the search results a series of products (competitors)! complete with photo of the product! price! name of the product! retailer! and any average rating and promotional price.

You’ve probably seen it while surfing the web; this is how ads appear through Google Shopping.

This is one of the ways Google Shopping home owner database displays products on the results page. These methods often vary depending on the browsing device.

It is a sort of very effective product comparator! because it shows the products to people who are searching for those products on Google! in a way that is completely analogous to the display of the product in the physical store .

Having made the necessary premises! let’s the basics of a growing e-commerce move on to the important things. Below we illustrate the key elements that every e-commerce must have.

The essential elements to make an online store work

It is not enough to bring to your site users who are looking for the products that you also have.If it were that simple! everyone would be a rich entrepreneur. You need to prepare the ground for your online store! which must be cared for day by day with proactivity and investments of time and money.

Let’s look at the 4 essential aspects for selling effectively with Google Shopping (and not just with Google Shopping).

The competitive advantage of an online store

You need to have a  competitive advantage  of some kind:

What is Live Shopping?

It is strengthened by the pandemic and the widespread closures of stores! but it was already an emerging phenomenon at the end of 2019: in practice! the various stores organize online live streaming with various potential customers ! to illustrate and talk about certain products. The products are shown! their use! main lack data features! operation! etc. are illustrated … and in the meantime.

In late 2019! Kim Kardashian and Viya Huang promoted TMall’s Live Shopping (Chinese e-commerce)! gathering 13 million active people during the stream.

The user shopping experience in e-commerce (and retail) 

The site must be sufficiently attractive! professional and fast both from mobile (first and foremost) and from desktop. The photos must be well-groomed; the ad texts must likewise be unique! detailed! not copied from others (or from the manufacturer’s information sheets)! complete and truly ” useful ” with respect to the typical doubts of potential customers on those products.

Why all this effort?

Of course! this also happens offline : would you prefer to go to an ugly! dated and perhaps even poorly maintained/dirty shop! or to an attractive shop?