Local inventory ads for UK shops: feed requirements explained

What to take away

Two feeds, one catalogue

Local inventory ads show a product, its price and whether it is in stock at a shop near the searcher. Google Merchant Center draws product details from your primary feed and shop-level stock from the Local product inventory feed.

A product feed is a structured file of product attributes, so the discipline matches any other shopping setup. The difference is that every row must be traceable to a shop as well as to a product.

If your catalogue runs on Shopify, the plugin you choose shapes how cleanly item IDs export into that file, and our guide to feed plugins for UK Google Shopping compares the options.

Set the target country to the United Kingdom, with English and pounds sterling. Feed prices for UK products must include VAT.

Local inventory ads are a Google Ads format, so budgets and bids sit in the campaign while eligibility sits in the feeds. Link Google Ads to Google Merchant Center to use the Merchant Center product data in the campaign.

The two feeds side by side

Anything that describes the product sits in the primary feed once. Anything that changes by shop, such as price or availability, sits in the inventory feed and is refreshed more often.

Google calls this the Local product inventory feed, and its official reference is the Local product inventory data specification. In Google Merchant Center, match each inventory row to the primary product using the exact id attribute; use store_code for the matching Business Profile location.

Use the exact attributes availability, quantity and, when the in-store price differs from the online price, price. Accepted availability values are in_stock, limited_availability, on_display_to_order and out_of_stock; quantity is the numeric stock count. UK price values must include VAT.

The feed can be supplied as tab-delimited text, XML or a Google Sheet.

Shop codes and Google Business Profile

A shop code is a short, stable identifier for one trading location, such as MAN-01 for a Manchester shop. In the Local product inventory feed, the exact attribute name is store_code; its value must match the store code for that location in Google Business Profile. Google Merchant Center is where you upload and manage the feed.

Google matches stock to a shop by that code, not by the address. Renaming a code on one side breaks the link for every product at that shop.

Verification matters as well. Each location needs a verified Business Profile, and the address must be a real trading location that customers can visit.

Keep the codes in the same system that generates the inventory file, because retyped codes are the most common source of rejected rows.

Postcode coverage and radius

Coverage comes from the verified address plus the radius set on the campaign. A shop in Leeds will not serve an ad to a searcher in Bradford unless the radius reaches that far.

Two shops three miles apart will overlap. Distance from the searcher is part of how these ads are served, so set radii from the real catchment rather than from ambition.

Getting the feed live: four steps

Worked example: four shops, 250 products

As an illustration, a chain with four shops and 250 products needs 250 rows in the primary feed and 1,000 rows in the inventory feed, because every product appears once per shop.

Refreshing the inventory file twice a day means 2,000 row updates daily. A feed tool costing £90 a month works out at £22.50 per shop per month at that size, though the ad budget is usually the larger line. Our comparison of free listings versus paid ads sets out what the free surface covers for UK retailers.

Common questions

Do I need a separate inventory feed for each shop?

No. One file with a shop code column covers every location. Separate files only help when different teams manage different regions.

What happens if a shop code does not match?

Rows for that code are rejected, so the shop shows no local stock. Fix the code on whichever side is wrong and upload again.

Can local inventory ads support click and collect?

Yes. Buy online, collect in store works with the same two feeds, and pickup details are set on the Business Profile. Collect orders identify a person, so the ICO's guide to data protection for organisations is the reference point for retention.

How often should the inventory feed update?

Daily is the working baseline, and fast-moving shops upload more often. Stale stock is the quickest way to lose trust in the format.