Google Merchant Center Gains More Out-of-Stock Options

Google has updated its Google Merchant Center landing page requirements help documentation to expand and offer more options for out-of-stock products. Google wants you to “ensure your landing page clearly displays product availability for online purchases.”

The first to spot this change was Emmanuel Flossie over at Feedarmy who wrote, “it’s actually a positive change for merchants.” Previously, Google you needed to gray out the button for out-of-stock products. But now Google offers these new options:

• For “out of stock” products, you can display clear text such as “sold out” or “item not available” or use a disabled/greyed out “buy” button. If a page features multiple variants, you can disable specific options in the selection grid to indicate they are unavailable.
• The page must feature a functional “buy” or “add to basket” button if the product is available for purchase.
• For “preorder” or “backorder” items, the page must display the expected shipping date.
• The landing page must clearly state any delivery restrictions, such as “store pickup only”.

Here is a screenshot of what was added to the document compared to the old version:

As Emmanuel said, “Well Google changed the rules again, and explains that you are not strictly required to use the greyed out option, which is great.”

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.