14 DAY TRIAL // Google is making it easier to find out if a store near you has what you're looking for in stock in several more countries in Europe and Asia. Google is expanding Nearby Stores and Local Availability in a few more countries, enabling users to check for product availability online.
"Last year, we announced a Nearby Stores feature to help online shoppers in the U.S. and U.K. find products offline," Jens Münch, Strategic Partner Developer, Google Shopping, wrote.
"This week, we will be launching this feature for online shoppers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Australia," he announced.
Nearby Stores is a feature in Google product search that provides users with an "educated guess" on whether a product is available at a local shop. Google uses the shop's online store and its stock and predicts that items online will be available offline too.
But this can only be so accurate, therefore Google advises searchers to call the shop before driving of walking there only to find that it did not have what you needed.
Google has a second feature that deals with product stock, Local Availability. Like Nearby Stores, this too indicates to a would-be shopper that the products they want are in store, but it relies on data provided by the retailers for this, making it a lot more accurate.
"We’re also launching a beta version of our Local Availability feature in Japan, the U.K., France and Germany, together with some top retailers in those countries, including Yodobashi Camera, Argos, Debenhams, HMV, Boulanger and Hornbach," Google announced.
If you want to be included in Nearby Stores, you can create a Google Places page and link it to your Merchant Center account. There's a bit of info you need to provide, but after everything is set up, the feature should work as advertised.