Google has announced some changes and requirements to the products feed specifications. It is important that you fully read and understand what needs to be done.
Unit Pricing
The unit pricing will be made available to all marketplaces to ensure a consistent pricing across the marketplace. This attribute allows you to set pricing based on units. If your products need to list the unit pricing than this attribute is required when listing products on Google Shopping. For example if you are targeting Europe and Switzerland. These attributes are made available within the FeedArmy application.
Color and Size for Apparel
As of 1st September 2016 it will become a requirement to list both the colors and sizes for all apparel products for the following countries: UK, Germany, France and Japan. If you do not add these attributes than your products will be disapproved. You will need to add these attributes both if you are listing single products or variants. If you are listing only main products and you have variants, I recommend you start adding variants to increase your impression and sales volume. Google offers filtering systems to there shoppers, which means if they are looking for a Polo Shirt, they can further filter it down to different sizes and colors. If you do not list your variants than you will not show up in these categories and thus loos allot of potential.
GTIN & Categories
The requirement to add both GTIN and Google Category will be expanded and required in the following countries : Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, India, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey
The GTIN will only be required if the manufacturer has assigned one.
Do not submit generic random UPC’s, EAN’s or any other type of formats. Google has a large database and cross references your product with there database, if they detect you are submitting ambiguous barcodes your product will be suspended.
Images
The minimum size for images has increase from 32 x 32 to 100 x 100, for apparel products it is required to have at least 250 x 250. However I recommend to have at least 800 x 800 to ensure high quality for your customers. The better the image the better your shoppers will visualize your products.
Deadline
The deadline for GTIN & Categories will start from 14th of February 2017
The deadline for Color’s and Sizes starts from 1st of September 2016