FAQs
Prospective New Client
Running price comparison since 2011, Genie Shopping are an award winning, Premium Google Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) partner, with years of experience. Currently running activity for 1500+ clients, including the likes of Ebay, Currys, AO.com and Lego, Genie Shopping were one of Google’s very first CSS partners in 2017. Together with the market leading broadband comparison site Broadband Genie, and global digital marketing agency Genie Goals, The Genie Shopping Network is part of Genie Ventures.
Drive incremental sales via shopping ads, running alongside our client’s existing Google or Microsoft shopping activity.
After receiving a product feed from the affiliate network, a shopping account is created on the client’s behalf. Optimisation and enrichment of each feed is enabled by our in-house technology, ensuring products appear for niche search terms current client shopping activity might not reach. Google receives payment on a CPC basis from us upfront, and we receive a CPA on sales we’ve generated.
Hassle free, risk free, incremental sales generated from Shopping Ads on top of your own activity. A performance model that increases impression share and positively impacts shopping impression share. With no set up fees to worry about, new clients are able to benefit from our CSS expertise and efficient driving of volume immediately.
The CSS activity we run works alongside and supplements your own activity and should always be incremental. Each product in the feed has a unique identifier and will only appear once in the listings. It is a possibility that our CSS activity appears alongside your own. When this happens an alternative product would be featured, increasing your impression share further. Our in-house technology works to find and promote products for those niche search terms you currently don’t cover.
You do this by setting the CPA at a level that is competitive but below your own internal cost of sale, resulting in your activity winning the auction and appearing in a higher position. Genie Shopping will therefore drive incremental sales by:
1. Winning auctions where the client is not currently competitive
2. Showing alongside the client but as our CPA is lower than their internal COS – if the customer clicks our ad and purchases – the client is getting that volume cheaper than their own shopping activity
3. Pushing competitors or resellers further down the listings
1. Winning auctions where the client is not currently competitive
2. Showing alongside the client but as our CPA is lower than their internal COS – if the customer clicks our ad and purchases – the client is getting that volume cheaper than their own shopping activity
3. Pushing competitors or resellers further down the listings
No, working with us will not increase your costs. If the CPA you pay us is below your own internal cost of sale we will appear after you in the listings. If we were paid a higher CPA than your internal COS your costs still won’t increase but we may appear ahead of you.
Yes you can and Genie Shopping are happy to be trialed alongside other partners, so you can see the nuances of each CSS and analyse the results. There are benefits to working exclusively with one partner or with a closed group, and we’re happy to advise on a client by client basis.
Important thing to consider when adding new CSS partners is how many sales are being driven in total for Shopping via your own activity and via CSS partners. When adding new CSS partners that total pot should increase, if it doesn’t you should remove the additional CSS partner.
Important thing to consider when adding new CSS partners is how many sales are being driven in total for Shopping via your own activity and via CSS partners. When adding new CSS partners that total pot should increase, if it doesn’t you should remove the additional CSS partner.
As a CSS proposition the requirement to work with us is a regularly updated feed (daily) and contains all the information we need including EAN/GTIN, MPN, price, delivery_price, product_name, direct_link, tracking_link, image_URL, availability, brand, category, condition.
If you have this, could you please register your interest through this form. This will then go through our review process to determine eligibility for launch.
The form also includes our benchmark CPAs for activity per vertical. Highly important with CSS that a client goes aggressive on the CPAs to start so we can gather as much data as possible and optimise from there. We’d also look for the client to approve and pay all sales we generate.
If you have this, could you please register your interest through this form. This will then go through our review process to determine eligibility for launch.
The form also includes our benchmark CPAs for activity per vertical. Highly important with CSS that a client goes aggressive on the CPAs to start so we can gather as much data as possible and optimise from there. We’d also look for the client to approve and pay all sales we generate.
Once we have received your form submission, this is moved into our review queue, if required one of our team will be in touch to ensure the client is correct for CSS activity and that the commercials are best placed to ensure strong performance.
We always recommend that the CPAs start as strong as possible to allow us to gather as much data as possible and optimise the account, with the view of potentially bringing the CPAs down at a later date.
Once the commercials are signed off and we’re happy CSS activity can work for you, we will begin the onboarding process.
We always recommend that the CPAs start as strong as possible to allow us to gather as much data as possible and optimise the account, with the view of potentially bringing the CPAs down at a later date.
Once the commercials are signed off and we’re happy CSS activity can work for you, we will begin the onboarding process.
New client with Google Shopping:
Due to increased demand ahead of Q4 we have extended our review process to set a strong foundation for account success and to maximise resource:
– Submissions are reviewed in batches every 2 weeks
– If required, we will follow up with commercial and feed discussions
– One commercials are agreed and the brand is eligible we will move this into our onboarding queue
– Accounts are onboarded in batches every 2 weeks
Switching feeds within the same network or when a client switches networks:
Please give us 7 working days notice of feed switches and where to locate the new feeds to allow a smooth transition.
Due to increased demand ahead of Q4 we have extended our review process to set a strong foundation for account success and to maximise resource:
– Submissions are reviewed in batches every 2 weeks
– If required, we will follow up with commercial and feed discussions
– One commercials are agreed and the brand is eligible we will move this into our onboarding queue
– Accounts are onboarded in batches every 2 weeks
Switching feeds within the same network or when a client switches networks:
Please give us 7 working days notice of feed switches and where to locate the new feeds to allow a smooth transition.
All accounts go through an initial 90 days incubation period where we test and learn to optimise the account, you will likely see performance fluctuate during this period. Please do not contact us to improve performance until this initial 90 day period is completed as we’ll have a better idea of ongoing performance following this, unless you wish to increase CPAs.
We always advise clients to go as aggressive in CPA for the 90 day period to allow us to gather as much data as possible and learn so we can optimise the account, potentially at a lower CPA in the long term.
For all ad hoc queries please contact [email protected] as that goes to the team.
We cannot provide accurate volume data until this initial 90 day period is completed due to the number of potential variables which can impact performance, e.g. CPA, feed quality and the levels of existing CSS activity.
We always advise clients to go as aggressive in CPA for the 90 day period to allow us to gather as much data as possible and learn so we can optimise the account, potentially at a lower CPA in the long term.
For all ad hoc queries please contact [email protected] as that goes to the team.
We cannot provide accurate volume data until this initial 90 day period is completed due to the number of potential variables which can impact performance, e.g. CPA, feed quality and the levels of existing CSS activity.
Existing Clients
Most important is to look at the CPAs and your feed, please see our benchmark CPAs per vertical below which should give you a steer on what rates to run with us. If you are happy to increase the CPAs please set this up in the network, approve it if required and contact [email protected].
We recommend all CPAi run for a minimum of 30 days to allow our bidding systems to update accordingly to the new rates.
Benchmark CPAs by vertical:
Adult (10%)
Baby & Nursery (8%)
Books (10%)
Clothing & Accessories (10%)
Computing (5%)
Consoles & Video Games (4%)
Department Store (10%)
Electricals (5%)
Entertainment (6%)
Fashion (10%)
Food & Beverages (4%)
Furniture (15%)
Hardware (10%)
Health & Beauty (10%)
Home & Garden (10%)
Home Improvement (10%)
Jewellery & Watches (12%)
Kitchen (10%)
Large Appliances (5%)
Musical Instruments (10%)
Pet (8%)
Radiators (8%)
Small Appliances (5%)
Sports & Fitness (10%)
Telecoms (6%)
Toys & Games (7.5%)
Feed, please ensure it is regularly updated feed (daily) and contains all the information we need including EAN/GTIN, MPN, price, delivery_price, product_name, direct_link, tracking_link, image_URL, availability, brand, category, condition
We recommend all CPAi run for a minimum of 30 days to allow our bidding systems to update accordingly to the new rates.
Benchmark CPAs by vertical:
Adult (10%)
Baby & Nursery (8%)
Books (10%)
Clothing & Accessories (10%)
Computing (5%)
Consoles & Video Games (4%)
Department Store (10%)
Electricals (5%)
Entertainment (6%)
Fashion (10%)
Food & Beverages (4%)
Furniture (15%)
Hardware (10%)
Health & Beauty (10%)
Home & Garden (10%)
Home Improvement (10%)
Jewellery & Watches (12%)
Kitchen (10%)
Large Appliances (5%)
Musical Instruments (10%)
Pet (8%)
Radiators (8%)
Small Appliances (5%)
Sports & Fitness (10%)
Telecoms (6%)
Toys & Games (7.5%)
Feed, please ensure it is regularly updated feed (daily) and contains all the information we need including EAN/GTIN, MPN, price, delivery_price, product_name, direct_link, tracking_link, image_URL, availability, brand, category, condition
CPAi’s help us as they allow us to bid more aggressively on the client’s behalf in the auction therefore covering more terms and appearing higher in the shopping ad listings across Google & Bing. We work to profitability margins for Genie Shopping so the more you can give us in the CPAi the more we’ll put into bidding while protecting our margin.
GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number
MPN stands for Manufacturer Part Number
GTIN is the most important as it can make ads and listings richer and easier for customers to find. Do not make up these as it may result in ads being disapproved.
The reason these are important is it defines the product being sold and therefore matches search queries to those products. If you also add these but don’t have all of the product information within the feed we can potentially piggyback off another client who also sells that product to enrich your feed.
MPN stands for Manufacturer Part Number
GTIN is the most important as it can make ads and listings richer and easier for customers to find. Do not make up these as it may result in ads being disapproved.
The reason these are important is it defines the product being sold and therefore matches search queries to those products. If you also add these but don’t have all of the product information within the feed we can potentially piggyback off another client who also sells that product to enrich your feed.
The question is often asked whether affiliate campaigns will clash with in-house campaigns, how do we navigate this and what best practices can we utilise
CSS partner should be incremental to a clients existing activity in the following ways:
– Set the CPA below their own internal COS for Shopping and if we appear alongside a clients existing activity (showing an alternative product) and the customer clicks on our ad and purchases, the client is getting that volume cheaper than their own Shopping activity
– If you set the CPA as competitive as possible but below the internal COS we will be able to find gaps the client isn’t currently operating in so appearing where they aren’t currently
– Move the clients competitors or resellers of their products down the shopping listings in favour for activity going to their site
CSS partner should be incremental to a clients existing activity in the following ways:
– Set the CPA below their own internal COS for Shopping and if we appear alongside a clients existing activity (showing an alternative product) and the customer clicks on our ad and purchases, the client is getting that volume cheaper than their own Shopping activity
– If you set the CPA as competitive as possible but below the internal COS we will be able to find gaps the client isn’t currently operating in so appearing where they aren’t currently
– Move the clients competitors or resellers of their products down the shopping listings in favour for activity going to their site
The best thing is for you to:
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping before working with a CSS partner
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping after working with a CSS partner including our volume into that total pot of volume
If the CPAs are set effectively the total sales should go up and the cost of those sales should go down.
If you wish to test incrementality further than drop us a note on [email protected].
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping before working with a CSS partner
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping after working with a CSS partner including our volume into that total pot of volume
If the CPAs are set effectively the total sales should go up and the cost of those sales should go down.
If you wish to test incrementality further than drop us a note on [email protected].
Shopping activity doesn’t give you the option to ‘target’ keywords as such, Google serves products depending on the feed quality. This is why it’s important the titles and descriptions contain the keywords the product should be serving for, as well as providing key additional attributes such as colour, gender and age group. The more detailed the products are in the feed, the more relevant terms the products serve for.
In terms of how we might show on terms the brand currently isn’t appearing on will be based on how we enrich the feed with the data we have from the 2,500 clients we work with. Again why things like GTIN’s are important in the feed. We also may appear where clients do not based on differing margins for activity or budget management.
In terms of how we might show on terms the brand currently isn’t appearing on will be based on how we enrich the feed with the data we have from the 2,500 clients we work with. Again why things like GTIN’s are important in the feed. We also may appear where clients do not based on differing margins for activity or budget management.
It can take time for our bidding systems to factor in the new CPAi. Due to the number of clients we work with we have to automate this structure rather than manually adjusting things for each individual CPAi across our 2,500 clients. Therefore we always recommend that CPAi’s run for 30 days minimum to see the true effectiveness of it.
The most important thing to note is there can only be one ad that shows in Google Shopping per product, from the client and CSS. As we only supplement a client’s own activity and our CPAs are set below your own internal COS target for
Google Shopping, we should only show if the client is not showing themselves or serve a different range of products at a lower ranking if the client is showing. Whether that be on generic terms or brand terms. Therefore being incremental.
Allowing us on brand terms therefore ensures we are appearing across your full product category and also ensures we’re restricting their competitors’ impression share who are appearing on these brand terms. Because of the way Google matches search queries to the quality of the information in the feed and therefore shows the most relevant products via shopping ads, there isn’t any bidding on keywords as such.
The fact that a CSS drives volume via branded terms is in fact an added bonus, being that without that CSS, a competitor is likely to fill these spaces.
Google Shopping, we should only show if the client is not showing themselves or serve a different range of products at a lower ranking if the client is showing. Whether that be on generic terms or brand terms. Therefore being incremental.
Allowing us on brand terms therefore ensures we are appearing across your full product category and also ensures we’re restricting their competitors’ impression share who are appearing on these brand terms. Because of the way Google matches search queries to the quality of the information in the feed and therefore shows the most relevant products via shopping ads, there isn’t any bidding on keywords as such.
The fact that a CSS drives volume via branded terms is in fact an added bonus, being that without that CSS, a competitor is likely to fill these spaces.
The more information you can include in your feed the better as this will help ensure it shows in ads with suitable customer search terms.
You can also include extra information such as “best sellers”, “voucher codes”, “sale” for any products lower than RRP, “stock level”.
You can also include extra information such as “best sellers”, “voucher codes”, “sale” for any products lower than RRP, “stock level”.
Yes. If you have only a small number of products in your feed there won’t be as much of an opportunity for a CSS partner to find gaps and supplement the clients existing activity. However if you have lots of products you could potentially have multiple CSS partners each finding gaps and driving additional volume for the client.
There’s no set number of products to CSS partners ratio so we’d always suggest you keep an eye on the following:
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping before working with a CSS partner
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping after working with a CSS partner including our volume into that total pot of volume
There’s no set number of products to CSS partners ratio so we’d always suggest you keep an eye on the following:
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping before working with a CSS partner
– Look at your sales and costs via Google Shopping after working with a CSS partner including our volume into that total pot of volume
Ensure the block aggregators tickbox in the Bing Merchant Centre is unticked and let us know which regions you wish to go live in
Voucher codes are not picked up automatically – the best way for us to use them for CSS activity is:
– Provide promotions across entire site (typically >10% off)
– Provide the following information: Promotions details, Promotion name, Promotion dates (start/end), % off and the promo code.
Please allow time to implement and for these to get approved, preferably 3 working days minimum.
– Provide promotions across entire site (typically >10% off)
– Provide the following information: Promotions details, Promotion name, Promotion dates (start/end), % off and the promo code.
Please allow time to implement and for these to get approved, preferably 3 working days minimum.
For us to serve ads with star ratings, this must first be set up in your merchant centre then we can claim these to run in ours.
In order for your product to be shown with sale price annotations, you need to meet certain requirements:
– The base price, or the higher price, must have been charged for a period of 30 days (which do not need to be consecutive) in the past 200 days.
– The base price must be valid.
– The sale price must be lower than the base price.
– The discount of the sale must be greater than 5% and less than 90%.
– The base price, or the higher price, must have been charged for a period of 30 days (which do not need to be consecutive) in the past 200 days.
– The base price must be valid.
– The sale price must be lower than the base price.
– The discount of the sale must be greater than 5% and less than 90%.
– Countries we can run a campaign alongside your existing Google Shopping activity are: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Please ensure you have a website in the local language and a feed in the local language
There are a few reasons that could be causing incorrect product data to be serving:
– Incorrect or duplicate GTINs or MPNs in a feed: causing two products to combine to some degree and often is incorrect title or image and therefore price.
– Out of date feeds: if the feed provided has not been updated for a while then the ads we serve will reflect this.
– Incorrect or duplicate GTINs or MPNs in a feed: causing two products to combine to some degree and often is incorrect title or image and therefore price.
– Out of date feeds: if the feed provided has not been updated for a while then the ads we serve will reflect this.
Rejection rate changes impacts performance over time, as approvals are not instant in the network you will find the rejection rate from the previous quarter will be impacting current performance
When we see the rejection rate come in higher than average for your account, we will update our internal systems to this new average as our bidding technology optimises towards the given rejection rate. The rejection rate impacts performance as lowers the effective CPA – the higher the rejection rate the lower the effective CPA. A high rejection rate restricts activity, however impacts are delayed.
The most important thing to note is there can only be one ad that shows in Google Shopping per product, from the client and CSS. As we only supplement a client’s own activity and our CPAs are set below your own internal COS target for Google Shopping, we should only show if the client is not showing themselves or serve a different range of products at a lower ranking if the client is showing. Whether that be on generic terms or brand terms. Therefore being incremental.
Allowing us on brand terms therefore ensures we are appearing across your full product range and also ensures we’re restricting their competitors’ impression share who are appearing on these brand terms. Because of the way Google matches search queries to the quality of the information in the feed and therefore shows the most relevant products via shopping ads, there isn’t any bidding on keywords as such.
CSS in the affiliate space via CPA is all about finding gaps in the product feed. As mentioned, the CPA is one of the key factors (and benefits) of running via the affiliate channel. Setting the desired CPA (often lower than an internal PPC team COS/ROAS) means the brand is in control. The results then speak for themselves, driving a volume via the products, searches, and audiences that perhaps the brand isn’t targeting effectively, or how the CSS can reach them using their own means.
The fact that a CSS drives volume via branded terms is in fact an added bonus, being that without that CSS, a competitor is likely to fill these spaces.
Allowing us on brand terms therefore ensures we are appearing across your full product range and also ensures we’re restricting their competitors’ impression share who are appearing on these brand terms. Because of the way Google matches search queries to the quality of the information in the feed and therefore shows the most relevant products via shopping ads, there isn’t any bidding on keywords as such.
CSS in the affiliate space via CPA is all about finding gaps in the product feed. As mentioned, the CPA is one of the key factors (and benefits) of running via the affiliate channel. Setting the desired CPA (often lower than an internal PPC team COS/ROAS) means the brand is in control. The results then speak for themselves, driving a volume via the products, searches, and audiences that perhaps the brand isn’t targeting effectively, or how the CSS can reach them using their own means.
The fact that a CSS drives volume via branded terms is in fact an added bonus, being that without that CSS, a competitor is likely to fill these spaces.
Yes. Branded activity is common practice to clients when running CSS activity whether this is their own brand or they are a reseller.
For single brands, who only sell through their website, it’s a slightly different conversation. Typically because there aren’t as many gaps to fill and find more users through branded terms, but it’s still about exploring what value it can bring and what volume can be driven.
CSS should be allowed to run their campaigns with no restrictions
For single brands, who only sell through their website, it’s a slightly different conversation. Typically because there aren’t as many gaps to fill and find more users through branded terms, but it’s still about exploring what value it can bring and what volume can be driven.
CSS should be allowed to run their campaigns with no restrictions
It helps massively!
As mentioned previously due to the CPA structure the clients utilise we will only show for a product when they are not. Google recognises that CSS is running ads on the clients behalf and won’t show the same product more than once from the same retailer in any set of results.
From this CSS activity adds additional value by serving a different product/price point as well as pushing down competitor ads – therefore helping to capture traffic that is not drawn by the clients ad and that may have gone elsewhere.
For a client where hundreds of resellers are also bidding in the auction, covering more of the impression share across google shopping benefits their awareness of their online store, but also helps drive more traffic, sales & customers across their product range and product searches.
As mentioned previously due to the CPA structure the clients utilise we will only show for a product when they are not. Google recognises that CSS is running ads on the clients behalf and won’t show the same product more than once from the same retailer in any set of results.
From this CSS activity adds additional value by serving a different product/price point as well as pushing down competitor ads – therefore helping to capture traffic that is not drawn by the clients ad and that may have gone elsewhere.
For a client where hundreds of resellers are also bidding in the auction, covering more of the impression share across google shopping benefits their awareness of their online store, but also helps drive more traffic, sales & customers across their product range and product searches.
We serve ads for both branded and generic activity. Shopping activity doesn’t give you the option to ‘target’ keywords as such, Google serves products depending on the feed quality. This is why it’s important the titles and descriptions contain the keywords the product should be serving for, as well as providing key additional attributes such as colour, gender and age group. The more detailed the products are in the feed, the more relevant terms the products serve for.
A voucher site appearing on brand terms or brand+voucher terms will result in them often appearing ahead of your PPC listings. Therefore likely taking a large percentage of the traffic when someone searches for these terms. A voucher journey is a much more specific user journey where value is typically low from a market efficiency perspective (although with so many resellers and likely discount codes, it is an area of importance I’m sure)
Every brand is different depending on their search strategy. With a client being both a brand that sells their own product and works with resellers, the benefit in CSS strategy to allow CSSs is one of the most important factors to drive growth and sales online.
Google Shopping is a different model to standard PPC ads and as mentioned previously, our aim is to be purely supplementary to a clients existing activity – product related searches where the shopping carousel will show shopping ads related to relevant terms triggering this type of ad.
Searches that trigger shopping ads are more product related terms. Where our campaigns will (if we are winning/finding the gaps to win this traffic) show relevant products is where the feed attributes have been matched up to the search query.
Every brand is different depending on their search strategy. With a client being both a brand that sells their own product and works with resellers, the benefit in CSS strategy to allow CSSs is one of the most important factors to drive growth and sales online.
Google Shopping is a different model to standard PPC ads and as mentioned previously, our aim is to be purely supplementary to a clients existing activity – product related searches where the shopping carousel will show shopping ads related to relevant terms triggering this type of ad.
Searches that trigger shopping ads are more product related terms. Where our campaigns will (if we are winning/finding the gaps to win this traffic) show relevant products is where the feed attributes have been matched up to the search query.