Generally, Google puts out Product Listing Ads (PLA’s) as advertising for businesses, putting their inventory as the top result, which is the most convenient for shoppers when looking on Google for that kind of product. Local Inventory, on the other hand, allows your products to not only appear when customers organically search for the product, but includes “in-store availability” features that connect your business to customers when they are near your location. PLA’s include the basics, such as the product image, title, ratings, brand and price, but in addition to that, Local Inventory showcases all options available at your store – online and brick-and-mortar.
When a customer searches up the product, they will see an “In store” annotation on the bottom of the listing from any Google Maps, Google Images, Google Shopping, Google My Business and regular Google search result. If they are interested in seeing the product in person, they can click the hyperlink that will take them to the “Local Storefront” page, featuring content specific to the retailer the product is from. There’s options to see the retailer’s contact information, another location they prefer, and generally provide more options for the customer to look into your business and everything else you offer, right on Google. This is available to view for both desktop and mobile searches.