Microsoft Shopping Launches in 7 New Countries
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This is a great announcement for any SME retailers in Europe looking to increase their paid search activity online.
What is Microsoft Shopping?
In short, it is Microsoft’s version of Google Shopping.
Similar to Google, Advertisers upload their products, via a feed, into the Microsoft Merchant Center. Based on product relevance (tiles & descriptions) and bid — advertisers can serve products in placements across Microsoft’s network, including the shopping tab and image results.
Thankfully, Microsoft has made it really easy for advertisers already on Google Shopping to launch activity. Campaigns and product feeds can be imported over — meaning you could go live on Microsoft in an afternoon.
Some subtle differences between Microsoft Shopping and Google Shopping to keep in mind:
Search volumes are much lower on Microsoft versus Google (around 10%). Based on this, it’s worth setting budgets accordingly.
Although the cost-per-click you actually pay is comparable, bids on Microsoft Shopping sometimes need to be set higher (+50%) than you would usually set on Google in order to get your products serving.
Why Should SME Retailers Care?
For anyone running Google Shopping, Microsoft Shopping is some low hanging fruit. You can expand what’s working well on Google for minimum effort.
Though it’s really easy to replicate Google Shopping activity on Microsoft, few advertisers take the time to set it up. As a result of this reduced competition, Microsoft Shopping can be an efficient use of paid search spend.
