Share a file with Merchant Center that contains all your in-store inventory data. Your local inventory data should be refreshed once a day, to keep your in-store inventory aligned to what you have in-store.
If you’re interested in submitting product data through API, learn more about the Google Content API.
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Quick answers
How do I create a file containing my local inventory data?
The content and format of your product data file are very important and must adhere to our local inventory data specification. Learn more about Creating a product file for Merchant Center.
What file formats are accepted?
You can use .txt, .xml, or .tsv. Files can be up to 4 GB in size.
Can I upload a file directly?
Yes, you can upload the file directly to Merchant Center. You should use a compatible file format and make sure that the file size is at or under 4 GB. Bear in mind that your in-store inventory data won't sync automatically when you choose this option and you'll need to re-submit your local inventory file every time that you change it.
Get started
Create your product data and make sure that the content and format adhere to Google's local inventory data specification. You can use 2 types of product files for Merchant Center: Spreadsheet or XML.
Spreadsheet example
ID [id] |
Store Code [store_code] |
Availability |
Price [price] |
| 101 | 234 | In stock | 29.99 |
| 101 | 235 | In stock | 27.99 |
| 102 | 234 | Out of stock | 5.35 |
XML example
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss xmlns:g="http://base.google.com/ns/1.0" version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Example - Google Store</title>
<link>https://store.google.com</link>
<description>This is an example of a basic RSS 2.0 document containing inventory feed</description>
<item>
<g:id>101</g:id>
<g:store_code>234</g:store_code>
<g:availability>in stock</g:availability>
<g:price>29.99 USD</g:price>
</item>
<item>
<g:id>101</g:id>
<g:store_code>235</g:store_code>
<g:availability>in stock</g:availability>
<g:price>27.99 USD</g:price>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
In your Merchant Center account, click the Settings & tools icon
, then select Data Sources.
Click Product sources, Supplementary sources, and then Add local inventory.
Select the option Add products from a file and choose how to share your file with Merchant Center:
- Enter a link to your file
- Merchant Center will fetch the file from the URL provided. The link that you provide to the file should start with http://, https:// or sftp://.
- By default the file will be fetched every 24 hours, however the schedule can be adjusted.
- Add a file using SFTP
- Enter the filename of your product data file, this links the Data Source to the file.
- Transfer the file to Merchant Center using the SFTP details provided. The first time you use SFTP you will need to create a password. Learn more about transferring files using SFTP.
- Each time a file with the appropriate filename is received via SFTP, your Merchant Center local inventory data will be synced with the contents of the file.
- Upload a file from your computer
- Drag and drop the file or use the browse function to upload your file to Merchant Center.
Click Continue.
Next steps
- Inventory price and availability can change more than once a day. You can increase the schedule frequency to fetch your inventory data more than once a day by contacting us via the contact form.
- Also be aware that it can take up to 24 hours to sync your business locations into your Merchant Center account, so we recommend that you upload your inventory feed 24 hours after linking accounts, or after a store code is changed or updated in your Business Profile.
Fix an issue
Issues with your local inventory need to be fixed before customers can view your in-store products on Google. All issues with your local inventory data can be found in the latest update tab within your local inventory file details.