In Google Shopping ads, there are often products sold in bulk or multi-unit packages. Businesses sometimes want to display the price per unit in the ads, even though the items are sold in packs, bags, or bundles. However, this approach often conflicts with Google Shopping’s standard requirements, which mandate that the price shown matches the total price in the shopping cart—usually the price for the entire pack.
While Merchant Center moderators require that the price in the ad reflects the total cost (per package, box, etc.), businesses often prefer showing the price per individual unit in the ad, thinking that a lower price point will attract more potential buyers. After all, customers are more likely to click on an ad with a smaller price per unit, right?
This creates a dilemma: businesses want to show a price per unit in the ads, but on the website, the product is sold in bulk with a corresponding total price. So, how can you show the price per unit in Google Shopping results?
Solution: using special parameters in Merchant Center Feeds.
To solve this problem, Google has introduced some additional parameters for Merchant Center feeds that allow you to accurately display the price per unit:
👉 unit_pricing_measure - This indicates the quantity or volume of the product being sold (e.g., number of items, total volume, etc.).
👉 unit_pricing_base_measure - This sets the base measurement to which the unit price is tied (e.g., one item, number of milliliters, square meter, etc.). This is the metric that will appear in the shopping results, showing the price per unit.
Example: calculating price per unit.
Let’s say you are selling a pack that contains 10 items. Here’s how you would configure the feed:
unit_pricing_measure = 10 (this is the number of items in the pack).
unit_pricing_base_measure = 1 (this specifies that the price is calculated per single unit).
price - 100 USD (the total price for the entire pack of 10 items).
So, the price displayed will be 100 USD / 10 = 10 USD per item.
Here’s how it breaks down:
- 1 (from unit_pricing_base_measure) – refers to the base unit (one item).
- 10 (from unit_pricing_measure) – refers to the total number of items in the pack.
In Google Shopping, this will appear as 10 USD per unit, with the full price for the package still being 100 USD.
The price per unit is automatically calculated based on the values entered for unit_pricing_measure and unit_pricing_base_measure.
Important: unit of measurement.
It’s crucial to remember that both unit_pricing_measure and unit_pricing_base_measure must include proper units of measurement. These units should always be input in English, such as:
- Weight: oz, lb, mg, g, kg;
- Volume (Imperial): floz, pt, qt, gal;
- Volume (Metric): ml, cl, l, cbm;
- Length: in, ft, yd, cm, m;
- Area: sqft, sqm;
- Quantity: ct.
If you don’t include the correct unit of measurement, the data may be rejected by Google Shopping - so make sure this requirement is followed.
We hope this information helps you with your Google Shopping campaigns. Until next time!
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