Local inventory service

We would like to introduce the beta version of the Merchant API. It is the new version of the Content API for Shopping and the future.

For information about how Merchant API can improve your integration and how you can help shape the future, see Announcing the Merchant API Beta.

The local inventory service allows you to create and update instances of the local inventory resource, which contain fields that can have different values for different physical store locations. Each local inventory instance is a child of an existing product resource, and inherits the product data fields from the parent resource. For example, you might have a product that has a different price and quantity in different stores, but shares an ID, description, and other product data across all stores. Local inventory data is used for the Local surfaces across Google and Local Inventory Ads programs.

This guide explains what you need before you start using the local inventory service, describes the available fields and methods, and provides an example of a service request.

Note: In v2.1 of the Content API, the local inventory service and supplemental feeds replace the inventory service in v2. To perform partial updates to non-local product data with API v2.1, use supplemental feeds. To make supplemental local product updates, use the localinventory service.

Prerequisites

• In order to use the local inventory service, you must create a Business Profile, link your Business Profile to your Merchant Center account, verify your business, and set up your Business Profile store codes.

• Your Merchant Center account must be enrolled in a local program: either Local surfaces across Google or Local inventory ads. For more information about using local inventory ads via the Content API, see Get Started with Local Inventory Ads.

  Note: If your Merchant Center account is not enrolled in a local program, setting a product’s channel field to local, via the Products.insert method, results in the error: "channel Invalid channel: local".

• The local inventory service creates local inventory instances for existing local products You must first create local products, using either the Content API products service or Merchant Center datafeeds, by setting the channel field to local. You can then use the local inventory service to create local inventory instances for each Business Profile storecode where the product is sold.

Fields

Each local inventory instance contains a set of fields that is associated with a specific store location via the storeCode field (which you define in your Business Profile). Only storecode and productId are required for all requests. All other fields are optional:

• Required for all requests: storeCode, productId (in URL)
• Optional: quantity, price, salePrice, salePriceEffectiveDate, availability, pickupMethod, pickupSla, instoreProductLocation

For a complete list of local inventory fields and their descriptions, see the localinventory reference page.

Methods

The local inventory service only includes two methods:

localinventory.insert

localinventory.insert allows you to create a local inventory instance for a single local product.

This example demonstrates how to use the local inventory service to create an in-store sale from February 24th, 2021 at 1:00 pm (GMT-8) until February 28th, 2021 at 3:30pm (GMT-8). The request also updates the quantity available for the local inventory instance. Unlike supplemental feeds for non-local product data, fields that are not included in the body of the request are overwritten by this call:

POST https://shoppingcontent.googleapis.com/content/v2.1/merchantId/products/productId/localinventory

{
  "storeCode": “1235”,
  "salePrice": {
     "value": “100.00”,
     "currency": “USD”
   },
  "salePriceEffectiveDate": “2021-02-24T13:00-0800/2021-02-28T15:30-0800”,
  "quantity": 200,
}

localinventory.custombatch

localinventory.custombatch allows you to create multiple local inventory instances for a single local product in multiple stores, or create local inventory instances for multiple local products.

Note: It is not possible to retrieve, list, or delete local inventory instances. To view local inventory data in Merchant Center, select a local product in the All products page and then expand the Local inventory section. The table displays the local inventory data for each store code.