With the peak holiday shopping season right around the corner, Google came out with some recommendations for how to prepare as part of their Retail Tech Breakfast Training Series. This season is already shaping up to be fast, furious, and full of intent. Shoppers are doing more research than ever with comparison queries up 5% year over year and they’re increasingly open to trying new brands especially early in October and November as calendars compress the post–Cyber Week window. Expect a “triple peak”: Black Friday (11/28), the preceding Surging Sunday (11/23) , and the Sunday after Black Friday (11/30) to be top shopping days. Cyber Monday remains a tentpole, and December demand should mirror November rather than tapering off. In short: discovery starts earlier, evaluation is deeper, and buyers convert in concentrated bursts across Google Shopping and Performance Max.
To capture that demand, your foundation needs to be a flawless product feed. Make sure titles follow a clear structure of Brand + Product + Attributes to align with high-intent search behavior. Use custom labels strategically to tag “bestsellers,” “holiday products,” or priority SKUs, giving you the flexibility to bid and budget according to performance goals. These custom labels can be game changing if paired with the right campaign setup! Within Performance Max, update your creative to reflect seasonal offers, set up automated scheduling for asset groups, and showcase in-store promotions through Local Promotions on Google Maps. And when traffic surges, don’t let limited budgets hold you back—ensure your campaigns have the flexibility to capture all available demand during those crucial peaks.
Beyond the feed, activate tools that enhance visibility and conversion. Integrate loyalty programs directly into Shopping Ads and Free Listings by offering member pricing to drive both acquisition and retention. Boost click-through and conversion rates with key annotations like Merchant Promotions, Sale Prices, and Product Ratings that help your listings stand out in crowded results. To stay ahead, leverage the Merchant Excellence Report to identify optimization opportunities and track progress. Maintaining high data quality across price, GTIN, titles, images, shipping, and descriptions ensures your offers perform at their best—and keeps your Merchant Center in top shape.
Finally, prepare your operations early to avoid last-minute disruptions. Verify that your Merchant Center, product data, and landing pages are fully synced well before major events, and upload any new feeds at least three to five days in advance. Keep in mind that initial feed reviews can take up to 72 hours to process. If your site will undergo maintenance, disable Automatic Item Updates (AIU) and temporarily use Excluded Destination for all products; once your site is live, reset the attributes to resume normal delivery. Stay vigilant for price or availability mismatches and promotion disapprovals, and contact Google Support by phone, email, or chat if needed. With clean data, smart campaign structure, and a proactive plan, you’ll be ready to capture every surge—from Surging Sunday to Cyber Monday and beyond.
Watch the full 50 minute training session here.