Google reportedly is testing a pilot program to help retailers understand if their online ads are driving in-store sales.
The program is a Google AdWords feature called In-Store Attribution Transaction Reporting. When a customer makes a purchase in a retail store, Google says it can link the purchase back to cookies on that user’s computer or mobile device, which are matched to anonymous Google click ID’s. From there, Google can identify which online ads generated in-store sales and how much they generated. Information from loyalty cards and other marketing programs is also used to match ad consumption with brick-and-mortar purchases.
Arts and crafts retailer Michaels was named as one of the six retailers participating in the pilot.
