Google is implementing a mandatory Product ID split requirement by March 2026 that will fundamentally change how retailers manage product feeds across online and physical channels. Businesses selling through both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar locations must now maintain separate Product IDs for each channel to accurately attribute performance differences.
This is not a minor technical adjustment. The change affects inventory management systems, product feed architecture, attribution tracking, and advertising optimization for every omnichannel retailer using Google Merchant Center. Retailers who miss the deadline will face feed disapprovals, campaign disruptions, and loss of visibility during the critical spring shopping season.
The business impact extends beyond compliance. Proper implementation enables retailers to finally measure true incremental value of online advertising on in-store sales, optimize bids based on channel-specific performance, and allocate inventory more intelligently between online and offline channels. This guide provides the complete implementation roadmap including technical requirements, common pitfalls, and strategic opportunities this change creates.
What You'll Learn?
Why Google Is Requiring This Change?
Google's Product ID split requirement addresses a fundamental attribution problem that has plagued omnichannel retail measurement for years. When retailers use identical Product IDs for items sold both online and in physical stores, Google cannot determine whether advertising drove an online purchase or an in-store transaction.
This attribution blindness creates multiple problems. Advertisers cannot optimize bids based on channel-specific performance. Google's automated bidding strategies lack the data needed to allocate budget efficiently between online and offline inventory. Performance reporting becomes meaningless when a single metric combines completely different customer behaviors and profit margins.
The Attribution Problem
Consider a retailer selling running shoes both online and in 50 physical locations. A customer searches Google, clicks an ad, but completes their purchase in-store after trying on different sizes. With unified Product IDs, Google attributes this as a standard online conversion even though the customer journey was completely different.
The online sale and in-store sale have different economics. The online transaction includes shipping costs, higher return rates, and different customer service expenses. The in-store purchase has rent, employee wages, and inventory holding costs. Treating these identically prevents accurate profitability analysis and intelligent budget allocation.
Smart Shopping and Performance Max Impact
Google's automated campaign types like Performance Max depend on accurate conversion signals to optimize bidding. When Product IDs fail to distinguish channels, the algorithm receives corrupted training data. It cannot learn that certain products perform better online while others drive more profitable in-store traffic.
The Product ID split requirement gives automated bidding strategies the granular data needed to function properly. Performance Max can now optimize separately for online conversions versus store visits, allocating budget to whichever channel delivers better returns for each specific product.
Competitive Advantage for Compliant Retailers
Retailers implementing the split properly gain immediate advantages over competitors who delay or implement incorrectly. Accurate attribution enables smarter bidding, better inventory allocation, and clearer understanding of true advertising ROI by channel.
The March 2026 deadline is not arbitrary. Google is giving retailers sufficient time to update systems while ensuring the changes take effect before Q2 shopping peaks. Retailers who complete implementation early will have months to optimize based on better data while competitors struggle with feed errors and campaign disruptions.
Critical Deadline: March 2026 is a hard deadline. Google will begin disapproving product feeds that do not comply. Retailers still using unified Product IDs after the deadline will lose visibility in Shopping ads, Performance Max campaigns, and free listings until they achieve compliance.
Technical Requirements Explained
The Product ID split requirement has specific technical specifications that retailers must implement correctly to maintain feed approval and campaign performance.
Product ID Structure Requirements
Google requires distinct Product IDs that clearly differentiate between sales channels while maintaining internal consistency for inventory management. The most common approach appends channel suffixes to base SKUs.
For example, a product with base SKU "RUN-SHOE-001" becomes "RUN-SHOE-001-ONLINE" for e-commerce inventory and "RUN-SHOE-001-STORE" for physical location stock. This structure maintains the connection to your internal SKU system while satisfying Google's requirement for channel differentiation.
Alternative approaches include prefix differentiation ("ONLINE-RUN-SHOE-001" vs "STORE-RUN-SHOE-001") or completely separate numbering schemes. The key requirement is that online and in-store variants of the same physical product must have different Product IDs in your Google Merchant Center feed.
GTIN and Brand Requirements Remain Unchanged
While Product IDs must differ between channels, GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) and brand attributes remain identical for the same physical product regardless of where it is sold. A specific shoe model has one manufacturer GTIN whether sold online or in-store.
This is intentional. Google uses GTIN and brand for product matching and quality signals. Maintaining identical GTINs across channels ensures your products match correctly to Google's product knowledge graph while the unique Product IDs enable channel-specific attribution.
Inventory Management Integration
Your internal inventory management system must support tracking the same physical SKU through different sales channels with distinct Google Product IDs. Most modern inventory platforms already segment by channel for fulfillment purposes, making this technically feasible.
The challenge is ensuring your product feed generation process correctly maps internal channel-segmented inventory to the appropriate Google Product IDs. This typically requires updates to feed generation scripts, API integrations, or third-party feed management platforms.
Local Inventory Ads Considerations
Retailers using Local Inventory Ads must pay particular attention to the Product ID split implementation. Your local inventory feed must reference the store-specific Product IDs while your primary feed includes the online Product IDs.
Store location data connects to the correct Product IDs through the store_code attribute. Each physical location needs proper mapping ensuring the local inventory feed shows accurate availability for in-store Product IDs rather than mixing with online inventory.
Technical Implementation Checklist
- Create distinct Product IDs for online vs in-store inventory using consistent naming conventions (suffix, prefix, or separate schemes)
- Maintain identical GTINs and brand attributes across channels for the same physical products to preserve product matching
- Update inventory management systems to track channel-specific Product IDs while maintaining internal SKU relationships
- Modify feed generation processes to correctly map internal inventory to channel-appropriate Google Product IDs
- Configure Local Inventory Ads feeds to reference store-specific Product IDs with proper store_code mappings
Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Implementing the Product ID split requirement involves coordinated updates across multiple systems. Following this systematic approach prevents common errors that cause feed rejections and campaign disruptions.
Phase 1: Audit Current Product Feed Structure
Begin by documenting your existing Product ID structure, how many products you sell through both channels, which products are online-only or store-only, your current feed generation method (manual export, automated script, API, or third-party platform), and how your inventory management system currently tracks channel availability.
This audit reveals the scope of changes required. Retailers with thousands of SKUs sold through both channels face more complex migrations than those with smaller catalogs or primarily single-channel sales.
Phase 2: Design New Product ID Schema
Develop your naming convention for differentiating channels. The most common and maintainable approach uses suffix differentiation: [BASE-SKU]-ONLINE and [BASE-SKU]-STORE.
Document the schema completely including examples for every product category, handling of variants (size, color, etc.), special cases like custom products or made-to-order items, and clear rules for which channel designation applies when products move between channels.
Share this documentation with your inventory management team, e-commerce platform administrators, POS system managers, and any third-party feed management vendors. Everyone must understand and consistently apply the new structure.
Phase 3: Update Inventory Management Systems
Modify your inventory database schema to support channel-specific Product IDs while maintaining internal SKU tracking. Most systems handle this by adding a channel field to product records and generating Google Product IDs dynamically based on SKU plus channel.
Test thoroughly in a development environment before deploying to production. Verify that inventory counts remain accurate across channels, internal reporting continues to function properly, and Product IDs generate correctly for all product types and variants.
Phase 4: Modify Feed Generation Process
Update your Google Merchant Center feed generation to output channel-specific Product IDs. This might involve modifying export scripts, updating API calls, reconfiguring your e-commerce platform's Google Shopping integration, or working with your feed management platform to implement the new schema.
Create separate feeds or clearly delineated sections for online versus in-store products. While Google allows single feeds containing both channel types, separate feeds often simplify management and troubleshooting.
Phase 5: Update Campaign Structure
Review your Shopping campaigns and Performance Max campaigns to ensure they are structured to take advantage of channel-specific Product IDs. You may want to create separate campaigns for online versus in-store products, allowing different bidding strategies and budgets based on channel economics.
Update any product filters, custom labels, or campaign priorities that reference Product IDs. The new structure may require adjustments to maintain the segmentation you currently use for bid optimization and budget allocation.
Phase 6: Configure Analytics and Attribution
Set up proper conversion tracking distinguishing online purchases from store visits and in-store transactions. Google Analytics 4 should track channel separately, Google Ads conversion actions should differentiate between online and offline conversions, and your internal reporting should map new Product IDs back to base SKUs for unified business intelligence.
This is where the real value of the Product ID split emerges. With proper tracking, you can finally measure true incremental impact of online advertising on store traffic and purchases.
Implementation Phase Summary
- Phase 1 (Week 1-2): Complete audit of current product feed structure and inventory systems
- Phase 2 (Week 2-3): Design and document new Product ID schema with stakeholder approval
- Phase 3 (Week 3-6): Update inventory management systems with thorough development testing
- Phase 4 (Week 6-8): Modify feed generation process and validate output against requirements
- Phase 5 (Week 8-10): Restructure campaigns to leverage channel-specific Product IDs
- Phase 6 (Week 10-12): Configure analytics, attribution, and reporting for ongoing optimization
Common Mistakes That Cause Feed Rejections
Google Merchant Center has specific validation rules that will reject product feeds failing to meet the Product ID split requirements. Understanding these common errors prevents the frustration of repeated disapprovals.
Using Identical Product IDs Across Channels
The most obvious error is continuing to use the same Product ID for items sold both online and in-store. Google's validation specifically checks for this and will disapprove feeds where products appear with identical IDs across different availability designations.
This error often occurs when retailers update their online product feed but forget to modify their Local Inventory Ads feed, or vice versa. Both feeds must implement the channel-specific Product ID structure simultaneously.
Inconsistent GTIN Usage
Some retailers mistakenly create different GTINs for online versus in-store versions of identical products. This breaks Google's product matching and can result in duplicate product issues or quality warnings.
Remember: Product IDs must differ between channels, but GTINs must remain identical for the same physical product regardless of where it is sold. Only the Product ID changes. GTIN, brand, MPN, and product identifiers stay consistent.
Incorrect Store Code Mapping
Local Inventory Ads require proper store_code attributes linking products to specific physical locations. A common mistake is updating Product IDs to include store designations but failing to update corresponding store_code mappings.
This causes inventory to appear unavailable or misattributed to wrong locations. Validate that every store-specific Product ID correctly references its associated store_code in your local inventory feed.
Breaking Internal SKU References
Retailers sometimes implement Product ID changes that disconnect from internal SKU systems, breaking inventory synchronization and reporting. Your new Product ID structure should maintain clear mapping back to internal SKUs even while satisfying Google's channel differentiation requirement.
Test that inventory updates flow correctly through your systems after implementing new Product IDs. A sale online should decrement the correct inventory count, and stock replenishment should update the appropriate channel availability.
Incomplete Variant Handling
Products with variants like size, color, or configuration need careful attention. Each variant must have its own channel-specific Product ID. A common mistake is applying channel differentiation only to parent products while leaving variants with unified IDs.
For example, if "RUN-SHOE-001" comes in five sizes, you need ten distinct Product IDs: five for online variants (RUN-SHOE-001-SIZE-8-ONLINE through RUN-SHOE-001-SIZE-12-ONLINE) and five for store variants (RUN-SHOE-001-SIZE-8-STORE through RUN-SHOE-001-SIZE-12-STORE).
Feed Rejection Warning: Google will begin strict validation enforcement in March 2026. Feeds with Product ID errors will be disapproved immediately, removing your products from Shopping results until you correct the issues. Test your implementation thoroughly in January-February 2026 to avoid visibility loss during spring shopping season.
Strategic Opportunities This Creates
While the Product ID split requirement initially appears as compliance burden, proper implementation unlocks strategic advantages that improve advertising efficiency and business intelligence.
Channel-Specific Bid Optimization
With separate Product IDs for online versus in-store inventory, you can finally bid differently based on channel economics. Products with higher margins online can have more aggressive online bids. Items that drive profitable in-store traffic can be optimized for store visit conversions.
Performance Max campaigns become significantly more effective when they can distinguish channel performance. The algorithm learns which products work better online versus offline and automatically allocates budget accordingly rather than averaging performance across completely different customer behaviors.
Accurate Incremental Value Measurement
The persistent challenge in omnichannel retail advertising has been measuring true incremental value. When online ads drive store visits, unified Product IDs made it impossible to quantify this cross-channel impact accurately.
Channel-specific Product IDs combined with proper conversion tracking let you measure how many customers click online ads but complete purchases in-store. This reveals the full value of online advertising beyond just direct e-commerce conversions.
Smarter Inventory Allocation
With clear visibility into demand patterns by channel, retailers can allocate inventory more intelligently between online fulfillment centers and store locations. Products that convert better online should have more inventory allocated to e-commerce warehouses. Items driving store traffic belong on retail floors.
This data-driven inventory allocation reduces stockouts in high-performing channels while minimizing excess inventory in underperforming ones. The result is improved sell-through rates and reduced carrying costs.
Enhanced Customer Journey Understanding
Channel-specific attribution reveals complete customer journeys that cross between online and offline touchpoints. You can identify patterns like customers researching online but preferring in-store purchases for specific product categories, or the opposite: in-store browsing followed by online purchase for convenience.
These insights inform strategic decisions about which products to emphasize in which channels, how to price across channels, and where to invest in experience improvements that support natural customer behaviors.
Competitive Differentiation
Retailers who implement the Product ID split requirement properly and leverage the resulting data for optimization will gain measurable advantages over competitors who treat it as mere compliance. Better attribution leads to better decisions about bidding, inventory, pricing, and channel strategy.
The window for this advantage is approximately six to twelve months. Eventually, most competent retailers will implement correctly and optimize based on better data. But early movers gain first-mover advantages during that transition period.
Strategic Implementation Priorities
- Set up advanced conversion tracking that captures full cross-channel customer journeys, not just last-click attribution
- Restructure campaigns to enable channel-specific bid strategies based on economic differences between online and in-store sales
- Implement inventory allocation rules that respond dynamically to channel-specific demand signals from advertising performance
- Create channel performance dashboards that inform strategic decisions about pricing, promotion, and product assortment by channel
- Train teams on interpreting and acting on channel-specific attribution data to drive continuous optimization
Implementation Timeline and Milestones
Google has set March 2026 as the hard deadline for compliance. Retailers should work backward from this date to establish an implementation timeline that allows adequate time for testing and optimization before enforcement begins.
Recommended Timeline
October 2025 - November 2025: Planning and design phase. Complete your product feed audit, design your new Product ID schema, secure stakeholder buy-in, and allocate technical resources for implementation work.
November 2025 - December 2025: Development phase. Update inventory management systems, modify feed generation processes, and build proper tracking infrastructure. Focus on getting technical systems ready rather than deploying to production.
January 2026: Testing and validation phase. Deploy changes to development or staging environments, test feed generation thoroughly, validate that Product IDs meet requirements, verify inventory synchronization, and ensure campaign structures support channel differentiation.
February 2026: Production deployment and optimization phase. Roll out changes to production systems, monitor feed approval status closely, watch for any validation warnings or errors, begin optimizing campaigns based on channel-specific performance data, and resolve any issues discovered during live operation.
March 2026: Buffer for final adjustments. Use this month to address any last-minute issues before strict enforcement begins. Having your implementation complete by early March provides cushion if unexpected problems emerge.
Critical Milestones
Establish clear milestones with accountability for each phase. Key checkpoints include: Product ID schema documented and approved by all stakeholders, inventory system updates deployed and tested, feed generation producing correctly structured Product IDs, test feeds submitted to Google Merchant Center with successful validation, production feeds deployed with monitoring confirming approval status, and campaign restructuring complete with performance tracking active.
Missing any of these milestones pushes subsequent phases into compressed timelines, increasing risk of errors or incomplete implementation at the deadline.
Contingency Planning
Build contingency time into your timeline. Technical complications invariably arise during complex system integrations. Common issues include unexpected inventory system limitations requiring workarounds, feed validation errors not caught in testing, third-party platform delays if you use external feed management, and campaign performance fluctuations during transition requiring adjustment time.
A timeline completing primary implementation by early February provides four to six weeks of buffer for addressing problems while still meeting the March deadline comfortably.
Deadline Impact: Google enforcement begins March 2026. Retailers with non-compliant feeds will lose visibility in Shopping ads, free listings, and Performance Max campaigns until they achieve compliance. This could mean zero Google Shopping traffic during peak spring shopping season if you miss the deadline.
Testing and Validation Process
Thorough testing prevents the disaster of discovering compliance issues after the March 2026 deadline when feed disapprovals immediately impact visibility and revenue.
Development Environment Testing
Never test product feed changes directly in production Google Merchant Center accounts. Create a separate test Merchant Center account connected to your development or staging environment.
Generate test feeds with your new Product ID structure and submit to this test account. Google's validation will identify structural errors without risking your production feed approval. Common test findings include malformed Product IDs that do not follow consistent patterns, missing required attributes like store_code for local inventory items, GTIN inconsistencies across channel variants, and incorrect availability designations mixing online and store inventory.
Feed Validation Tools
Google Merchant Center provides feed diagnostics that identify specific issues. After uploading test feeds, carefully review the Diagnostics tab for any errors, warnings, or suggestions.
Pay particular attention to warnings about product matching, duplicate products, and GTIN validation. While warnings do not cause immediate disapproval like errors do, they signal potential problems that could affect performance or lead to future compliance issues.
Sample Product Verification
Manually verify a representative sample of products across different categories, price points, and variant configurations. For each sample, confirm that online and store Product IDs differ correctly, GTINs remain identical across channels, inventory quantities reflect actual availability, store_codes map to correct locations, and all required attributes populate properly.
This manual spot-checking catches edge cases that might pass automated validation but create problems during live operation.
Inventory Synchronization Testing
Test that inventory updates flow correctly after Product ID changes. Process test transactions in your systems and verify that inventory quantities update correctly in product feeds, internal reporting maintains accurate counts, and sales through one channel do not incorrectly affect availability in the other channel.
This is critical for retailers with shared inventory that can fulfill from either channel. Your systems must track which channel a sale occurred through while adjusting total available inventory appropriately.
Campaign Performance Monitoring
After deploying to production, monitor campaign performance closely for the first two weeks. Watch for unexpected changes in impression volume, click patterns, conversion rates, or cost per conversion that might indicate Product ID issues affecting ad serving or attribution.
Set up alerts for significant performance deviations so you can investigate and address problems quickly rather than discovering them during routine reporting cycles.
Testing Checklist
- Create separate test Merchant Center account for validation before production deployment
- Submit test feeds and resolve all errors and warnings identified in diagnostics
- Manually verify sample products across all categories and variant types
- Test complete inventory flow from transaction through feed updates
- Validate store_code mappings for all locations using Local Inventory Ads
- Deploy to production during low-traffic period to minimize impact of any issues
- Monitor performance metrics hourly for first 48 hours, then daily for two weeks
- Have rollback plan ready in case critical issues emerge requiring reversion
Final Implementation Recommendations
The March 2026 Google Product ID deadline represents both compliance requirement and strategic opportunity. Retailers who approach implementation systematically will not only avoid feed disapprovals but gain measurable competitive advantages through better attribution and optimization capabilities.
Begin planning immediately if you have not already started. The technical work requires coordination across inventory management, e-commerce platforms, feed generation systems, and advertising campaign structures. Rushing implementation in late February 2026 creates unnecessary risk of errors and incomplete deployment.
Focus on getting the technical foundation correct first. Product ID structure, inventory synchronization, and feed validation must work reliably before optimizing advanced features like channel-specific bidding strategies or cross-channel attribution analysis.
Document everything thoroughly. Your Product ID schema, mapping rules, testing procedures, and troubleshooting guides will prove invaluable when training new team members or investigating future issues. Good documentation also speeds resolution if problems emerge after deployment.
View this requirement as a catalyst for improving your omnichannel measurement and optimization rather than just a compliance burden. The retailers who extract strategic value from better channel attribution will gain lasting advantages over those who treat it as mere technical checkbox.
Most importantly, do not wait until the deadline approaches. Starting your implementation in October or November provides adequate time for thorough planning, careful development, extensive testing, and comfortable production deployment well before March 2026 enforcement begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Google is requiring all retailers who sell products through both online and physical store channels to use separate, distinct Product IDs for each channel starting March 2026. This means if you sell the same item online and in stores, it must have different Product IDs in your Google Merchant Center feed (for example, "SKU-123-ONLINE" and "SKU-123-STORE"). This enables proper attribution of sales to the correct channel and allows Google's automated bidding to optimize differently for online versus in-store performance. Retailers who do not comply by March 2026 will have their product feeds disapproved, losing visibility in Google Shopping ads and free listings until they achieve compliance.
The Product ID split requirement applies specifically to omnichannel retailers who sell the same products through both e-commerce websites and physical store locations. If you only sell online with no physical stores, or if you only operate brick-and-mortar locations without e-commerce, this requirement does not affect you and you can continue using your current Product ID structure. However, if you operate both channels and currently use the same Product IDs for items available through both, you must implement channel-specific Product IDs by March 2026. This includes major retailers, small independent shops with online presence, and any business using Local Inventory Ads alongside standard Shopping ads.
The most maintainable approach is using suffix differentiation where you append channel identifiers to your existing SKUs. For example, if your current SKU is "PRODUCT-001", your new structure would be "PRODUCT-001-ONLINE" for e-commerce and "PRODUCT-001-STORE" for physical locations. Alternative approaches include prefix differentiation ("ONLINE-PRODUCT-001" vs "STORE-PRODUCT-001") or completely separate numbering schemes, but suffix differentiation typically integrates most easily with existing inventory systems. The critical requirement is that Product IDs must be different between channels while maintaining consistency within each channel. Also remember that while Product IDs must differ, GTIN (barcode), brand, and MPN attributes should remain identical for the same physical product across both channels.
Google will begin strict validation enforcement in March 2026. Product feeds that do not comply with the Product ID split requirement will be disapproved immediately. This means your products will be removed from Google Shopping ads, Performance Max campaigns, and free listings until you correct the issues and achieve compliance. The business impact could be severe, potentially resulting in zero Google Shopping traffic during the critical spring shopping season. There is no grace period or warning phase after March 2026. To avoid visibility loss and revenue disruption, retailers should complete implementation by early March at the latest, preferably in January or February 2026 to allow time for testing and resolving any unexpected issues that emerge.
No, you should not change GTINs. This is a critical distinction that confuses many retailers. While Product IDs must be different between online and in-store channels, the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number, which is the barcode assigned by the manufacturer) must remain identical for the same physical product regardless of where it is sold. The same applies to brand, MPN (Manufacturer Part Number), and other product identifiers. Google uses GTINs for product matching and quality signals, so maintaining identical GTINs across channels ensures your products match correctly to Google's product knowledge graph. Only the Product ID changes to enable channel-specific attribution. Changing GTINs would break product matching and create duplicate product issues.
Channel-specific Product IDs unlock significant optimization opportunities for your advertising campaigns. With separate IDs for online versus in-store inventory, you can bid differently based on channel economics and performance. Products with higher margins online can have more aggressive online bids, while items driving profitable in-store traffic can be optimized for store visit conversions. Performance Max campaigns benefit particularly from this change because the automated bidding can now learn which products perform better in which channels and allocate budget accordingly rather than averaging performance across different customer behaviors. You may want to restructure campaigns into channel-specific groups or adjust your bidding strategies to take advantage of the more granular attribution data. The result should be improved return on ad spend as your bidding aligns more closely with actual channel profitability.
Products sold through only one channel do not require split Product IDs. If a product is available exclusively online, you can continue using your standard Product ID structure for that item. Similarly, products only available in physical stores can use single-channel IDs. The requirement only applies to products that are available through both channels simultaneously. However, many retailers choose to implement channel designation for all products even if some are currently single-channel, as this provides consistency and flexibility if products later expand to additional channels. This approach prevents needing to restructure Product IDs again in the future when you add products to new channels. The decision depends on how frequently your product availability changes between channels.
Each variant must have its own channel-specific Product ID if the variant is available in both channels. For example, if you sell a shirt in five sizes and three colors (15 total variants) through both online and stores, you need 30 distinct Product IDs: 15 for online variants and 15 for store variants. A common mistake is applying channel differentiation only to parent products while leaving variants with unified IDs, which violates the requirement. Your Product ID structure should incorporate both the variant attributes and the channel designation, such as "SHIRT-001-BLUE-LARGE-ONLINE" and "SHIRT-001-BLUE-LARGE-STORE". This granularity allows proper inventory tracking and attribution at the individual variant level, which is particularly important for apparel, footwear, and other products where different sizes or colors may have different performance characteristics across channels.
There will likely be a short adjustment period as Google's systems recognize the new Product IDs and rebuild historical performance data associations. You may see temporary fluctuations in impression volume, click patterns, or cost per conversion during the first week or two after implementation. However, proper implementation should not cause significant long-term disruption. To minimize impact, deploy changes during lower-traffic periods if possible, monitor performance closely during the transition, and be prepared to make bid adjustments if needed. Most retailers find that after the initial adjustment period (typically 1-2 weeks), performance stabilizes and often improves due to better attribution and optimization capabilities. The key is implementing well before the March 2026 deadline so any temporary disruption does not coincide with peak shopping periods.
If you use a third-party feed management platform like GoDataFeed, Feedonomics, ChannelAdvisor, or similar services, contact them immediately to understand their implementation plan for the Product ID split requirement. Reputable platforms are already updating their systems to support channel-specific Product IDs and should provide guidance on how to configure your account for compliance. You will still need to ensure your internal inventory management system properly tracks channel availability and that your data feed to the platform includes channel designation information. Work with your platform provider to test the new Product ID structure well before March 2026 and verify that feeds generate correctly with proper channel differentiation. Most major platforms will handle the technical implementation, but you remain responsible for ensuring your source data is structured correctly and that the final output meets Google's requirements.
