CSS is a must-have for online stores that want to reach a wider audience, increase sales and build brand awareness in the dynamic and highly competitive e-commerce market. It is also a perfect solution for performance agencies that want to expand their offer with Comparison Shopping Services.
What is CSS (Comparison Shopping Service)?
Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) is a website that collects product offers from various merchants, and ultimately directs consumers to specific sellers’ online stores where they can make a purchase.
Google Shopping Europe (the CSS that belongs to Google) is undoubtedly a significant player in the CSS market. The platform has high recognition and trust among users, and offers a wide range of products and functions. However, this is not the only option and its market dominance is not absolute.
How does CSS work?
Comparison Shopping Services place product ads and free product information on Google on behalf of sellers. To start ranking in the search engine, sellers must work with at least one Comparison Shopping Service, i.e., a price comparison site that has been registered in the Google CSS program and therefore has a CSS status. Merchants can use multiple Comparison Shopping Services at the same time.
Bids for Google Shopping ads are placed by the Comparison Shopping Services on behalf of the merchants. Ads appear on general Google search results pages with an extra field “By CSS Name” below. This field is displayed only for the 21 countries included in the CSS program.
Google Shopping (the CSS of Google) also sets bids on behalf of sellers, who use Google Shopping, so technically it works just like any other Comparison Shopping Service.
An online seller can display Shopping ads by submitting product data to any Comparison Shopping Service (including Google Shopping) or by using several CSSs simultaneously.
Why are CSS crucial for online stores?
The benefits of using CSS for online stores are numerous and significant:
- increased product visibility – CSS displays products in search results to a wider audience of potential customers, who are actively searching for specific products, i.e. brand and product visibility increases
- generating targeted traffic – users, who visit CSS website, are as a rule already interested in purchasing the product, and are in the decision-making phase, which increases the chance of traffic to the product pages of online stores
- improving conversion rate – targeted traffic with CSS can lead to higher conversion rates, because users are more likely to purchase the product they have found and compared all the offers in one place
- increase in sales – as a result of increased traffic and higher conversion rates, CSS can lead to a significant increase in sales for online stores
- increasing brand awareness – displaying products in CSS can increase brand awareness and recognition among potential customers (especially when it’s your own CSS, and your brand name is also displayed in the field “By CSS”, clicks on which a free of charge)
- building customer loyalty – positive shopping experiences after using a CSS can lead to building customer loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases
- access to valuable data and analytics – many CSS platforms offer detailed data and analytics on campaign performance, enabling online stores to track results and optimize marketing strategies
Why is it worth using a CSS other than Google Shopping?
The following question surely comes to your mind: if Google Shopping is a CSS, and therefore allows you to be displayed in the advertising section, why use external CSS?
The answer is simple – to save money. Google imposes a margin of approximately 20% on each click from a product ad appearing in search results. If the ad is placed by an external CSS, this margin on CPC is not imposed by Google.
To cut the long story short, even if you use the default CSS owned by Google, you are still paying for the CSS itself. You will not notice this because this amount is deducted internally in the Google mechanisms before your bid enters the Google auction. And this info is not displayed to you on any dashboard, in any report, etc. So your payment for the Google Shopping CSS itself is around 20% of the whole budget. And only 80% are spent on actual clicks.
For this reason, it is worth using an external Comparison Shopping Service that allows you to save those 20%, which on a larger scale can generate huge savings.
Moreover, clicks on „By CSS Name” do not incur any fee. And as long as the user is directed from the CSS directly to your online store, you gain leads completely free of charge.
What requirements must be met to have your own CSS?
However, not all price comparison sites are registered as a CSS. In order to receive the CSS status, the comparison website must meet all the Google requirements and be registered at Google. In this case, it can place product listing ads and comparison listing ads.
The list of those requirements is quite long, but let’s take a look at the most important ones:
- the company must operate a Comparison Shopping Service website that allows users to search for products and compare the offers from different sellers
- the CSS website must have products from at least 50 different seller domains for each country you’d like to place ads via your CSS for
- these sellers must deliver products to the countries, where users interested in purchasing live
- these products must be listed on the Comparison Shopping Service’s website, which must lead users to sellers’ landing pages where they can complete their transactions
- the CSS website must allow users to search for products, as well as sort or filter them by the price and at least one additional parameter (e.g., brand, delivery time, seller)
- the CSS site must be publicly accessible and not require the user to register
Once the website meets the minimum requirements for the Google CSS program and the company has an active account in the CSS Center (it’s a platform used for management of CSS domains), the Comparison Shopping Service can start displaying product ads in Google search results.
What privileges can CSS enjoy?
All CSS providers can:
- place branded Shopping ads (all Shopping ads then display with “By CSS Name” instead of “By Google”)
- place comparison listing ads (they are located in the additional carousel of product ads, in the „Comparison sites” view)
- have a 20% bidding advantage in Google auction (as compared to Google Shopping)
How to get your own CSS?
If you want to become an owner of a price comparison website with CSS status, you can code it yourself. Alternatively you can hire programmers to do it for you. Or have Sembot create your own CSS on our SaaS platform.
This last variant will be not only the fastest, but also the cheapest. In addition, it will also ensure that your website immediately meets the requirements imposed by Google on Comparison Shopping Services. We will take care of everything. You will receive a ready-made, fully functional CSS.
Launch your own CSS with Sembot
Sembot offers three CSS solutions:
- Sembot CSS – a CSS that belongs to Sembot. It will not be branded with the name of your online store or agency (all the Google Shopping ads will display with „By Sembot”), but you will receive it for free as a part of each Sembot Suite subscription, and it will guarantee you a 20% bidding advantage in Google auction
- Brand CSS – your own branded CSS. All Google Shopping ads will display with “By Your Brand.” This is a SaaS solution, so it ensures that your CSS will 100% meet the minimum requirements of Google for Comparison Shopping Services. This option is available only for a single e-commerce brand
- White Label CSS – your own Comparison Shopping Service for unlimited number of shops in it. We created this option for performance agencies and any other companies that would like to connect multiple online stores with their CSS. All Google Shopping ads will display the link „By Your CSS” below. The CSS name can be the same as your company’s name or completely different – you choose. It’s also a SaaS solution that ensures that you meet Google requirements
Grow your business with CSS
By running the CSS service with Sembot, you gain primarily the following:
- removal of the Google margin of up to 20% on each click in Shopping campaigns, thanks to which you get lower CPC costs and increase your bidding power
- additional free traffic from users clicking on the “By” field and landing at the product catalog of the comparison site
- increase in the number of impressions thanks to connection to a CSS other than Google’s, which is a simple way to increase the number of views, clicks, and chances for conversion and sales
Brand CSS & White Label CSS
By choosing the Brand CSS or White Label CSS variant, you get additional advantages:
- brand exposure, because the name of your online store or the name of your performance agency (or any other company that is a CSS owner) appears in the “By” field
- technological advantage in performance marketing, increased efficiency and savings thanks to a set of solutions from Sembot, such as: product data optimiser, automatic advertising campaigns, price tracking, position tracking, etc.
- direct contact with Google, because by having your own CSS you become a fully authorized CSS provider
- full control over the configuration and optimization of your own or your clients’ campaigns
- the possibility to monetize your CSS, e.g., by adding affiliate links to the CSS website or collecting fees from customers connected to your CSS (in case of White Label CSS solution)
Contact us for a free consultation and learn how CSS can help your online store or performance agency achieve business success.
