The Right Way to Configure Product Bundles in Your Product Feed

Google Merchant Center has its own rules for selling a group of products through product feeds. 

Sometimes, a bundle of products is the best option for merchants and advertisers, and the requirements can get quite specific.

In this article, we cover the is_bundle attribute in Google Shopping, including how to configure it, which values are supported, and how to fix the common issues with it.

Let’s see how this is done.

What Is the is_bundle Attribute in the Product Feed?

A bundle of products is when a group of different products is sold at one price. For example, a shaving blade together with shaving cream, an aftershave lotion, and a short towel.

Merchants can use the bundle attribute to show customers that the product is sold together with a group of other products.

Because of this, bundles have a main product (the shaving blade), and other products, like accessories, collection items, and add ons, which are grouped around the main product.

Bundles created by the manufacturer of the product have a unique product identifier, like GTIN or MPN, and are not considered “a bundle” since Google Shopping already knows about them. 

However, if you create a custom bundle as a retailer, you need to indicate this to Google using the is_bundle attribute in your feed.

Multipack

Multipack is when you have more items of the same product sold at a price for the whole pack (customers can’t buy one item from the pack).

Following the example above, a multipack would have 4, 8, or 20 shaving blades, and no other types of products. Multipacks have their own product attribute in the feed.

Is the is_bundle Attribute Required?

Yes, the is_bundle attribute is required if you want your bundle for products to be included in free listings.

It’s also required for bundles of products you want to show in product ads within Google Shopping. This option is available in a select group of countries, including USA, UK, Germany, France, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Spain and others.

How Is the is_bundle Attribute Used in Google Shopping?

The is_bundle attribute exists to let Google know that the offer is for a group of products and not for the main product exclusively. It’s a vital piece of product data, and it’s used to match user search queries with the right product.

Bundles should include products that are otherwise sold separately. For example, a game console sold with 5 games that can be bought one by one outside of the bundle. Or a fountain pen with 10 cartridges.

Merchants create bundles to make their offers more appealing to customers. Usually, the price of a bundle is lower than the total price of all the items in the bundle when they are bought separately.

There are many reasons to give customers a small discount, including:

To reach a new potential customer base

Nudge customers to buy complementary products associated with the main product

To increase average order value

When customers buy more items, they’ll probably spend more than what the main product costs if bought separately. This will increase the transaction amount and lead to more revenue for you.

To get rid of overstocked SKUs

Best-selling items account for up to 80% of sales. The items which don’t sell remain in your stockpile, and bundles can help you sell them.

The bundle attribute is also used for products with a high level of customization, like engraving. Usually, bundles perform great for products that are bought as gifts (of all sorts).

Let us now check the Google-supported format for this attribute.

Options for is_Bundle

Google accepts only four values for the bundle attribute:

• yes
• true
• no
• false

To insert them for an item in your text feed, simply type one of these values (for instance, “true”).

A tag has to be added before and after the value for XML feeds.

For example: <g:is_bundle>false</g:is_bundle>

The default value for bundles in a product feed is “no.” Advertisers can set this attribute to “yes” when they create a custom bundle of products.

Important note: if you create a bundle, check all other attributes for that product. Make sure to add info about the product title, product description, and image link of each item included in the bundle. 

To further optimize your feed, also check item group ID, Google product category, and product type. Bundles are not the same as individual products – grouping products together might also increase the shipping weight and thus affect the price.

How To Add is_bundle to Your Product Feed

Advertisers usually add product attributes directly from an eCommerce platform, however, this is not the case with the bundle attribute.

If you want to indicate to Google that some product is sold in a bundle, use feed rules or a supplemental feed to do it. With feed rules, you can easily single out products based on shared criteria and change the bundle attribute to “yes.” Alternatively, create a supplemental feed to change the bundle attribute by uploading a list of products.

Once the value of this attribute is changed, you can deal with feed issues.

Common Problems With the is_bundle Attribute

Google will disapprove a product that doesn’t meet the requirement for the bundle attribute. 

These requirements are simple:

• The bundle has to include different products,
• One of the products is the main product, and
• The bundle is custom made (by the retailer)

Follow the requirements to the letter; for instance, don’t change the bundle attribute in your feed for a bundle defined by its original manufacturer (and not by you as a retailer) to avoid getting into trouble.

Also, you can use the condition attribute to inform customers whether the item is new or used.

Let’s check some of the common feed issues related to bundles:

Bundle is set to the wrong value

There can be more reasons for this error, including the bundle attribute is set to “true” for a product that is sold separately, a product is sold in a manufacturer-defined bundle, or is_bundle is set to “no” even though you sell the product in a custom group of products.

Issues with unique product identifiers

When the merchant is wondering which UPI (GTIN, MPN or Brand) to use for the bundle. You can use the GTIN of one of the products (usually the main product) to sell a custom made bundle that includes other products as well. Manufacturer-defined bundles have their own GTIN.

Alternatively, you can find the GTIN number online.

Product Bundling Has Its Benefits

Merchants need to comply with the requirements for is_bundle attribute in their product feed. Only four values are supported (yes, true, false, no), so setting this attribute to the correct one should be easy.

The main idea behind the bundle attribute is to let Google know that the offer includes multiple different products which are sold together. 

This can help improve matching, but it also has potential to boost metrics like average order value for your shop.