Do Online and In-Store Products Need Separate IDs in Google Merchant Center?

Yes. Starting in March 2026, Google requires merchants to give a product a separate product ID for each channel if its online and in-store versions differ in price, availability, or condition. A single shared ID across channels only remains valid when every one of those attributes is identical between the online listing and the in-store version.

What Stays the Same vs. What Needs Splitting

If a product is truly identical everywhere it's sold — same price, same availability status, same condition, whether it's listed online or shown in a Local Inventory Ad for a physical store — one multi-channel product ID still works, and merchants don't need to change anything. The requirement only kicks in once any of those three attributes diverges between channels, which is common for retailers who price in-store inventory differently, run store-only promotions, or sell online-exclusive variants of the same base product.

Online Attributes Become the Default

Under the new structure, a product's online attributes are treated as the default version. That means when a merchant needs to split an ID, the in-store version is the one that needs its own distinct product ID and data reflecting its actual in-store price, availability, or condition — the online listing keeps the original ID without requiring changes on that side.

Who This Actually Affects

This change lands hardest on retailers using Local Inventory Ads, since those ads depend on accurate, channel-specific product data to show real-time in-store availability and local pricing next to search results. A pure online-only seller with no physical storefront in their feed isn't affected by this rule at all, since there's no second channel to diverge from. For omnichannel retailers, though, any gap between what the website says and what's true on the shelf is exactly the scenario this requirement is built to catch.

Supplemental Feeds Don't Substitute

Merchants sometimes use supplemental feeds to patch or enrich existing product data without touching the primary feed. That approach doesn't satisfy this requirement — a supplemental feed can add missing attributes to a product record, but it can't stand in for creating the separate product ID that's required once online and in-store attributes diverge.

What to Do Before Enforcement Catches Up

Retailers should pull their current feed and cross-check price, availability, and condition for every product that exists in both online and local inventory channels. Google has reportedly been emailing affected accounts directly, flagging specific products that need updated IDs — treating that notice as a deadline rather than a suggestion is the safer read, since delisting or reduced visibility is the likely consequence of leaving mismatched products on a shared ID.

Bottom Line

Audit any product you sell both online and in-store for price, availability, or condition differences now, and assign the in-store version its own product ID wherever those attributes don't match — Google has been enforcing this split since March 2026.

Sources: PPC Land, "Google forces retailers to split product IDs by March 2026"; WebProNews, "Google Mandates Separate Product IDs for Online vs. In-Store by 2026"; Almcorp, "Google's New Product ID Requirements for Multi-Channel Retailers: Complete 2026 Compliance Guide."