Local inventory on Google (Business Profile)

If you sell from a physical store as well as online, Google can show shoppers nearby "in stock nearby" on Search and Maps: a free add-on to Merchant Center called Free Local Listings. This page covers how to turn it on.

Where to find it

Open Apps → Google & YouTube, pick your sales channel, open the Merchant Center tab, and find Local inventory. You'll need Merchant Center already connected (see Get found on Google); local inventory is layered on top of your existing product feed.

Two steps, and you need both

Local inventory only actually shows on Google once both of the following are done. They're independent (you can do them in either order), but stock won't appear until each is finished:

1. Link your Google Business Profile to your Merchant Center account.
2. Map each physical store (Warehouse) to a Business Profile location.

1. Link your Business Profile

This uses the same Google permission your Merchant Center connection already granted, so no extra sign-in is needed.

1. Enter the Google email of the Business Profile owner (the Google account that owns your Business Profile listing(s)) and click Request access.
2. Google emails an approval request to that address. Someone with access to that inbox needs to approve it. The request expires after 7 days if ignored, so send it to someone who checks that inbox regularly.
3. Once approved, the account appears under "Approved and ready to link." Click Link this account to confirm the link on the Brainerce side.
4. If you're not sure whether an invite went through, use Refresh status: it re-checks with Google and tells you either way, rather than leaving the button looking like nothing happened.

If the request owner and the person clicking "Request access" are different people, coordinate before sending. Brainerce has no way to remind the Business Profile owner to check their email beyond the one Google sends.

2. Map your stores (warehouses) to Business Profile locations

Google needs to know which physical location has which product in stock. Brainerce does this by matching each of your Warehouses to a Business Profile location.

1. Click Load Business Profile locations. If you see a prompt asking for one more Google permission, click through it: this step needs Google's "manage your Business Profile" scope, which is separate from (and requested after) the base connection, so it's normal to be asked for it only when you get here.
2. For each active warehouse, pick its matching location from the dropdown and click Save. This sets that Business Profile location's store code to your warehouse's internal ID.
3. If a location already has a different store code, Brainerce warns you before overwriting it. This usually means the location is already wired to something else (a point-of-sale system, a loyalty program). Overwriting it may break that other integration. Only confirm if you're sure Brainerce should own that store code going forward.
4. Warehouses that are inactive, or that you haven't created yet, don't appear in the list. Add or activate them under Inventory → Warehouses first.

What Brainerce does not do here

• Brainerce does not create your Business Profile. If you don't have one yet, create it directly with Google first (business.google.com). Brainerce only links to an existing one.
• Brainerce does not turn on local listings for you. Linking your profile and mapping locations is the setup; whether local inventory is actually switched on for your Merchant Center account is a Google-side setting. If your products look "limited" because local listings are on with no store inventory behind them, see the Why my products are not showing on Google check in Apps & marketplace: it catches exactly this and offers to switch it off if you don't intend to use local inventory at all.
• Brainerce does not sync stock levels in real time on its own schedule you control. Once mapped, Google reads stock the same way it reads your regular product feed. There's no separate manual "sync now" button for local inventory specifically.

What's next?

• Warehouses and purchasing: create and manage the physical locations you're mapping here.
• Get found on Google: the Merchant Center connection this local inventory sits on top of.