Outsourcing Google Shopping: costs and approach

Summary: outsourcing Google Shopping in short

Outsourcing Google Shopping in the Netherlands usually costs €385 to €845 or more per month in management, plus your ad budget, which you pay directly to Google. An e-commerce click cost a median €0.56 in September 2026. At Game-changers Google advertising starts from €500 per month excl. VAT, with tracking included as standard and no set-up fee. Request a free analysis. We steer on profit per product, not just revenue.

• What: A specialist manages your product feed, Merchant Center and Shopping or Performance Max campaigns.
• Why: Shopping ads get 85% of clicks on retail search ads.
• Costs: Management €385 to €845+ per month in the market, at Game-changers from €500 excl. VAT, plus ad budget.
• Our advice: Start with a good feed and steer on margin, not revenue or clicks.

What is Google Shopping?

Google Shopping shows your products with photo, price and shop name, at the top of Google and in the Shopping tab. According to Ahrefs, Dutch people search 200 times a month for “wat is google shopping” (what is Google Shopping) and 500 times for “google shopping uitbesteden” (outsourcing Google Shopping). The ads do not come from keywords, but from your product feed: a file with all your products, prices and stock. You upload that feed to Google Merchant Center. Google Shopping has three parts:

• Product feed: titles, descriptions, prices, GTINs, categories and stock of all your products.
• Merchant Center: where Google checks your feed, approves or disapproves products and shows free listings.
• Campaigns: Shopping campaigns or Performance Max in Google Ads, where you pay for extra visibility.

Why Google Shopping matters for online shops

Anyone searching for a product first sees images with prices. According to Koongo, 85% of clicks on retail search ads go to Shopping ads, accounting for 76% of spend. A click costs on average €0.59 (converted from dollars at the ECB rate of 6 November 2026), with a conversion rate of 1.91%. Because people see the price and product before they click, the clicks you get often come from buyers who have already chosen.

What does outsourcing Google Shopping cost?

You pay for two things: management by a specialist and the ad budget for Google. The ad budget always goes directly to Google. This is what it looks like in 2026:

An example: with €500 ad budget and €0.56 per click you get around 890 clicks. At the median shop conversion rate of 2.14% from the same Adtribute benchmark, that is around 19 orders. To see how this compares to regular search ads, read what Google Ads costs.

Our research: what Google shows for outsourcing Google Shopping

On 9 November 2026 we looked at the Dutch search results with DataForSEO. At the top there is an AI answer from Google, then one ad and then 9 regular results. What stands out:

• 6 out of 9: are agency service pages.
• 2 out of 9: are explainer blogs about Google Shopping, 1 is a LinkedIn post.
• 0 out of 9: show an amount in the search result. Only the AI answer mentions prices: €385 to €845+ per month.
• Feed and margin: are the core of outsourcing according to the AI answer, next to campaign management.

How to outsource Google Shopping in 4 steps

1. Feed in order

We improve titles, descriptions, GTINs and categories to match how people search, and fix disapprovals in Merchant Center.

2. Structure by margin

We group campaigns by margin and search intent, so high-profit products do not get the same budget as low-profit ones.

3. Bid on profit

We give more budget to products that make profit, not just to products that sell a lot. With Performance Max we check where the budget really goes.

4. Measure and adjust

With proper tracking we see profit and ROAS per product, and adjust every month. Our tracking and GA4 checklist shows what that takes.

Google Shopping or Performance Max?

Performance Max is the Google campaign type that uses AI to advertise on Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps at once. A standard Shopping campaign only shows product ads, but gives you more control. In practice:

• Shopping: useful for testing, for small catalogues and when you want to see exactly which search terms you appear for.
• Performance Max: strong when you have enough conversions, good images and reliable conversion data.
• Both: is possible too: for example Performance Max for your bestsellers and Shopping for new products.

What it delivers

Three examples from our own work. With Google advertising, Deurklinkshop gets the same order value with 4 times less ad spend, and 131% more profit. Rug Expertise Shop went from under 2% to up to 8% conversion after a redesign, with 76% more profit; that makes every click from Shopping worth more. CrossFit Climbers Cabin went from €55 to €9 per lead with Google advertising and was fully booked within 4 months. Read more about online shops in e-commerce.

“Most online shops steer Google Shopping on revenue, but revenue says nothing about what you keep. We look at the margin per product and give the budget to products that really make money. On top of that, the feed is half the work: a good title with the words people search for often does more than a higher bid.”

Annefleur van Osta

Online marketing strategist at Game-changers

Do it yourself or outsource?

Doing it yourself can work if you have a small catalogue and time to learn feeds and Google Ads. Outsourcing pays off when you have many products, your feed has errors or your results have stalled. At Game-changers Google advertising starts from €500 per month excl. VAT, for which we work at least 4 hours a month on your campaigns. You pay the ad budget directly to Google. There is no set-up fee. Request a free analysis. Combine Shopping with conversion rate optimisation and it becomes cheaper, and every click delivers more. Also check your product pages with our landing page checklist.

Frequently asked questions about outsourcing Google Shopping

What is Google Shopping?

Google Shopping shows your products with photo, price and shop name in Google and in the Shopping tab. The ads come from your product feed in Google Merchant Center, not from keywords.

How does Google Shopping work?

You upload your product feed to Google Merchant Center and link it to Google Ads. Google decides which searches your products match, based on your titles, descriptions and categories.

What does Google Shopping cost?

You pay per click: in e-commerce on average €0.56 to €0.59 in 2026. Agency management usually costs €385 to €845 or more per month on top; at Game-changers from €500 per month excl. VAT.

Is Google Shopping free?

Partly. Through Google Merchant Center you can get free product listings in the Shopping tab. For the ads at the top of the search results you pay per click.

What is Google Merchant Center?

Google Merchant Center is the free environment where you upload your product feed. Google checks your products there, approves or disapproves them and passes them on to Shopping and Google Ads.

What is a product feed?

A product feed is a file with all your products and their data, such as title, price, stock, GTIN and category. The better your feed, the more often Google shows your products for the right searches.

Why does Google ask for a GTIN?

With a GTIN, such as the EAN code, Google knows exactly which product you sell. Products with a manufacturer GTIN must therefore be submitted with that code, otherwise they are shown less or not at all.

How do my products get into Google Shopping?

Create a Google Merchant Center account, upload your product feed and verify your website. After approval your products appear in the free listings, and with a Google Ads campaign also in the ads.

Why are products disapproved in Merchant Center?

Usually because of missing or incorrect data: a price that does not match your website, a missing GTIN, wrong images or policy issues. Merchant Center shows the reason per product.

What is a Google Shopping campaign?

A Google Shopping campaign is a Google Ads campaign that shows product ads from your feed. You decide the budget, bids and which products take part.

What is the difference between Google Shopping and Performance Max?

A Shopping campaign only shows product ads and gives you more control. Performance Max uses AI to advertise on all Google channels at once, and works best with enough conversions and good data.

How much budget do you need for Google Shopping?

Start with a budget that gets you enough clicks to learn, often a few hundred euros a month. With €500 and €0.56 per click you get around 890 clicks.

What is a good ROAS for Google Shopping?

That depends on your margin. At a 33% margin a ROAS of 3 is break-even; above that you make a profit. So steer on profit per product, not on one average ROAS.

What does outsourcing Google Shopping cost?

Management in the market usually costs €385 to €845 or more per month. At Game-changers from €500 per month excl. VAT, with no set-up fee. Request a free analysis.

Google Shopping agency or do it yourself?

Doing it yourself can work with a small catalogue and enough time. An agency pays off when you have many products, your feed has errors or your results have stalled.

How long does Google Shopping take to deliver results?

The first sales often come within a few days. Expect 4 to 8 weeks before the campaign has enough data to steer well on profit.

Where has Google Shopping gone?

Google Shopping still exists: you find it in the Shopping tab in Google Search and as product ads between the regular search results. Since 2022 many campaigns run through Performance Max.

How do you measure Google Shopping results?

Measure revenue, profit and ROAS per product, not just clicks. Make sure purchases come through correctly in Google Ads and GA4, otherwise Google steers on the wrong data.

Sources

Koongo, Google Shopping Statistics 2026

updated 21 August 2026

Adtribute, Google Ads cost per click benchmark e-commerce

September 2026

Google Merchant Center Help, Free product listings

viewed 9 November 2026

Google Ads Help, About Shopping ads

viewed 9 November 2026

DataForSEO SERP API, own measurement Google Netherlands

9 November 2026

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, Dutch search volume

9 November 2026

ECB, euro to US dollar reference rate

6 November 2026