(31 August 2018 – Global) Google and Mastercard have partnered to trial a new tool allowing some merchants to track the link between online ads and in-store sales.
According to Bloomberg, after years of negotiations a deal was struck between the two companies that used credit transaction data to let a select group of ‘test’ merchants see when online ads led to sales at physical stores.
Since last year, some retailers have had access to a tool called Store Sales Measurement, giving Google a valuable insight into how merchant advertising is linked to customer spending that is not online.
Both companies have confirmed that no identifying information is shared between each other and the retailers only see aggregate sales figures and estimates of how many sales are due to Google ads.