Top 10 Takeaways from Google Think Retail on Air 2025

HK Digital
Sep 12, 2025
5 min read

We tuned into Google’s Think Retail on Air 2025 so you don’t have to. Below is our fast (but thoughtful) rundown of what matters for retail marketers, plus how we’re adapting playbooks for Q4. If you want the official session videos and docs, they’re all on the Think Retail hub and Resource center:

Event Hub: https://google-ads.brandlive.com/Think-Retail-2025/en/home
Resources: https://google-ads.brandlive.com/Think-Retail-2025/en/pages/Resources

1) Loyalty Gets Real: Member Pricing, Member Shipping, and Retention Goals

What’s new: Google is pushing member‑only pricing & shipping in both free listings and Shopping ads, plus a new Retention goal (loyalty mode) in Google Ads to bias spend toward high‑LTV shoppers.

Why it matters: Loyalty finally has native levers across free + paid surfaces. If you’ve got Customer Match + clear tiers, you can speak to members and spend more intelligently.

Our take: This is the rare feature set that helps profitability, not just volume. We’re prioritizing loyalty integration for brands with margin headroom and repeat purchase behavior.

Do this next:

Stand up or audit your Merchant Center loyalty config and surface member‑only pricing/shipping.
Turn on Retention goal in applicable campaigns; segment win‑back vs high‑value cohorts.
Align your promo calendar so members see real value (not just a badge).

2) PMax Channel Performance (Beta) ≠ A Black Box Anymore

What’s new: A dedicated channel performance report for Performance Max shows how spend/performance breaks down across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail.

Why it matters: You finally get directional clarity by channel to guide creative, feed hygiene, and budget calls.

Our take: We’ll build channel‑specific optimization rituals—e.g., creative refreshes for YouTube, feed fixes for Shopping, and landing page routing for Search.

Do this next: Request access if you don’t see it yet. Instrument a weekly ritual: review channel trends → make one creative change and one feed change.

3) Brand Exclusions Grow Up (Without Killing Shopping)

What’s new: Brand exclusions now let you block brand queries in Search while optionally still allowing Shopping to capture qualified brand demand.

Why it matters: You can reduce cannibalization and keep text ads clean without losing the high‑intent product traffic that makes money.

Our take: This is the control we’ve wanted for years. We’ll use it to keep ROAS honest on Search while let Shopping scale where it wins.

Do this next: In PMax with feeds, apply exclusions thoughtfully. Start with non‑core brands or resellers; monitor impact on branded CPC/CPA before expanding.

4) URL Rules + Page Feeds: Smarter Routing for Seasonal & Clearance

What’s new: “URL contains” rules and page feeds give more precision in how PMax treats your site structure and seasonal collections.

Why it matters: You can isolate holiday/clearance/promo collections into dedicated asset groups to stabilize ROAS during price swings.

Our take: We’ll pre‑tag seasonal URLs (e.g., /bfcm/, /clearance/, /gift‑sets/) and map them to asset groups with distinct creative, bids, and budgets.

Do this next: Audit your URL taxonomy. Create a page feed for seasonal collections. Pair with Final URL Expansion settings intentionally.

5) AI Shopping Surfaces: AI Mode & Virtual Try‑On (VTO) Move From Hype to Plan

What’s new: Google keeps expanding AI Mode shopping + VTO (try‑on with personal photos). These surfaces will be more shoppable and present in Search flows.

Why it matters: Product discovery is going visual and conversational. Retailers with the right assets win.

Our take: We’ll adapt creative: short demo loops, clean product footage, and VTO‑friendly angles. Think “helpful, scannable, shoppable.”

Do this next: Prep product clips and model imagery that match VTO/visual search guidelines. Update PDPs for price alerts and variant clarity.

6) Merchant Center: Loyalty Reporting & Guardrails

What’s new: Loyalty performance reporting (impressions, clicks, CTR for loyalty‑annotated offers). Clear eligibility rules and region availability for loyalty program attributes.

Why it matters: You can actually measure if those member perks move the needle—and fix issues fast.

Our take: We’ll add loyalty metrics to weekly dashboards and set thresholds (e.g., loyalty CTR +15% vs. baseline) to keep the program honest.

Do this next: Define loyalty tiers (up to 7). Validate price/shipping eligibility rules. Add loyalty metrics to BI.

7) Automated Discounts: Powerful… But Use a Seatbelt

What’s new: Automated Discounts in Merchant Center uses AI to set “ideal” sale prices across Shopping + PDPs.

Why it matters: Margin‑aware automation can scale promos without the manual overhead.

Our take: Great for high‑SKU catalogs, but we’ll run tight guardrails (min margin floors, promo calendars, category allowlists).

Do this next: Test on a limited category. Monitor gross profit, not just revenue. Ensure pricing parity across PDPs and feeds.

8) Auction Volatility Watch: Amazon’s Shopping Exit (and Partial Return)

What’s new: Amazon abruptly exited Google Shopping auctions (and has reportedly returned in some international markets).

Why it matters: CPCs and impression share can swing by category/geo. Some brands see cheaper clicks, others see lower efficiency.

Our take: We’ll treat this as a rolling auction‑weather variable—adjust budgets and bids weekly by category, not just at account level.

Do this next: Set alerting for CPC/IS swings. Rebalance PMax budgets toward categories seeing positive auction shifts.

9) First‑Party Data (1P) Is the Real Unlock

What’s new: Google’s 2025 guidance doubles down on customer lifecycle goals and 1P data use across acquisition and retention.

Why it matters: Loyalty + retention goals only work if you can actually identify valuable customers.

Our take: We’ll keep pushing CDP/CRM hygiene and modeled LTV tiers. No clean data, no clean outcomes.

Do this next: Refresh Customer Match lists; define high‑value and lapsed logic; wire outcomes to bidding.

10) Measurement: Make It About Incrementality, Not Just ROAS

What’s new: Google’s best‑practice docs stress channel reporting (beta), search terms in PMax, and improved lifecycle goals—all in service of better decisioning.

Why it matters: With more automation, the edge is in better questions and cleaner tests.

Our take: We’ll prioritize lift tests, MMM pilot paths, and PMax transparency tools to prove what’s moving the business—not just last‑click ROAS.

Do this next: Run win‑back experiments with holdouts. Use the channel report to drive one creative and one structural change per cycle.

Final Thoughts

Think Retail on Air 2025 was less about flashy “new toys” and more about operational levers—loyalty, lifecycle goals, PMax transparency, and creative fit for AI‑shaped shopping. That’s good news. It means marketers who organize their data and processes will out‑execute.

Want help applying any of this for Q4 / BFCM? We’re happy to put together a quick roadmap based on your catalog, margins, and promo calendar.