our brand doesn’t show up in the product grids for our own products

Understanding Product Visibility Challenges in E-Commerce: A Case Study

In the rapidly evolving landscape of direct-to-consumer (DTC) fashion brands, maintaining consistent product visibility across search platforms is vital for sustained growth and customer engagement. Recently, a prominent DTC fashion retailer encountered an unusual issue that highlights complexities in product discoverability and the importance of diligent digital strategy management.

The Situation

This brand, well-established within its niche and performing strongly through organic channels, observed a peculiar inconsistency in how its products appeared in Google’s shopping and product grid features. Despite robust rankings for broad transactional keywords and a well-maintained product feed in Google Merchant Center, the brand’s own shop was notably absent from the merchant listings for its products.

Specifically, when searching for terms like “[BrandName] + backpack black,” the search results showcased multiple listings, including top retailers such as Amazon, Zalando, and others. However, the brand’s official shop was rarely, if ever, listed among these merchant options—notably, only one out of several product listings pointed to the brand’s direct online store.

The Challenge

This discrepancy raises several questions:

• Why is the brand’s own shop not consistently appearing as a merchant on its products?

• What factors influence Google’s selection of merchant listings, especially for direct-to-consumer brands?

• Are there technical or data-related issues preventing proper merchant attribution?

Initial Investigations and Findings

1. Product Feed Configuration
   The brand’s team verified that their Google Merchant Center feed is correctly configured. The product data appears accurate, complete, and compliant with Google’s requirements. No issues with structured data or product attributes were observed.

2. Crawl and Technical Checks
   Using tools like Screaming Frog with the Google Shop user agent to simulate search engine requests, the site behaved as expected. No anomalies or accidental blocks emerged, indicating that technical barriers are unlikely the root cause.

3. Competition and Market Dynamics
   It’s common for marketplace giants like Amazon or Zalando to dominate the merchant listings due to their vast reach and established partnerships. However, for a brand with an active merchant account, visibility should generally be consistent, especially on branded search terms.

Possible Factors to Consider

• Data Feed Optimization: Although the feed seems correct, reviewing specific merchant-related attributes such as brand, gtin, mpn, and availability could help. Ensuring that these are accurate and reflect the brand’s identity may influence merchant attribution.

• Merchant Center Account Health: Confirm that the Merchant