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Price competitiveness

Price competitiveness is how a product's price compares with the benchmark price at which other retailers sell the same product on Google.

How it works

Google takes the prices of all retailers that sell a product with the same GTIN in Shopping ads and organic listings. It then works out a benchmark: the average price that typically goes with more successful auctions, impressions, clicks or conversions, depending on the data available. A product without a valid GTIN gets no benchmark. Your side of the comparison is the current price shoppers see on Google.

Merchant Center keeps only the latest prices; for a price history, use the Merchant API or BigQuery. Our guide to the price competitiveness report explains how to read it.

Formula

Price gap = (your price − benchmark price) ÷ benchmark price × 100%

Google does not specify the divisor; the portal uses the benchmark.

Where you see it

  • Merchant Center: Analytics → Pricing: products cheaper or pricier than the benchmark, by brand, and the largest price gaps.
  • Portal: the feed screen lists products priced above the market with your price, the market price, the gap and Google’s suggestion. It warns that Google may have compared a different size or configuration.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop sells a dinner set at 600 against a benchmark of 520. Price gap = (600 − 520) ÷ 520 = +15.4%. A mug at 90 against a benchmark of 100 has a gap of −10%.

Not to be confused with

  • Price insights — a suggested sale price with predicted uplift. Price competitiveness only shows where you stand.
  • Competitive visibility — how often other shops are shown next to and above you, not what they charge.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “We are 15% above the benchmark, so matching it will bring sales.” Right: in our study of 1.4 million products, 213,913 had a benchmark. Of those priced over 20% above the market, 11.7% had conversions, against 20.4% at market. Those over 20% below did no better: 20.8%. Price position and product status correlated at only r = −0.075. Does being cheaper win on Google Shopping breaks these numbers down.
  • Wrong: “No benchmark means no competitors.” Right: without a valid GTIN a product gets no benchmark, however many shops sell it.

Sources

  • About Pricing in Merchant Center Analytics — benchmark, GTIN, price gap, the Pricing tab, latest prices. Checked 2 October 2026 (archived copy of 11 May 2026).
  • PriceCompetitivenessProductView — Merchant API: your price and the benchmark by country. Checked 2 October 2026.
  • GetProfit study: 213,913 products across 51 accounts — price position against conversions.