Microsoft Ads Shopping campaigns - still worth running for retail

Microsoft Shopping accounts for a small fraction of total UK ecommerce search volume compared to Google. That fact leads most retail advertisers to deprioritise or ignore it entirely. But the economics of Microsoft Shopping can be strong enough to justify the management overhead - particularly for products in categories where Google Shopping competition is intense and margins are tight.

Setting up Microsoft Shopping

You need a Microsoft Merchant Center account connected to your Microsoft Ads account. Your product feed should follow the Microsoft feed specification, which is very similar to Google's. The easiest approach for most retailers is to use the same feed you submit to Google Merchant Center - Microsoft Merchant Center accepts the same format. Set up the feed in the morning, let Microsoft crawl it, and your Shopping campaign should have product data within 24 to 48 hours.

The CPC comparison

Microsoft Shopping CPCs for most product categories are 30 to 60 percent lower than Google Shopping. That means your budget stretches further even if conversion rates are similar. For competitive categories like electronics, fashion, and home goods where Google Shopping CPCs are high, Microsoft Shopping can deliver incremental revenue at a cost per sale that improves your blended channel efficiency.

The audience overlap

Some of your Google Shopping audience will also search on Bing. But there is genuine incremental reach - Bing users are not all Google users who also search Bing. You will reach buyers you cannot reach through Google alone. The conversion rates in Microsoft Shopping are typically lower than Google Shopping because Bing's audience, while higher-income on average, has lower purchase intent signals in retail categories. Factor this into your ROAS expectations.

Management overhead

After initial setup, Microsoft Shopping campaigns require less active management than Google Shopping because volumes are lower. A weekly check on spend, conversion rate, and search term review is usually sufficient. The main maintenance task is keeping your product feed accurate and current - the same discipline you apply to Google Merchant Center applies here. Price or availability errors in your feed cause disapprovals that reduce your ad reach until they are fixed.