Upp. vs. SMEC: Which Google Shopping Software is best?

For retailers, few line items on your P&L are more important than your Google Shopping spend. By far the largest search engine in the world, and used by 98% of consumers for online shopping.

Here at Upp., we’re on the side of the retailer. We focus solely on helping retailers achieve profitable results through the power of machine learning on Google Shopping. 

But, we know we’re not the only software available, so we’ve created a series of guides to help you determine which software is right for you.

In this article, we’re comparing Upp.AI to SMEC (Smarter Ecommerce) – let’s dive in.

Upp.AI for Google Shopping: an overview

Firstly, let’s talk about the features of Upp.AI. Custom-programmed for retailers, Upp.AI’s algorithms throw out the Google Shopping rule book when it comes to ad campaign set-up and optimisation. Here’s how Upp.AI is changing how digital teams work through the power of machine learning:

1. Connected SKU-level data: Upp.AI’s patent-pending machine learning algorithms take SKU-level product data from Google Shopping, Google Analytics, Shopify and Magento to uncover lost revenue opportunities and use this data to automatically optimise retailers’ inventory into high-performing ad campaigns.

2. Automation pioneers: Engineered specifically for retailers, Upp.AI has developed the most intelligent ad automation platform on the market for Google Shopping. Its automation capabilities are built on complex algorithms designed to optimise a retailer’s own bottom line, not Google’s advertising bottom line.

3. Board-level intelligence: Upp.AI’s dashboard is designed for your entire business, not just your digital marketing team. You can elevate budget conversations beyond just ROAS, and start talking about the metrics that you really care about, like EBIT and contribution margin.

4. Results that matter: Ultimately, the main reason to use any marketing channel is to drive results. In just 90 days, retailers using Upp.AI have seen an average revenue increase of 27%, and a 48% increase in available budget to spend.

SMEC for Google Shopping: how it compares

Turning our attention to SMEC, an AI platform that has carved its niche in automating Google ad optimisation. The question is – does it live up to Upp.AI’s technology? Let’s find out.

1. Inventory scoring: SMEC uses marketing, performance and product data to score inventory on a daily basis, their team of Google specialists then use this data to input into Google Shopping.

2. Automated product titles and descriptions: SMEC’s software enables retailers to automatically update and optimise product titles and product descriptions in their Google ads across multiple channels. 

3. Omni-channel approach: SMEC’s software is less specialised, spanning more than Google Shopping, it also covers Google, Bing and programmatic ads. 

4. Competition and price insights: SMEC enables analysis of competitor and market prices, and then automatically applies strategic budget allocation to competitive products.

Why Upp. is the clear choice for online retailers

Both Upp.AI and SMEC are AI software solutions designed to optimise Google Shopping campaigns. And that’s where the similarity ends.

Firstly, Upp.AI’s technology is end-to-end automation, powered by machine learning. There are no teams of people managing Google Shopping campaigns, and therefore no gaps in monitoring performance when 5pm hits or the Christmas break falls on us. 

Whilst both tools use AI technology to provide data intelligence, Upp.AI uses this intelligence and automatically applies it to optimised Google Shopping Performance Max campaigns. Whereas the SMEC team takes similar intelligence and then manually applies the insights to Google Shopping campaigns – an insurmountable task for a retailer who has thousands of SKUs in a global market that never sleeps.

Secondly, it’s all about data. Machine learning technology will only learn from what you feed it. So to ensure this type of tech is as high-performing as it can be, you need to feed it with as much intelligent data as possible.

Upp.AI uses more data than any other Google Shopping optimisation software in the market – 7 billion data points are analysed every day. Other platforms may have more features, but it’s more data that equals more intelligence and therefore higher performance and better returns. 

You will never see as much success as the retailers who are using Upp.AI if you decide to go with a machine learning platform that doesn’t utilise the maximum amount of data available. 

Set yourself up for long-term success with Upp.AI, watch it learn your business over time and turn your most important marketing channel into your most profitable one. Speak to a Google Shopping expert today.