Google has quietly opened its Shopping ads to physical goods sold on a subscription basis — a policy shift that could reshape how brands acquire and measure recurring customers.

As first reported by Search Engine Land and confirmed in Google’s Merchant Center policy update, U.S. merchants can now advertise products with subscription options such as coffee, pet food, and personal-care items.

To participate, advertisers must include a subscription_cost attribute in their product feeds specifying billing amount and period. Each product landing page currently supports one subscription price, and discounts or promotional rates are not yet available.

While the change may appear incremental, it represents Google’s first formal step into subscription commerce for physical goods — placing it closer to competitors like Amazon’s Subscribe & Save and Shopify’s subscription tools.

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For subscription executives, this update signals more than a new ad format. It shows Google moving from promoting one-time transactions to enabling recurring relationships — the foundation of the subscription economy.

By making subscriptions native to Shopping ads, Google integrates recurring revenue into one of the web’s highest-intent surfaces. This could transform acquisition economics for DTC and CPG brands, allowing marketers to capture long-term subscribers at the point of search rather than relying solely on post-purchase upsells or retention flows.

If Google extends this capability across its ad ecosystem — and begins tracking recurring value — marketers could soon optimize campaigns on subscriber lifetime value (LTV) instead of single-purchase ROAS.

For now, the move levels the playing field against Amazon, opening a new, data-rich acquisition channel for subscription-based retailers. Strategically, it marks an important milestone: Google is beginning to treat recurring revenue as a default part of digital commerce, not a niche.

What Subscription Marketers Should Watch Next

• Attribution Evolution: Whether Google Ads and Analytics begin surfacing subscription-specific metrics such as LTV or retention.
• Feed Optimization: How the new subscription_cost attribute affects product ranking, eligibility, and ad performance.
• Cross-Platform Expansion: If this capability extends to Performance Max or YouTube campaigns for recurring offers.
• Merchant Adoption: Early data from high-volume categories like coffee, wellness, and pet care will indicate how quickly consumers adapt.
• Pricing Flexibility: When (and how) Google introduces promotional or multi-tier pricing support for subscriptions.