In a first, Google is offering credit in the UK specifically for retailers who want to spend the money on AdWords. The reasoning behind the program can only be because retailers are feeling the pinch and don’t have sufficient spare funds to spend and Google believe by offering credit retailers will increase their advertising.
First thing to note is that Google aren’t getting into small business finance to compete with the likes of ezbob, iwoca and Kabbage – Google’s finance can only be used for advertising on Google. “AdWords Business Credit helps keep your ads running consistently” is the aim, and launching just as we start the busiest time of the year means if you want to increase your spend in Q4 and pay in the New Year after the bumper sales from Christmas than you can.
Interest rates are variable 11.9% APR Representative and there’s no annual fee, the credit works in the form of a MasterCard credit card issued in conjunction with Barclays. If you have more than one AdWords account, you can use the card with all your accounts but if you try to spend your credit on anything other than AdWords you card will be rejected.
Currently the program is by invitation only, but with Google’s huge cash reserves we’d expect this to roll out fairly quickly as well as expand to the US and other countries. It’s worth remembering that the lions share of Google’s income is from AdWords and if retailers can’t spend due to the credit crunch this could seriously impacts Google’s revenues.
