Most Android developers think about monetization in terms of what happens inside their app: launching a billing flow, presenting a paywall, handling purchase results. But Google Play also merchandises your products outside your app, recommending them to users on store surfaces, in notifications, and during the browsing experience. These out-of-app surfaces drive purchases that many developers never actively manage. Now, Google is consolidating three separate merchandising features into a single ML-driven page, and there is a hard deadline to prepare.
In this article, you’ll explore what the three existing out of app merchandising features are and how they work, what Google Play is changing by unifying them into the new Merchandizing and optimization page, the timeline and March 16 cutoff that affects your existing configurations, special considerations for each feature during the migration, concrete steps you should take before the deadline, and how out of app purchases connect to your billing stack.
Background: How Google Play merchandises your products outside your app
Before diving into what is changing, it is important to understand what Google Play already does to promote your products beyond your app’s own UI. Out-of-app merchandising is significant because it reaches users who are not currently inside your app. A user browsing the Play Store, receiving a notification, or exploring related content may encounter your products without ever opening your app first. This creates an additional acquisition and conversion channel that operates independently of your in-app purchase UI.
There are three distinct features that handle out-of-app merchandising today, each configured separately in the Google Play Console.
Purchase flow recommendations
Purchase flow recommendations allow Google Play to suggest your products to users as they browse the Play Store. When a user is exploring apps, viewing related content, or navigating purchase surfaces, Google Play can display your in-app products or subscriptions as recommendations. These suggestions are based on the user’s purchase history, browsing behavior, and contextual signals.
You configure purchase flow recommendations by selecting which SKUs are eligible for promotion and optionally targeting specific countries. Google Play then decides when and where to show these recommendations to relevant users. The configuration lives on its own dedicated purchase flow recommendations page in the Google Play Console.
Featured products
Featured products give you more direct control over promotion. Rather than letting Google Play choose which products to surface, you explicitly configure which products to highlight on Google Play surfaces. You can set start and end dates for promotions, associate them with specific offers or events, target specific audiences and countries, and limit them to licensed testers during development.
Featured products are useful for time-limited promotions, seasonal campaigns, or highlighting new premium content. They give you granular control over what gets promoted, to whom, and for how long.
Cart abandonment reminders
Cart abandonment reminders address a different part of the purchase funnel. When a user begins a purchase flow but does not complete it, Google Play can send a notification reminding them to finish the transaction. This is a common e-commerce pattern adapted for the app store context.
For cart abandonment reminders, you do not configure individual products. Instead, Google Play automatically tracks abandoned purchase attempts and sends reminders for users who started but did not finish a transaction. You can opt out of this feature entirely using a form in the Google Play Console if you prefer not to have reminders sent for your products. Currently, the opt-out is managed separately for one-time products and subscriptions.
What’s changing: A unified, ML-driven approach
Google is replacing these three separate tools with a single Merchandising and optimization page in the Google Play Console. Instead of managing purchase flow recommendations, featured products, and cart abandonment reminders independently, you will configure everything from one place.