Why Your Google Business Profile Suddenly Matters Again

ByAmyFay Chandler

Modern Retail reported this week that Olly — the vitamin gummies sitting in every drugstore checkout — lifted revenue 20% month-over-month by adding an FAQ section to its product pages. The story matters for your store because your Google Business Profile is the same playbook for an independent gift shop.

Olly’s CMO put it plain: “Just having that information living on that page somewhere in an FAQ format is something that LLMs like.” Translation: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are reading websites all day long. If the answer to a customer’s question is sitting there in plain English, you win the citation. If it isn’t, the model invents an answer — or sends the customer to a competitor.

You don’t sell vitamins. Your website might not even have product pages worth fussing over. That’s not the move for an independent gift store. The move is your Google Business Profile — specifically, the Q&A panel customers never see, but Google’s AI does.

Open it right now. Scroll to the Questions & Answers section. If it’s empty — and for most stores, it is — add three to five questions a customer might actually ask. What brands do you carry? Do you ship? Do you wrap gifts? Are you open on Sundays? Answer them in plain English, the way you’d answer if someone walked in and asked. Ten minutes.

Olly added an FAQ and got 20%. You can add three to your Google Business Profile before your coffee gets cold.

The competitive advantage isn’t having a website anymore. It’s having a website that answers the question a customer never asked you out loud — because they asked a chatbot instead.

xoxo,
❤️ AmyFay

What’s happening in the world. What it means for your store.
From AmyFay Chandler, Mondays and Wednesdays — plus extra issues when the news demands it. More in Friday Retail Tidbits, every Friday morning.

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I’m AmyFay Chandler, a Knoxville-based wholesale sales rep serving independent retailers in Tennessee and Kentucky through Tango Showroom. I also represent Sweet Tree Jewelry and Caroline B Cook nationwide. Before I became a rep, I built two T-shirt lines, ran my own retail business, bought home and gift for Elder’s Ace Hardware, and worked with Werner Frank. I have been the maker, buyer, retailer, rep, and person at the register, so I evaluate every line from the store floor first.

I write the Morning Retail Tidbit and Friday Retail Tidbits to help local retailers buy smarter, merchandise with intention, and keep their stores valuable.

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