Store locator: why and how to choose the right service provider?

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With the development of ROPO (Research Online Purchase Offline) behaviors, the customer journey begins with online research before visiting the store. In fact, 81.5% of Internet users use the web to search for a product or service to purchase.

With a web to store strategy , you develop your online presence and are visible during consumer searches. This allows you to generate in-store traffic .

A powerful tool for this online visibility is the store locator . Even south africa phone number library more so since the DMA (Digital Market Act) and the display of the new “place sites” section that appears at the top of search pages above the Google Local Pack. This section references store locators as well as local directories and comparators.

But what is a store locator and how do you choose the right provider ? We explain everything to you.


1. What is a store locator?
2. Why and how to choose your service provider?
Conclusion


definition store locator provider

1. What is a store locator?
A store locator is a page on your website dedicated to locating your points of sale. It is an interactive map where Internet users can see all your establishments at a glance and can easily locate the one closest to them. They can also type their postal code in the search bar and have access to nearby stores.

Each point on this map corresponds to the location of one of your points of sale. When an Internet user clicks on a point, they have access to local information about the establishment such as opening hours, address, telephone number, etc.

By providing easy access to all the information the consumer needs, you generate in-store traffic !

The store locator therefore represents an important part of your web to store strategy because it acts on your local SEO and it allows you to capture the consumer from the start of the customer journey .

store locator provider

Decathlon Store Locator


2. Why and how to choose your service provider?
Obviously, there are many providers offering to create this local marketing functionality for you . You can also choose to develop your store locator internally, but you must be careful to master all of its aspects and functionalities.

The most important thing is to choose a provider that meets your needs with a solution that is adapted and sized to your network.

Find a store locator provider who masters UX and SEO
To begin, you must choose a service provider who masters the concepts of UX (user experience) and SEO (natural referencing).

This is essential so that your store locator meets the requirements of Internet users and that you are well referenced during local queries on search engines.

Obviously, the service provider must know how to reference each point of sale individually and not just your maps. To do this, choose a service provider who offers you page templates that integrate good SEO practices: meta description, title tags, H1, H2, Alt, etc.

In the example below from Besson Chaussures, we notice that it is the store locator page of the store in “Rennes Saint Grégoire” which appears on the first page of Google when searching for “shoe store Rennes”.


search store locator storeResult of the stated search



Look for a store locator provider that offers centralized management
A quality store locator provider will also offer you centralized management of all the information of your points of sale. Thus, you will be able to multi-broadcast your data on the different pages of the store locator of your website but also on Google Maps, on local online directories and local pages of social networks.

Imagine the time savings this represents for a national network with many points of sale! A perfect solution to boost the performance of your web to store strategy .



Study the level of support from your store locator provider
Last tip, pay attention to the level of support included in the services. We advise you to look for an offer with a high level of support to optimize the performance of your store locator and therefore your local marketing .

Take the time to compare vendor proposals and look for those that include significant coordination. This can include regular meetings, a team of experts at your disposal, weekly updates, a real-time help center (chat, direct phone), etc.

Also study the dashboards and analysis that will be provided to you. It would be a shame not to be able to measure the KPIs of your store locator (and integrate them into your web to store strategy ) because it is not provided in your service!



Conclusion
To have a high-performance store locator that powers your web-to-store strategy , we advise you to take the time to choose your service provider carefully. Start by making sure that they master both UX and local SEO in order to benefit from optimized local referencing for each of your points of sale. Then look for a service provider that provides you with centralized management of your information and offers you a high level of support.

Keep in mind that your store locator is an investment and that it will increase your in-store traffic and therefore your turnover.

With its local marketing platform , Digitaleo offers you its store locator module to effectively create and optimize all these aspects. In addition, this tool allows multi-distribution of your data on Google listings, local social media pages and local online directories.