Does Your Store Locator Serve as a Call-to-Action?
11/02/2010 09:07:00 PM
Labels: Holidays
Q4. Holiday. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. We all know site traffic, store traffic and sales increase during this crazed retail rush but did you know that online also drives more visits to your physical stores during this time period?
Earlier this year at a Shop.org Innovation Summit, Best Buy stated 80% of customers that come in their stores started their product research on BestBuy.com. How many of your shoppers start on your site first?
Looking at Insights for Search, queries for ‘store locator’ and ‘store locations’ sharply rise in November and peak in December every year. These types of searches are increasing in number yearly, and we have already seen a slight bump in store locator searches this year around Back to School.
So how can you leverage this type of search activity? According to our latest Google/Ipsos OTX consumer intentions study from September 2010, 68% of consumers are likely to take advantage of purchase incentives during this holiday season. Why not utilize a portion of the inventory on your store locator page to entice consumers to pick up their keys and immediately drive to the store by offering special deals once shoppers reach this page on your site?
Maybe it’s 10% off one full price item, or even regional or store specific offers. Perhaps in San Diego 20% off candles could be compelling, but in Charlotte 20% off rugs brings in the masses. The specials could vary based on inventory volume and slow moving merchandise or even change daily, depending on what is featured in stores or on your website. If you really wanted to make things interesting, you could add in a time sensitive component such as 30% off if used in the next 12 hours, 20% off if used in the next 24 hours or 10% off if used in the next 48 hours.
Special store locator deals could be an especially strong tactic for locations that are struggling. If a consumer is seeking a store that is currently experiencing soft sales, serve a coupon for 40% off any item just for that store location.
And don’t forget about consumers that use their mobile devices to find store locations and driving directions – offer the same types of deals on your mobile site as well.
Even if you are not able to provide store specific or product specific offers on your site, know that store location queries are sky high in Q4 and the real estate on your store location page should incentivize consumers when your brand is top of mind to immediately get off the sofa and check out what you’ve got in your stores.
Posted by Kelly Smith, Google Retail Team
So how can you leverage this type of search activity? According to our latest Google/Ipsos OTX consumer intentions study from September 2010, 68% of consumers are likely to take advantage of purchase incentives during this holiday season. Why not utilize a portion of the inventory on your store locator page to entice consumers to pick up their keys and immediately drive to the store by offering special deals once shoppers reach this page on your site?
Maybe it’s 10% off one full price item, or even regional or store specific offers. Perhaps in San Diego 20% off candles could be compelling, but in Charlotte 20% off rugs brings in the masses. The specials could vary based on inventory volume and slow moving merchandise or even change daily, depending on what is featured in stores or on your website. If you really wanted to make things interesting, you could add in a time sensitive component such as 30% off if used in the next 12 hours, 20% off if used in the next 24 hours or 10% off if used in the next 48 hours.
Special store locator deals could be an especially strong tactic for locations that are struggling. If a consumer is seeking a store that is currently experiencing soft sales, serve a coupon for 40% off any item just for that store location.
And don’t forget about consumers that use their mobile devices to find store locations and driving directions – offer the same types of deals on your mobile site as well.
Even if you are not able to provide store specific or product specific offers on your site, know that store location queries are sky high in Q4 and the real estate on your store location page should incentivize consumers when your brand is top of mind to immediately get off the sofa and check out what you’ve got in your stores.
Posted by Kelly Smith, Google Retail Team
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