What is a store locator?
A store locator is a location intelligence software that enables businesses to visualize their physical stores/assets in a geographical context. Store locators provide details of stores around the customers’ location and also provide information like distance, operational hours, contact information, appointment booking etc.
Why do businesses need store locators?
Store Locators help provide customers with a seamless omnichannel shopping experience. Businesses that have brick and mortar stores often have low online visibility resulting in reduced footfall. By adding a store locator to your website, you can highlight your products and services and help customers locate you easily. FindMyStore is Searce’s plug and play, white labeled-store locator solution that is compatible with any web interface. With minimal coding, it can be easily integrated with your existing system which helps increase your customer footfall and brand awareness.
Product Manager at Searce
Who is Searce? And how did you come up with the FindMyStore solution?
Searce is a modern technology consulting firm that empowers businesses to get future-ready leveraging Cloud, AI, and Analytics. We’re a global Google Premier Partner and one of the top service providers of Google products like Google Cloud Platform, Google Maps Platform, and Google Workspace.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a paradigm digital shift, almost everything went online and businesses were required to provide omnichannel services to the consumers. With online sales overtaking traditional shopping, finding new ways to entice customers back into brick-and-mortar locations has become more important than ever before. This is where location intelligence comes in, to bridge the gap between online and offline store visits. FindMyStore is an interactive store locator platform that one can add to their business website that helps customers find the location of a specific physical store and directly guides them to their products.
Why FindMyStore and how does it help businesses?
Even with the best products and services a business cannot achieve success unless it is visible to the right audience. Having FindMyStore integrated into your website gives you an upper hand over the competition as customers get to see your store location and related information, avail of the benefits of online appointment or pick-up slot booking, and navigate to your stores to purchase their favorite products.
How is it different from other existing store locator software solutions?
FindMyStore is built on top of Google Maps Platform which is the most interactive mapping software with over 50 million daily updates daily. The platform provides real-time information about traffic, ETA, and distance to the nearest stores. With added features, FindMyStore becomes a tool that enhances every step of the customer journey.
Most store locators just show markers on a map interface and do not allow users to see detailed information like store timings or book appointments with one click. Adding details to display on the locator also becomes a tedious task when the number of store locations is large.
FindMyStore allows bulk upload of all your stores and lets you add all the details at once. It has an admin panel that can be used to optimize the UX and change the look of the product as per your company’s brand. FindMyStore also comes with a language localization so that you can expand your operations globally, helping customers browse through the locations, and book appointments in their own dialect.
Another distinguishing feature of FindMyStore is the integrable Google Analytics feature. This feature helps you analyze your customer base and plan your operational and marketing activities accordingly.
Can you give a detailed idea about how different industries can utilize a store locator like FindMyStore?
Any organization that has both an online and offline presence can benefit from FindMyStore. Some of the major industries that exploit store locators are retail, BFSI, healthcare, real estate, etc.
For retail companies, it is an opportunity to connect with customers through online channels. First, by allowing them to browse through products and then by helping them buy these products from offline locations. Through the Google Analytics feature, one can analyze which stores have low footfall and apply discounts at those locations to attract customers. Curbside pickup can also be enabled through the appointment booking feature for customers to pick up their purchases at a comfortable time and location.
BFSI industries use store locators exhaustively to provide bank and ATM locations, show insurance agents around the customer, and book slots for banking services. Similarly, for healthcare, it can act as an important tool to assist customers in booking appointments with the right doctor at the nearest hospital.
Is there any backend development needed to integrate FindMyStore? Can it be optimized as per an organization’s needs?
No backend development is required to integrate FindMyStore. It is a plug-and-play solution that just requires one bulk upload of store details and it is ready to use. The product is customizable, you can change the colors, set marker styles, and add buttons as per your requirement. Our team can help you with customisations in the product as per your requirement.
How do you think FindMyStore fits into the requirements of advanced technology businesses of the future?
With technology upgrading every second, we are constantly in the process of adding advanced features to FindMyStore. One such feature is the Google My Business (GMB) integration on the admin panel. With market demands and customer needs, new features and capabilities will be added to the product with time. FindMyStore aims to provide a holistic approach toward consumer satisfaction and make your products and services more accessible to a wider audience.
What is the onboarding process like?
Our in-house team will guide you through every step of the integration to ensure a seamless onboarding process. Once a business registers with us, we will help generate a Google Maps API key and account credentials. Upon logging into the portal with the credentials, the business will get access to the admin panel. Using the admin panel you can add locations, store details, and customize the look and feel as per your brand, and voila! FindMyStore is ready to serve your customers.
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