Are you a retailer with one or multiple brick-and-mortar locations and an online store? Wondering how you can leverage the advertising tactics you’re using on the web to drive more customers in-store? To drive online demand for in-store purchases, you want to take advantage of platforms and technologies to help you deliver local ads to potential customers.
Companies like Macy’s, Argos, Pottery Barn, Target, and many other retailers are reaping the benefits of Local Inventory Marketing
In this post, you will learn how to get in-store sales from local online ads by:
- Synchronizing your inventory and product data in real-time with ad platforms
- Tracking your in-store inventory to be used for online advertising
- Targeting your customers online and sending them in-store
Local Inventory Marketing
Local Inventory Marketing is the process of promoting your products and showcasing store information to nearby potential buyers that are searching for products and services like yours across Google.
In the past few years, Google and Facebook recognized that local businesses needed new advertising options to convert customers from online to in-store. They have been the drivers to expand Local Inventory Marketing in a previously unthinkable way.
This is why It’s important to get your in-store product catalog synchronized with Google and Facebook to serve local ads, to truly succeed in your marketing strategy.
Here are 3 different ad types that allow you to get your products in front of potential customers:
1. Google Local Inventory Ads (LIAs)
Google Local Inventory Ads are an excellent way to connect your customer’s path to purchase from online to offline. Your customers are currently researching your products online so why not give them everything they need to pick up the product in-store?
In the example below, you can see a typical customer brand search that leads the user to the product they were looking for from a Google Local Inventory Ad. After clicking on the product ad, all of the relevant product inventory and location information is listed. A shopper can also find alternate locations with inventory details by clicking on “See other locations”.
Highstreet.io connects your local inventory to your Google Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) to ensure you always have the most up-to-date stock in your ads at all times.
Google Local Inventory Ad User Experience
- Initial Local Search in Google: Samsonite New York City
- Clicked on Macy’s Result and landed on Macy’s Google Shopping Local Listing
- Clicked on “See other locations” to see if the product was in stock at another store.
2. Google AdWords Local Search Text Campaigns
If your country doesn’t have access to Google Local Inventory Ads, another way to move your user’s traffic from online to in-store is through Local Search Text Ads.
Some of the features are:
- Local Targeting with Ad Extensions
- Create AdWords Text Ads Automatically Based on Feed Data
- Create Dynamic Landing Pages with Feed Data
3. Facebook Dynamic Ads using Local Audiences
In 2016 Facebook expanded its Dynamic Product Ads to drive not only online sales but in-store sales with a product called “Dynamic Ads for Retail”. Facebook states that its ads include:
- Local availability: An availability indicator on the ad shows people that a product is available at a store near them, and the store locator makes it easy for people to get directions.
- Product summaries: Advertisers can use Facebook-hosted product summaries to give potential shoppers the information they need without leaving the Facebook app.
- Different actions: Product summaries include ways for people to take actions like contacting the nearest store, buying online, or saving the product for future reference.
- Similar products: Similar products available at the nearest store are featured so people can browse the aisles right from their phones.
Highstreet.io synchronizes your e-commerce product data feed with Facebook to offer real-time local availability and up-to-date product information to target people in areas that are closest to your location.
How do Retailers start using Local Inventory Marketing?
It’s important to get your in-store product data to feed synchronized with Google and Facebook to provide a lasting impression on your customers. If you are marketing out-of-stock items or out-of-date brands or product information, your customers won’t trust you and your marketing.
But how can you keep track of your store’s inventory without going crazy? The answer is RFID.
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. It refers to small electronic devices that contain a small chip and an antenna. The RFID device works similarly to a barcode on the back of a credit card. It provides a unique identifier for an object and can be scanned to pull the correct information.
Retailers are using RFID technology to lower shrinkage, synchronize inventory to cloud platforms and connect bricks-and-mortar data in one single stock. They are also looking at RFID technology to support their Local Inventory Marketing Campaigns.
Working with a reputable Product Feed Management company with Local Real-time Inventory Marketing experience will help to keep your product inventory and content up-to-date.
Some RFID Suppliers include:
How Local Inventory Marketing & RFID Technology work together to transform your Retail Business
By using RFID technology to track your in-store and online inventory in the cloud and synchronizing the inventory with a real-time product feed, you can achieve an effective local inventory marketing campaign that is:
Highly Visible: Increase brand presence for high intent search queries
Precise: Location selection & Local Inventory
Relevant: Search Query Text Ad & Text Ad Landing Page
Enhanced Local Inventory Ads to boost your Local Marketing Strategy
Working with a Top Leader Product Feed Management Partner with Local Inventory Marketing experience will help keep your product inventory data up-to-date, and provide customers with the best experience.
Highstreet.io platform enables you to:
- Connect your local inventory to your Google Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) to ensure you always have the most up-to-date-stock in your ads at all times
- Automate your AdWords Search Text Ads based on a feed that integrates your store’s inventory data with your dynamically created ads, which will include landing pages associated with each local ad from your data feed
- Synchronize your e-commerce product data feed with Facebook to offer real-time local availability to your audience thanks to up-to-date product information, so you can better target people in areas that are closest to your location
Set up your Ads for success. Contact Highstreet.io Team to schedule a free consultation to better understand your goals and provide you with a fully customized solution to empower your marketing strategy.