Strengthening high street retailing

The latest feature appearing on the Global DIY Network yesterday, 8 December 2021, revealed a possible solution to a problem currently bothering many retailers: How to entice customers back into high street stores. Nick Brackenbury, the CEO and one of the founders of NearSt put forward his business idea, which also embraces one of Ken Hughes' favourite topics, customer centricity. The customer experience expert moderated the online event.Brackenbury said he wanted to show that, rather than posing a threat to bricks-and-mortar retailers, the growth currently taking place in online business in fact offered new opportunities. More and more people were finding out about stores online before making a purchase there, he reported. The company website on Google provided information regarding opening times, telephone numbers and addresses, but what it lacked was live updates on what the retailer presently had in stock. "Customers want to be sure that what they are looking for is actually available in store," stressed the CEO. Although Google suggested countless online shops that stocked the particular product in response to such search enquiries, Brackenbury wondered how it could be that "it is easier to get a product delivered from a warehouse many miles away than find it in a shop at the end of my road".The solution is that under "Local products" Google has been offering a tool for some years now that enables such information to be published not only on the company page of the search engine, but also via services such as Maps, Images, Shopping or even the Voice Assistant. In addition, suggestions can be offered of goods similar to the product sought that the store currently has in stock. The customer no longer has to consider, therefore, which retailer can offer the required item; just enter it in Google and this will suggest which nearby store stocks it. "It is thus possible to find products in store that one wouldn't have expected to be able to purchase locally. Not only is this pleasing for customers, but it is also extremely convenient," said Brackenbury. At the moment, however, 99 per cent of the information about the assortment currently available in store is invisible to Google users. This is where NearSt comes in: it sets up a Google company page for the supplier and links this to the retailer's POS system so as to be able to display real-time information about available stock.