Products (and brand finders) are the next frontier in local search. Companies such as ShopLocal, Krillion, Shopatron, NearbyNow, Where2GetIt, StepUp/Intuit, Channel Intelligence and retailers themselves, among others, are building the data infrastructure that is going to turn “online shopping” on its head.
Here’s another example of the “local opportunity” (or National Brands Going Local) that I’ve spoken about recently: leading customers to the point of sale. Where2GetIt powers Columbia Sportswear‘s maps and directions; it’s also showing users where they can buy Columbia’s products in their area:
One can shop online or find where products are sold locally. This isn’t real-time inventory information but it’s the next best thing.
Consider the potentially missed opportunity in the absence of this type of information. Let’s say I want to buy the Columbia sandals and I don’t know where in my area. I can buy them online but chances are I want to see the sandals first (unless I already own them and I’m just replacing them). Thinking I would find them there, I might go into a sporting goods retailer such as the Sports Authority or Sports Basement. Maybe the sandals are there and maybe not. Once at one of those stores, I might be inclined to buy another shoe because it’s in stock, I like it well enough and my time is precious. So much for the Columbia sandal: the loss of a sale and a loss for the brand.
But since Columbia is doing this I can see where to buy the shoes in my area. I call the store, hopefully confirm the inventory and ask for them to be held. I show up and buy more stuff in addition to the sandals.
I may have been prompted by a traditional ad or other stimulus to search online but eventually I’m likely to end up on the brand/OEM site. Once there, I’m directed to the point of sale in my area. And voila: from search to store.
July 1, 2008 at 1:07 am |
I still don’t understand why Google pulled local product search a year ago. Seems like they would be the perfect aggregator of this type of content and also have the search capabilities to make it work right.
From what I understand they felt they didn’t have enough content to provide a great local shopping user experience. Ideally they should allow companies to upload local products to Google Shopping and solve the user experience issue by initially only contextually showing local products if they exist and a user’s location is known (e.g. “hey… did you know you can get this locally at XYZ?”).
That way, they don’t create a user experience issue since they aren’t creating a dedicated local shopping experience (with content expectations), but at the same time are still collecting local products so the content database is being built by encouraging local retailers to upload their products. Once there’s enough local content, they can begin to advertise local shopping in key regions, as appropriate.
Isn’t contextual/vertical results what Search 3.0 is all about anyway? Let’s include local products too!
July 1, 2008 at 2:53 am |
I think your sense re Google is correct.
July 1, 2008 at 6:00 am |
The great thing about the Shopatron model is that the inventory is verified in-store, before the shopper actually makes a trip to the local store.
The key reason I believe Google dropped local product search, is that they don’t stand to benefit from offline transactions.
July 1, 2008 at 11:10 am |
But Google has a CPA model and just rebranded the Performics affiliate network, also a CPA model. Tracking is the issue there. They could use codes or similar tracking. They’re doing this with Google Print. It’s not that far away from what Google is already doing.
If they fail to resume “local shopping” Google Shopping will become an outmoded product. The real question is when will Amazon get into this and will Amazon buy one of these companies?
July 1, 2008 at 1:34 pm |
[...] the dominant pattern has been clearly established: shop online, buy in-store. (See my post on local product search.) And if you want my slides but didn’t receive them (”National brands going [...]
July 1, 2008 at 1:39 pm |
But also see: http://searchengineland.com/080701-084155.php
…indicating Google’s apparent ambivalence re PPC/CPA.
July 2, 2008 at 6:30 am |
Shopatron model is a real nice way of saving brand…especially where shoppers have too many shopping malls to choose from.
July 7, 2008 at 3:00 pm |
[...] posts come together for me. One, Finding Products in Local Stores Now and the other Debunking ‘The Long Tail’. I’m all about de-coupling of products [...]