Driving Local Traffic Into Physical Retail Stores

February 15, 2017

Who doesn’t appreciate a customized shopping experience? The more personal and relevant it feels, the more likely the customer is to make another purchase. With technology on our side, we can make great strides in unique marketing ploys. One of the newest and most exciting? Geo-targeting.

What’s Geo-Targeting?

Geo-targeting is a term used to describe tailoring your marketing efforts to a specific geographical location. It’s a way to connect your company, the internet, and real-life locations. You might have one physical store that caters to a local area and an ecommerce store that sells nationwide. When you specifically target ads and promotions to the area near your physical store, you drive traffic through the doors and boost sales. Likewise, you can offer in-store coupons that can also be redeemed online.

In some cases, geo-targeting makes a connection between the internet and physical locations. Consider Pokémon GO, for example. Players must visit landmarks, and they receive rewards when they arrive. Many companies are utilizing the same sort of system to offer special deals only when their clients are close.

How Geo-Targeting Benefits You

There are many ways geo-targeting is good for your company. It can drive sales and simultaneously help recruit new customers. It can also:

• Provide products that are relevant to the location/community. Offering specialized items helps customers while increasing profit. Take an apparel company, for example. The stores in Florida will likely have thinner clothing than those in Wisconsin.

• Saves money. If every location doesn’t have to stock every item, you’ll save plenty of money on wasted shipping and storage costs. For example, a Florida-based apparel company wouldn’t have to store unpurchased winter coats.

• Sync with the weather. Some items are better equipped for certain kinds of weather. A bicycle company might want to offer a promotion on a breezy, sunny day because it’s more likely that people will buy a bike. Almost every company can use the weather to its advantage, making this method a broad-reaching benefit.

• Offer special shipping deals. Site-to-store shipping is popular because it saves money and effort. When items can be delivered to a brick-and-mortar location, the company and the customer spend less.

Geo-targeting is an effective approach, and it’s only going to become more powerful. As technology develops and propels it further, we’ll see opportunities we’ve never had before.