Dynamic Store Locators Breathe New Life into Physical Stores

Online shopping has never been more popular than it is today. With the click of a button, from the comfort of the couch, consumers can buy products from all over the world in seconds. From Amazon to eBay to all of independently owned the e-commerce stores, business is booming — there is no arguing that fact. But are brick-and-mortar stores dying?

The simple answer is no. What may shock you is that most product purchases, around 90% according to the U.S. Census Bureau, still happen at brick-and-mortar retail stores. In fact, physical stores still hold significant advantages over their online counterparts for most consumers. According to Retail Drive, 49% of consumers who buy products online grapple with the idea of heading to a physical store because they want to have their items immediately in hand. We live in an “I want it now” consumer culture and two-day or even next-day delivery just can’t satisfy this need. However, the number one reason consumers prefer to get into their cars and head to a store is for the tactile experience that can only be found in a brick-and-mortar location. When Retail Drive surveyed people to identify why haven’t yet moved to an online-only purchase mentality, 62% of respondents replied that they want to “see, touch, feel or try out products” before buying.

Bringing Buyers to Store Locations

With most consumers spending more and more time in front of a screen, how can companies that operate physical stores drive customers into their store instead of the competition? The answer is to take an online approach to advertising to promote products and then add a personalized map — called a dynamic store locator — to the ad so the viewer can immediately know exactly where the closest store is. Making the experience foolproof for the consumer is the key to successfully turning online browsing habits into in-store purchases.

In order to use dynamic store locators in ads, companies can create hundreds of creatives, each with a different store locator added to it and then serve them through Google’s DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM). Dynamic creatives, like those using store locators, are pushed through the platform to users on publisher sites and DCM identifies the user’s location via the IP-geo location data from the user’s device or laptop.

Next Level Video Ads

We have seen time and again that video ads are the most reliable format, offering extremely high CTRs (typically two times higher than static ads). Studies show that enjoyable video ads increase purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%. By creating video ads for products, companies can create targeted campaigns aimed at those most likely to be interested. Add the dynamic store locator to the end of the ad, and you have a match made in heaven: the consumer is intrigued by your product and wants to make a purchase yet is held back by the lack of being able to touch the item. Send them to the nearest store location to complete the sale. And, as a bonus, according to ICSC, not only do consumers spend more time in a store than online (54 mins versus 38 mins, respectively) but if they choose to return an item to the store, they have an 18% in-store purchase rate during that visit.

When you consider that 37% of consumers use the internet to research a product and find a location where they can make the purchase, brick-and-mortar stores that include dynamic store locators in their ads have quite an advantage over online-only retailers. And ad tech companies like TheMotion, make creating video ads with store locators as simple as can be. TheMotion’s technology was designed to produce video ads at scale — from hundreds to thousands — and in about the time it takes to have dinner. If you think that video ads sound too expensive, think again because not only are video ads (even thousands) affordable to create, but they can also be branded and updated on a daily basis to reflect sales and special promotion offers. With TheMotion, updates are made automatically and new videos are produced instantly with the click of a button.

If your company operates a brick-and-mortar store, it’s time to step up your advertising strategies and tap into the power of video ads and dynamic store locations. Schedule a demo with us and we’ll show you just how easy it can be!

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