Out-of-the-Box Inventory Marketing: What Yext, Uberall and SOCi Can’t Offer

The demand for real-time inventory updates is growing as today’s consumers increasingly seek up-to-date inventory information while shopping online, aligning with Forrester's findings that 78% of online shoppers are more likely to choose a retailer that provides real-time inventory information. [1]

Real-Time inventory marketing is a strategy that leverages up-to-date inventory data to promote products or services to customers in real-time. By using this approach, large-scale retail enterprises can ensure that their local marketing efforts are highly relevant and targeted, leading to increased customer engagement and conversion rates.

In the current digital retail landscape, real-time inventory marketing has evolved from a convenience to a necessity. For multi-location businesses, providing accurate inventory information on microsites for each store location is crucial for enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. These microsites should not only include product-level details but also store-specific services, which can vary significantly across multiple locations, along with precise local promotions. Only by doing so can a national retailer effectively align local customer intent and demand with their current offerings for nearby active shoppers.

A survey by Retail TouchPoints, supports this reality, finding that 81% of consumers have experienced frustration when items are out of stock online. This frustration leads to lost sales and damage to the retailer's brand reputation. [2]

Let's explore the three key benefits that can significantly improve by implementing this strategy:

1. Enhanced Customer Experience: Imagine a customer browsing your website, eager to make a purchase, only to find out the item they want is out of stock at their local store. By providing real-time inventory information through your local microsites, you empower customers to check availability before they even step foot in any store. This transparency builds trust and loyalty, driving repeat business.
2. Reduced Returns and Exchanges: Nothing frustrates a customer more than receiving an item, only to find out it's not what they expected. Real-time inventory data helps customers make informed decisions, leading to fewer returns and exchanges. This not only saves you time and money but also improves customer satisfaction.
3. Efficient Inventory Marketing: Managing inventory marketing across multiple locations can be challenging.  Working with Lastmile, know local demand for the products and services you offer and gauge marketing effectiveness against local needs. This data-driven approach enables you to make informed decisions about restocking, product allocation, and marketing investments, ultimately improving your bottom line.

At Lastmile, we understand the importance of real-time inventory marketing for multi-location businesses. Our platform provides enterprise-scale retailers and local service providers with award-winning technology that creates unrivaled online visibility and measurable increases in local sales. Lastmile’s platform and service model are specifically designed to solve the unique challenges of centrally optimizing hundreds or thousands of locations across multiple online touchpoints.

Partnering with Lastmile, you go beyond today’s standard of representing your store locations with a single webpage of thin content that provides little to no information about products and services being offered. Instead, you can dynamically showcase compelling local content to prospects across every medium that matters, including leading Map & Directory platforms such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, custom, content-search-enabled store locators, SEO-optimized, and of course inventory-powered microsites for each location. Once platformed, leverage our hyper-local social, search, and mobile paid advertising services and build sustainable local ecosystems with marketing tailored to distinctive audiences across your entire operational footprint.

Key Insights from Deploying Inventory-Focused Local Microsites

Enhanced Customer Experience:

• Empower customers to check availability before visiting a store
• Build trust and loyalty through transparency
• Drive repeat business with a seamless shopping experience

Reduced Returns and Exchanges:

• Help customers make informed decisions
• Reduce the hassle of returns and exchanges
• Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty

Efficient Inventory Marketing:

• Gauge local demand and marketing effectiveness
• Make informed decisions about restocking and product allocation
• Improve your bottom line through data-driven marketing decisions

Key Benefits through Measurable Results

Lastmile's technology and services model are designed to deliver measurable results for an inventory marketing strategy. By ensuring relevance to customer intent, particularly when customers are actively searching for specific products nearby, Lastmile drives increased e-commerce traffic and boosts buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) conversions. Consequently, businesses can convert a higher percentage of qualified traffic and visits into leads and sales, optimizing the impact of their inventory marketing endeavors.

5-10x increase in e-commerce and BOPIS conversion rates

20%+ of visits convert to leads and sales

10k+ first page results for local searches with our award-winning SEO

30% increase in return on ad spend

Don't let your local marketing efforts fall short with a thin, static content approach. Instead, harness the dynamic capabilities of real-time inventory marketing on local microsites with Lastmile. By displaying your real-time local inventory to prospective customers, you can unlock your business's full potential and stay ahead in your industry. Embracing this strategy ensures that you not only meet but exceed customer expectations, driving more traffic and boosting conversions. Invest in inventory marketing with Lastmile to take your local marketing to the next level and secure your competitive edge.

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Sources and Citations:

[1] Forrester Consulting. "The Total Economic Impact™ of Order Dynamics Order Management Solution (https://reprints.forrester.com/#/assets/2/108/RES147625/reports)

[2] Retail TouchPoints. "2021 Consumer Insights Report." (2021). (https://retailtouchpoints.com/resources/2021-consumer-insights-report)

[3] 1. For the importance of real-time inventory management in enhancing customer experience and reducing returns and exchanges: "The Importance of Real-Time Inventory Management," Forbes

[4]  For the efficiency of inventory marketing and its impact on the bottom line:

   - "Efficient Inventory Marketing Strategies for Multi-Location Businesses," Harvard Business Review

[5] For the benefits of Lastmile's platform and service model: Lastmile case study: "Enhancing Online Visibility and Local Sales with Lastmile," Lastmile Blog