NearSt helps boost Londis Bexley Park’s visibility on Google

Nishi Patel, an independent UK convenience store retailer who owns Londis Bexley Park, reports an increase in footfall and a rise in niche products sales since partnering with NearSt.

Patel states that the number of people viewing his Google business listing has doubled since joining the latter’s platform.

“Since joining NearSt I have had a surge in phone calls for products that I am stocking in store. From the first day of going live, I saw an increase in footfall and a rise in queries for niche and special-offer products,” he comments.

NearSt displays retailers live in-store inventory in online platforms like Google and Facebook. It does this all automatically via an integration with a store’s stock keeping system.

“By connecting a live inventory of my store product list to the web, NearSt is increasing my store sales by getting my products in front of my local customers searching on Google,” says Patel.

“By installing a small piece of powerful software, I can upload my products instantly in as little as two clicks. Shortly afterwards customers using Google will see my entire store stock list appear in local search results, sending nearby shoppers to my store who might have otherwise ordered online or gone to a competitor.”

Patel saw immediate results, especially across some of his more niche lines. So much so that he has added new lines for Christmas that he thinks will work well on NearSt.

“An example of this is the American candy and cereal lines I stock, and I am looking forward to seeing how my Christmas lines perform. I think NearSt is a massive seasonal win.

He adds: “I like everything about NearSt; from the live updates of my product files to the support I receive. The information I get from the traffic going through Google is next to nothing - you cannot get this anywhere else.”

“I thought only big stores would have the ability to do that with their product files, so it is great for a little store like ours to have it. Working with NearSt allows me to focus on the profitability in my store and I would urge any retailer looking to boost footfall and sales to speak to NearSt.”

Nick Brackenbury, NearSt’s CEO, says: “We are delighted to be working with Nishi. The technology has been developed to make products from stores like Nishi’s visible to shoppers searching online nearby.”

“The platform is a remarkably straightforward way for convenience retailers to establish a presence on Google, with automatic updates every 15 minutes directly from their EPoS system.”

“The technology has seen widespread uptake by retailers across the UK as a powerful tool to fight back against the might of large pureplay online retailers.”

“For convenience retailers who really care about maximising sales, NearSt helps them and their products become more visible online which leads to a boost in sales.”

In addition to listing a store’s products on Google, NearSt also provides detailed insights to the retailer about what is popular with customers searching nearby.

Working with thousands of stores globally and across the UK, it integrates with hundreds of EPoS systems including EDGEPoS, ITS, WRS, TLM, EPOSNow, and RDP (ShopMate). The company says its technology is now compatible with almost three quarters of all UK stores.