Shelf Help: When should my CPG move off of a Mapbox store locator? What should I look for in a new one?

Welcome to Shelf Help! The weekly series by @Grocery_Girl, tackling the industry's most pressing retail ecommerce questions.

@grocery_girl Shelf Help Sessions: I built my store locator, when is it time to level up? #retailecommerce #ecommercetips #marketingdigital #marketingtips #cpg #ecommerce ♬ A Day in My Life - Soft boy

Question:

I’m the CMO at a growing CPG brand ($4.5M rev) and I built our store locator on Mapbox. When should I start thinking about moving off that? What should I look for in a new one?

Answer:

When thinking about moving off of an out-of-the-box store locator, there are three main things to ask yourself:

Is your product availability getting harder to track?
Is knowing where your products are in stock getting increasingly difficult? Are you concerned about sending shoppers to OOS links or locations? This is especially relevant if you’re releasing limited edition products or a product goes viral - your retailer list needs to be reliable.
Are you spending too much time manually updating your locator?
If you’re spending any more than one hour per week updating your store locator tool, it’s time to move on to one that scans inventory and updates retailer availability for you.
Are you exploring the option of building audiences of retail shoppers as part of your marketing strategy?
If you’re running paid ads, building audiences of high-intent shoppers that engage with your store locator unlock major campaign optimizations.
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What should you look for when you’re ready to level up your store locator?

We always recommend doing your research and assessing all options when reviewing store locator providers. While evaluating, consider the following:

Does it look good?
Can the provider apply your brand guidelines to the store locator? Does it look like a seamless part of your website? Is it clean and easy to use on desktop and mobile?
Does it provide good shoppability for users?
Will the store locator update daily, or will it display retailers that are actually out of stock? Does it include add-to-cart options within the tool that drive to retailer.com paths to purchase?
Does it give you the data you need to run modern performance marketing?
Can they provide sales-level insights into marketing performance? Do they have the capabilities to help you build custom audiences from your store locator?
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Your store locator can be so much more than pins on a map. Maximize its potential by leveraging it as a tool for awareness, engagement, and growth. Schedule a Pear demo to learn more →