NearSt and ITS Retail deal brings c-store inventories to Google

NearSt’s software brings customers into stores by showing the products stocked in local shops to people searching online nearby – making it more convenient to buy items locally than online.

The software has been integrated into ITS’s EPoS platform, meaning that convenience stores can connect their entire inventory to Google search in real-time, showing local consumers what they stock in just the touch of a button.

The integration with ITS will automatically show in-store products in places like Google’s My Business Page, Google Shopping, and Google Maps. Consumers will be able to see if a product they are searching for online is close by and will direct them back to their local high street.

Nick Brackenbury, chief executive and co-founder of NearSt, said: “Many of us rediscovered our local convenience stores in 2020 and it proved to be a bumper year for those outside city centres. This partnership will enable retailers to continue to ride that wave and create incremental growth through new customers.

“Moreover, I think while there is a buoyancy about the sector right now, it’s hard to ignore the multi-billion investment into dark store delivery services that are popping up everywhere.”

He added: “We’ve definitely noticed a real uptick in convenience stores embracing new technology to continue the momentum of the demand and behaviour ignited by the pandemic.

“NearSt believes that while the surge in e-commerce sales has been widely acknowledged, what’s largely been overlooked is the even bigger surge in shoppers going online to hunt out products on nearby high streets.”

The retail technology start-up saw a seven-fold jump in local product searches last year and Google also reported an 8,000% increase in searches for “who has ___ in stock” last year.

Brackenbury added: “Everything works using the barcodes, stock levels, and pricing already stored in shops’ existing EPoS systems – so you literally set it and forget it.

“Pulling data automatically every few minutes NearSt creates high quality product listings, so you don’t need to spend dozens of hours manually entering product details.”

In January and February, the Southampton-based Co-op Welcome convenience store began running NearSt’s technology. Products were seen in local search results 380,000 times, and more than 4,000 shoppers went on to seek out further information by clicking on the product, calling the shop, or getting directions to the store.

John Haslam, business development manager at ITS, said: “For almost 30 years we have worked to supply powerful and innovative one-stop EPoS solutions customised for the demanding convenience store environment. We believe that offering NearSt to the ITS network is the perfect way to tap into the rapidly growing trend among shoppers of using Google to look for products in nearby stores – thus levelling up the playing field between online and physical retail.”