“Monday May 4th 2020, first day of the progressive reopening of the economy in Belgium”.

This news, long awaited by business owners, finally has become a reality after these trying times. All businesses are allowed to reopen from May 11th. Restaurant businesses will hypothetically open from June 8th.
In France there are talks about opening the country from May 11th, but the government will only allow it if the number of new cases stays under control. 

Since the beginning of the lockdown restaurant businesses have been hit hard, in particular restaurants chains that had to completely close down. As April ends, European governments are planning a progressive reopening of businesses. It will translate to the restaurant sector into the kind of services establishments will be able to provide (dine-in, takeaway/drive and delivery).


In our article “How should you manage your establishments on Google during the lockdown” we detailed the functionalities to activate or deactivate on your GMB listings in 5 thematics. These recommendations aim to increase your visibility for potential customers and your SEO.

Web-to-Store has become a common expression for businesses with retail networks. Whether the stores are company-run or operated by franchisees, it's cool to talk about Web-to-Store or to do Web-to-Store. However, this expression remains vague, vast and poorly understood by most marketers working in retail sales networks. We are receiving more and more questions such as: “what is Web-to-Store exactly?” and “How do we go about doing Web-to-Store?”

At Mobilosoft, we are often on the field with our partners and have contacts with franchisees and local teams on a regular basis. For a few months we have been discussing media buying with them. And the conclusion is that a lot of franchisees and local teams have been approached by local marketing agencies for local campaigns. Facebook Ads, Adwords or even Waze Campaigns, we are seeing a growing number of solutions that are sold pretty easily to local points of sale.

'Turn left after Mc Donald's' , if you frequently use Google Maps you might have heard the same indications! 

The third Paris Retail Week has been launched! Date: Tuesday 19 - Thursday 21 September 2017, Venue: Pavilion 7.3, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Paris Retail Week brings together in a single event: E-Commerce Paris, cross-channel event anywhere in Europe and Digital(in)Store, devoted to the digitisation of points of sale and distribution.

In conjunction with its partner Proximis, Mobilosoft is delighted to be able to invite you to a breakfast taking place on Tuesday 5 September. This gathering will include the presentation of new web-to-store tips and tools.

The year 2016 provided us with some very useful information on the likely evolution of web-to-store over the coming years. In particular, we saw Google announce the introduction of a new function offering consumers a new way of getting into contact with points of sale: by way of instant messaging.

Now that 2016 is almost over, we can draw some conclusions from a year that was full of web-to-store developments in Europe. This year was marked by the onset of a growth phase that should continue over the next five years.

INTRODUCTION:

Holidays are an intense period for Web-to-store activity. Two factors have a positive impact on Web-to-store traffic.

1. Consumers are on holiday, so they have more time to go to points of sale. Whether it is in a shop or a restaurant, they will go out and enjoy their free time.
2. They are often outside of their comfort zone, which means they know less about where they are and will search more about their environment on their smartphones.

Waze?

Reliability of point-of-sale data is only 34%!

In the past few years, consumer behaviour has evolved significantly thanks to the increased use of the Internet and smartphones in particular. Not a month goes by without a new study showing the importance of local searches in consumer patterns. However, many retailers with large brick-and-mortar networks have still not integrated this aspect into their thinking. Thanks to the studies we’ve carried out in recent years, we have been able to show that the reliability of point-of-sale data on the Web is only 34%.

INTRODUCTION:

Having correct data is one of the most overlooked issues in Web-to-Store initiatives for retail brands. Web-to-Store providers often don’t take the necessary time to explain what’s at stake in good data management. In this article, we will mainly discuss point-of-sale data, which may extend to other types of data, such as promotions, event information, etc.

INTRODUCTION:

Web-to-Store is the branch of digital marketing aimed at using the Web to generate traffic in brick-and-mortar stores. This branch is becoming increasingly important, since according to many recent studies, the searches performed by consumers to find products or services are increasingly being done with a local intent. According to Google, nearly a third of searches on mobile devices have a local orientation (more info here). Since we know that half of all searches are done on smartphones, this gives us an idea of the potential of Web-to-Store.

What is Snapchat ?

Developed by Stanford students, Snapchat is an app for sharing pictures & videos to your friends. The special feature is that there is a time limit to see the picture that your friends has sent you. Every picture or video is only available during a short period of time (1 to 10 sec).

A good web-to-store strategy consists in attracting Internet users to your stores. But did you know many companies simply cannot achieve this?

Why a web-to-store strategy?

Between 2011 and 2012, Fiat's sales increased by 120% in the United States. This was the result of a well-thought-out and well-executed web-to-store strategy. 

Searching for a way to boost its sales in the land of Uncle Sam, particularly for the famed Fiat 500, the Italian auto giant decided to launch an ambitious campaign to buy key words on Google. Their goal? To increase sales by improving the brand's positioning in consumers' minds. 

Geo-targeted pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an essential part of your web-to-store strategy. But what is it exactly?

If you have laid the foundations for your web-to-store strategy, each of your points of sale will have at least three channels to reach Internet users:

• one (or more) dedicated page(s) on your chain's website
• a Google Plus page
• a Facebook page

A bad experience for one of our colleagues perfectly illustrates the importance of updating practical information for your points of sale.

I can't resist the urge to tell you about the unfortunate experience which just happened to me. With the start of the school year approaching, my wife called the stationery store a few blocks from our house to order school supplies for the kids. The salesperson was very professional — at least at first, suggesting that my wife send him the list by email and he would prepare the order, so that I could come pick it up later at the store. This solution really made things easier for us. My wife gladly accepted.

Since the beginning of August, Google is displaying the results of local searches differently. What has changed, and what impact will this new display have on your points of sale? 

The change introduced by Google affects the "Snack Pack" in the local search results. This window, which opened below the sponsored links, used to include the top seven (organic) search results under a small map. Each result included the store's name, its address, its telephone numbers and its business hours, as well as two small, clickable icons to go to the company's website and to find directions on Google Maps. 

The Google Consumer Barometer says it ! Internet and smartphones: New tools to bring customers into your store 

The latest edition of Google's consumer barometer confirms how useful web-to-store and mobile-to-store strategies can be to bring customers into stores. 

The publication of numbers specific to the French and Belgian markets gives us the opportunity to observe the emergence of behaviours already well established in the United States: the increasing importance of the smartphone as a browsing tool, and the consumer's tendency to do research online before buying…in store ! 

Web-to-store is worth being managed properly!

"Sometimes, real life gives us the funniest demonstration of just how effective a store's online presence can be. Too bad about the user experience though. :-").

INTRODUCTION:

If you want to use your online presence to generate more traffic at your points of sale, Google My Business is just the first step. Good local listing starts with...the top listing sites.

Your points of sale already exist on your website and on Google My Business. Congratulations! That's an excellent starting point. But now the goal is to boost your online mobile presence and generate web-to-store traffic. To do that, local listing sites are your best allies. 

The behaviour of Internet users has changed drastically these past few years. To the point that Internet has become a tool to increase sales in your stores.

For a long time, "brick and mortar" retailers felt that online shopping diverted customers away from their stores, and that the use of smartphones was heading in the same direction. However, they could not have been more wrong. 

Data is the key

If Retailers want to be successfull in the digital world, they need to be very good at managing their data! But this is probably the most complicated task they will need to carry on. At the Mobile World Congress, a huge majority of the company have, as a core business, the management of data. It is very often marketed on another way, but the core is always data. 

Yesterday, Rick Costanzo, Executive VP at SAP talked about the quantity of data that is produced every day. He mentionned an interesting statistic, the fact that "90% of the world's data has been produced over the last 2 years". And this is not about to stop. Imagine how many wearable devices are produced every day, how many pictures you take with your smartphone or how many information you register by using your connected devices. All this is part of this data creation. 

Today in my search for new web-to-store ideas, I had the chance to met some tech guys from Fujitsu. They showed me an interesting technology that uses light signals to deliver coupons to smartphones. 

It is based on the fact that a smartphone can detect light signals modification that are not visible for humans. The variations of the signal integrate a code that may include any type of data such as a url or some content. It works a bit like Shazam, the light is replacing the sound.

First steps in the event:

What an exciting first day at the Mobile World Congress! When I'm here, I feel a bit like a kid surrounded by so many great technology. Today, I've spend my time in the Hall 7 where the @Mobilosoft booth is located. And here, three main areas come out:

1. Mobile devices (smartphones, smartwatches, etc.), produced by asian companies. While some initiatives are interesting in focusing on consumer usages (you may find the perfect smartphone for selfies makers or the best device to play games) I found other a bit chocking in the way they copy more established companies such as Apple or Google.
2. Wearable devices: they are everywhere in the congress. The majority of the value propositions turns around helathcare or health monitoring technologies.
3. Mobile POS systems for Retail Stores: there are plenty of solutions, I'll try to pick up the most interesting ones in my daily summary.