How Beesley & Fildes made their branches 16x more visible online and won more local customers

Beesley & Fildes is a family-run builders’ merchant with 10 branches across the North West of England. Founded in 1820, they combine deep local roots with the scale and service of a modern multi-site business, serving both trade professionals and retail customers.

But even with well-stocked branches and a strong website, Commercial Director James Beesley saw a clear shift: more national chains were opening nearby, online competitors were gaining ground, and more customer journeys were starting online, not at the counter.

To stay ahead of the competition online and in-store, James wanted to find a way to bring their physical stores and stocked products much earlier on in today's shopper journeys. To do so, he turned to NearSt.

• Found 16x more often on Google by local shoppers searching
• Appear in Google's top 3 local search results 31% of the time (Vs 0% before NearSt)
• 1 in 10 shoppers who clicked a Local Inventory Ad visited a branch
• 1:23 return on ad spend (ROAS) - £23 back for every £1 spent
• £0.76 cost per store visit 

*(Jun 2024 – Mar 2025)

"NearSt helps us compete and win in both the local online and physical worlds."

- James Beesley, Commercial Director, Beesley & Fildes

The Problem: Local strength, digital weakness

Beesley & Fildes had everything in place: strong branches, loyal customers, and a respected local reputation. But as more shoppers turned to Google first and not the trade counter, that physical strength wasn’t translating online.

Here are the three challenges James and his team needed to solve:

1. When local shoppers searched online, their in-store stock was invisible

Customers were searching on Google for products stocked in nearby branches, but Beesley & Fildes simply weren’t showing up. Some branches had 0% local visibility, meaning even as the most relevant local option, they weren't appearing.

2. Online competitors were reaching local shoppers first 

Even when a Beesley & Fildes branch was nearby, shoppers were choosing others, simply because competitors were showing up first in search. They were losing local customers before they ever had a chance to be seen.

3. No clear link between online activity and in-store impact

Online activity was easy to track, but in-store impact wasn’t. The team lacked the data and expertise to connect the two, making it hard to know where to invest or how online signals could guide offline decisions. Efforts were working, they just couldn’t prove what, or why.

“On one hand, online is easy to track. On the other I’ve dealt with TV ads and radio ads, I know that there are ways of tracking, but online is much easier.” 

- James

The Solution: Live in-store inventory meets local search

James and his team already had a strong digital foundation, a great website, well-stocked branches, and loyal customers. But like many retailers, they weren’t fully using those assets to drive visibility where it mattered most: Google.

“We’ve always backed our branches to compete locally, even as big names move in nearby. But today, that’s only half the challenge, we also need to win against today’s online players.” 

- James

NearSt quickly understood their setup and how to get more from it. By combining existing data from their point-of-sale system and website, they connected in-store inventory directly to Google, turning stocked products into live, shoppable listings across Search, Maps, Shopping, and more.

It was clear James and the team already had the right foundations. What was missing was the expertise to connect it all in a way that Google could use, and nearby shoppers could actually see. It wasn’t about starting over. Just a smarter, more effective use of the tools the business already had.

Once connected, James gained access to two powerful tools amongst others:

• Google Local Inventory Ads (see image right) - location-focused ads that promote in-stock products to nearby shoppers searching on Google, designed specifically to drive footfall to branches.
• Product Page Linking - connects a Google product listing directly to the relevant page on the retailer’s website, helping shoppers continue their journey if they want to learn more, check stock, or order online.

Now, when someone searched for something like “who stocks dewalt drill”, they could instantly see it was available locally, with clear, convenient ways to act on it.

After trialling NearSt on a subset of stores, James immediately saw value. Within six weeks of starting the full network was live, turning every branch and its stock into a visible, local option in the moments that mattered most.

The Results: Visibility, footfall, and real-world ROI

NearSt didn’t just improve how Beesley & Fildes showed up online - it changed how customers found, engaged with, and bought from them. Across all their branches, the business saw a clear, measurable impact in a matter of weeks.

• Organic visibility increased nearly 2x
  Connecting live in-store stock to Google made the business almost twice as likely to appear in local product searches, without any new digital infrastructure or in-store changes.

“We’re now appearing in the top three Google results for local product searches (see image right), compared to not at all before.” 

- James

• Local Inventory Ads boosted visibility by over 1,460%
  Shoppers were over 15x more likely to discover Beesley & Fildes with LIA switched on, driving dramatically higher exposure online.
  
  
• Appear in Google's top 3 local search results 31% of the time (Vs 0% before NearSt)
  For thousands of searches like “who stocks gutter sealant” the business now ranks where shoppers are most likely to click, a position that drives meaningful intent and action.

“This new visibility is translating into things like a surge in collection orders, and when we combine it with the Local Ads we run, the uplift is even clearer.” 

- James

• 1 in 10 shoppers who clicked an ad visited a branch
  Google Store Visit data confirmed a strong conversion from search to physical store, proving that visibility wasn’t just driving clicks, but high-intent footfall.
  
  
• 1:23 return on ad spend (ROAS) and £0.76 cost per store visit and 
  Every £1 spent on LIA returned £23 in tracked value, well above typical retail performance on Google, while new customers were walking through the door for less than the cost of a bacon sandwich.

These weren’t soft signals, they were proof that NearSt was bringing in high-intent local shoppers and turning online visibility into real-world results.

The best part? It was all built on data and systems they already had, just finally working harder for the business.

Smarter, data-led decisions

NearSt didn’t just bring more shoppers to find their branches, it brought insight. For the first time, James could see exactly what local shoppers were searching for, and where store performance wasn’t keeping pace with demand. James shared that, “what’s been most valuable for me is the insight.” 

One standout example earlier this year was Tanalised Green Batten, which was viewed over 100,000 times on Google, making it one of their most viewed and engaged products across the network.

“We were seeing huge online interest in green tanalised batten timber, but our in-store sales weren’t reflecting that. NearSt’s data showed us the gap. We adjusted the pricing and immediately saw the difference. People continued to find that timber online, and that small pricing tweak brought them into our branches” 

- James

This kind of product-level visibility had never been available before. Now, data like this is helping the business respond in real time to what local customers are actually looking for, informing pricing, stock decisions, and branch-level marketing with greater confidence.

Summary: A local business winning in both worlds

James and the team didn’t need to overhaul their website or rethink their business model, they just needed to connect what they already had to how people now shop.

With NearSt, they’ve turned existing stores, systems, and stock into a powerful digital advantage. Today, they’re showing up at the top of Google for the products that matter, reaching thousands of nearby shoppers every day, and making faster, data-led decisions across their network.

It’s helped them compete not just on the ground, but in the search results too. Winning in both worlds.

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