How a bookshop in rural Wales has used NearSt to boost visibility and discover local demand
Great Oak Bookshop specialises in the sale of both new and second-hand books and has been under its current ownership since 2018. Situated in Llanidloes in mid-Wales, owner Clive and his team were determined to boost their visibility to both local customers and those from neighbouring towns.
The Challenge
A lot of Clive’s customers are either tourists or locals that he's built a rapport with. Great Oak Bookshop needed a way to make itself more visible to the surrounding towns to drive in more footfall from a larger customer base. Clive’s shop also offers a variety of books, some of which are particularly niche, so they were looking for a way to show their full inventory online and help to bring those titles to the surface.
The Solution
“NearSt is like a telescope into our inventory. It’s great to see what customers are searching for online when looking at our popular search terms” - Clive, Great Oak Bookshop
After Gardlink recommended NearSt technology, the Great Oak team were keen to try it out. Shortly after the bookshop signed up, their full inventory became available in Google, showing their niche book selection to customers searching in nearby towns. Through their product insights, the shop could also see which of their books customers were searching for online.
The Results
“At least a quarter of our sales match up to the popular search terms that we can see. It’s interesting to know what people are looking for and it’s great that it matches up to what we have been selling!” - Clive, Great Oak Bookshop
Since signing up to NearSt, The Great Oak Bookshop’s products have attracted the attention of customers from neighbouring towns, with their books being viewed over 7,000 times in the first four weeks. Clive can also see exactly what shoppers are searching for and which of his books are most popular, giving him a deeper insight into local customer demand.
If you’d like to see how NearSt could help you connect your products to customers for no extra work, drop us a note on hello@near.st or give us a ring on 0333 050 9658.
