How a community SPAR used NearSt to boost footfall
Whites Calver is a SPAR convenience store and farm shop that has been running for over a hundred years
As one of the many SPAR stores across the UK promoting small local suppliers, James Stead and his team work hard to maintain the traditional farm shop elements to sustain nearby family businesses.
Store manager James and his team have not only built up a store and bakery dedicated to serving the community, but also developed a very impressive social media presence.
The Challenge
“NearSt offers a new way of shopping by showing our products live in Google. We were looking to boost footfall as the nature of how people shop is ever changing”
James Stead, Whites Calver
Situated in the heart of the Peak District National Park, James and his team were searching for a way to bring the newcomers to the area into Whites Calver. With over 13.25 million visitors to the Peak District every year, the team at Whites Calver had been searching for a way to boost footfall as a response to changing consumer shopping behaviour.
Despite their social media getting a lot of promising attention, especially after promoting a professional film of the store’s interior, James and his team knew that more could be done to bring the high number of Peak District visitors to the farm shop.
The Solution
“The set up was so hands-off which worked very well for us since everything was taken care of and we were able to get on and continue running the shop as usual”
James Stead, Whites Calver
After leading EPOS supplier Henderson Technology made James aware of NearSt and the possibility of highlighting their live stock in Google, they had nothing to lose. NearSt were able to connect to Whites Calver’s EDGEPoS system, supplied by Henderson Technology, and had over 4000 products live in Google in a matter of days.
As well as a live product feed, James and his team also used Local Inventory Ads for a month as an alternative marketing method. This meant that their products were showing at the top of Google for people searching nearby.
The Results
After just four weeks of Local Inventory Ads, Whites Calver had some staggering results. With their products popping up in Google over 120,000 times, and over 900 clicks on their ads, this brought in an estimated footfall of 118 new customers!
James was so impressed with seeing how NearSt can help boost footfall, that he also signed up to Facebook Shops to show his live-stock inventory across his other social media platforms.
“Despite it being early doors with NearSt, we are thrilled looking at the results. We have also recently enabled Facebook Shops with NearSt and we love to see what people are looking for from us. I would definitely recommend NearSt to other shops”
James Stead, Whites Calver
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 020 3322 2435.
