WHAT'S THE STORY
Do B e t t e r – O m n i ta i l
SEARCHED ON THE NET, FOUND IN THE STORE
Over the last two years, mobile Google searches with the “close by” filter have tripled. These three business models, which aim to show you online where you should go offline, prove that online forums, search engines, and apps harbour enormous potential for stationary retailers. Is the Internet the retail trade’s new best friend?
insurance. It also provides the host with an individual webpage. At the end of the day, everyone benefits. AirBnB, London/UK, www.airbnb.de/help/contact_us, www.airbnb.de
THE LINK TO THE STORE
“With us, you’re exactly where your target group is looking for you!” - Findeling is the online service for the offline shopping experience.
“WE SHOW ONLINE WHAT THE CITY OFFERS OFFLINE”
Findeling. How can a stationary retailer be found by those who aren’t local yokels? How can the store be found by tourists seeking independent stores, recommendations, and insider tips? The app-based answer to these questions was launched in 2015: Findeling. Founded in Hamburg by Florian Schneider and Katharina Walter, the app is now also available for Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt. Stores can sign up for the Findeling service for 8 Euros per month. The app not only integrates shops into virtual shopping tours, but also offers tools such as search engine marketing and allows the posting of current sales campaigns and news. “Every store should be able to participate. Parallelly, we finance ourselves via the B2B platform Fairling, which regularly proposes new international and local brands to our partner stores,” explains Katharina Walter. The app operates interactively. It boasts an integrated brand search engine and shopping tours sorted by topic with information on current events and promotions. In addition, the Findeling team has launched the so-called Shop Local Day. “There is a day for everything in Germany, but not for shopping locally. That’s absurd.” Findeling, Hamburg/Germany, hallo@findeling.de, www.findeling.de
AIRBNB IN THE STORE
AirBnB. As an AirBnB host, you can offer discoveries as well as accommodation. The website defines it as follows: “activities by and with locals that go beyond traditional tours”. This can be a postcard scavenger hunt in Oakland, Vinyasa Yoga in an antique chapel, or shopping tours with real insider tips, walkways, and stores that cannot be found in any travel guide. “Discover Munich’s most beautiful stores with a fashion stylist,” offers Heide Wetterauer, the founder of the shopping tour portal Stylefinds. In her capacity as a personal and online stylist, she regularly organises various tours through Munich. Everybody can become a host in their city and negotiate special discounts or services with the stores they’d like to collaborate with. AirBnB handles payment, customer service, and liability
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style in progress
Feed Dynamix. Google’s relationship with the stationary retail industry is mediocre at best. However, technology is doing its best to mend fences. Local Inventory Ads no longer list online stores as the top options for users searching for a particular product, but suggest nearby stationary retailers that have the product in stock. To this end, the programme links up with the merchandise management system of the participating stores. It doesn’t do so automatically, only after the store owner has set up accounts with Google’s Merchant Center, MyBusiness, and AdWords. Furthermore, the product range needs to be uploaded. By entering the individual articles’ master data, the store allows Local Inventory Ads to access its product range and stock levels. At the same time, the programme independently determines which products it can promote. Feed Dynamix, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, helps store owners to prepare, optimise, and use the marketing tool. The company also handles data processing. Feed Dynamix, Frankfurt am Main/Germany, info@feed-dynamix.de, www.feed-dynamix.de
Searched on Google, found in the store: the search engine’s Local Inventory Ads provide the address of nearby stores.
Via AirBnB, stylists and locals offer guided shopping tours through their hometowns - a very personal “best of” local stores.
