Lightspeed and Google partner up to boost local sales

Lightspeed and Google today announced a partnership with the goal of helping retailers as stores are re-opening. Lightspeed will integrate some Google tools directly into its platform, at no additional cost, to boost local sales from retailers.

The integration allows omnichannel retailers to automate ads and real-time inventory levels directly from the Lightspeed platform. The announcement of the collaboration between Lightspeed and Google follows after data from the latter shows that consumers are interested in shopping locally, but often still start that search online.

Significant increase in searches for local businesses

For example, searches for “local” + “business(es)” have grown by more than 80 percent year over year, including searches like “local businesses near me” and “support local businesses”. And searches for “who has” + “in stock” even increased by more than 8,000 percent.

Three Google tools available on Lightspeed platform

The collaboration between the two parties includes three tools from the search giant that can be used directly in Lightspeed’s software. These are: Google Local Inventory Ads, Google Smart Shopping Campaigns and Google My Business.

The first tool allows retailers to reach local customers with local inventory ads. Thanks to these ads, nearby shoppers know what a retailer has in stock, which should lead to more visits to the physical store.

Customers see what’s in stock locally.

With Google Smart Shopping Campaigns, products from retailers can show up across all of Google’s properties, reaching users whenever and wherever they search for something or consume content. And with the last tool, Google My Business, Lightspeed customers can get and manage a Google My Business listing straight from the Lightspeed dashboard.

Reaching customers who want to shop locally

“We know that so much of business today starts with a Google search”, Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva says. ” By combining forces, Lightspeed and Google are eliminating the pain points that prevent SMBs from effectively promoting their products online to the communities who prefer to shop local.”

SMEs were hit hardest during the pandemic.

According to Sabrina Geremia of Google Canada, small and medium-sized businesses have been hit the hardest during the pandemic, while globally there’s a rallying cry worldwide to support these causes. “Customers are shopping both online and in-store and expect a seamless shopping experience between both. As we look towards recovery, this integration with Lightspeed will provide a scalable solution for Lightspeed merchants of all sizes looking to reach customers in this new omnichannel reality.”