10 Location Marketing Strategies To Promote Your Grocery Store in 2024

Location marketing has come a long way from being exclusive to big malls and community buildings. Nine in 10 marketers said location-based marketing had led to higher sales, with 86% saying it had helped them grow their customer base and 84% saying it had increased customer engagement. Nowadays, even small grocery stores can leverage the power of location data to enhance their customer’s experience and boost sales. Location marketing is not your average marketing strategy; it relies on collecting data from mobile phone sensors and Wi-Fi signals to deliver personalized messaging to customers based on their precise location.

The ultimate goal of location marketing is to provide consumers with highly relevant and timely information to increase engagement and drive sales. And there are many ways to achieve this, including targeted ads, location-based promotions, and geofencing. By setting up a virtual perimeter around a physical location, businesses can trigger specific actions when customers enter or leave the area. So, whether you’re a big chain store or a small local business, location marketing can help you connect with your customers in a more meaningful way.

What Is the Significance of All This?

By utilizing location data, marketers can measure the effectiveness of their messaging, creatives, and channels within specific regions. This information accelerates quality decision-making about how to distribute the marketing budget and optimize ad spending for better sales traction. 

With location data, marketers can quickly ramp up or scale back campaigns in certain areas, based on the level of engagement and results they are seeing. Ultimately, it gives marketers the reins to efficient marketing strategies and drives higher ROI.

Why Adopt a Location Marketing Strategy Now?

Here are some of the top reasons to leverage a location-based marketing strategy: 

• Increase brand awareness: Location-based advertising can help grocery stores increase brand awareness and visibility by reaching consumers who are in the area and may not have previously known about the store.

• Drive foot traffic: By targeting consumers who are in close proximity to their store with relevant and compelling offers, grocery stores can encourage more people to visit their physical locations and make purchases.

• Enhance customer engagement: By delivering personalized and relevant messaging to consumers based on their location, grocery stores can enhance customer engagement and build stronger relationships with their customers.

• Increase sales: Location-based advertising can help grocery stores increase sales by delivering timely and targeted promotions that incentivize consumers to make purchases.

10 Must-Try Location Marketing Strategies to Attract Grocery Customers

Although a grocery store is a limited space, using technology as part of your sales strategy should not be underestimated. Implementing these strategies can be equally challenging, but they are essential for maximizing your marketing efforts. Below are 10 effective location marketing strategies, along with examples:

1. Geotargeting: Deliver ads or promotions to consumers who are in the vicinity of the grocery store. This can be done through omni-channels like search engines, social media, or mobile apps.
2. Geofencing: Create a virtual boundary around the store and send a push notification or message to consumers when they enter or exit the area. For instance, when customers leave the store, they can receive a message with a coupon for their next purchase.
3. Proximity Marketing: Send messages or promotions to customers when they are near the store or specific products. For example, a customer standing in front of a particular product can receive a message about a promotional offer for that product.
4. Location-based mobile apps: Create a mobile app that uses a customer’s location to provide personalized recommendations or promotions based on their proximity to specific products or stores. For example, when a customer is near the store, they can receive a notification about in-store promotions.
5. Location-based social media marketing: Target customers on social media platforms with ads or promotions based on their current or past visits. For instance, an ad for the store can be shown to customers who have previously shopped there and are currently nearby.
6. Location-based email marketing: Use location data to personalize email marketing messages based on a customer’s current or past locations. For example, customers living within driving distance of grocery stores can receive emails about the latest promotions specific to their region.
7. Location-based content marketing: Create and promote content, such as local recipes or tip sheets to increase buying proclivity. For example, a grocery store in the Pacific Northwest can create content about local ingredients and recipes.
8. Location-based search advertising: Use search engines to target customers with ads based on their location-based search queries. For instance, when customers search for “grocery stores near me,” the store’s ad can appear in the search results.
9. Location-based programmatic advertising: Use programmatic advertising platforms to deliver ads to customers based on their location data. For example, customers who have visited the store before can be targeted with ads for upcoming sales or promotions.
10. Location-based SMS marketing: 25% of marketing budgets are now spent on location-based mobile marketing. So start sending targeted SMS messages to customers based on their current or past locations. For instance, customers who have previously shopped at the store can receive text messages with personalized promotions

Mapsted Simplifies Location Marketing for Marketers

If you’re looking for a solution provider to automate customer engagement, improve sales experience, and build strong after-sales relationships, then Mapsted is your ultimate choice. As a world-leading brand in location technology, Mapsted boasts 100+ patents across various niches, including indoor navigation, positioning, location marketing, and contextual notifications.

Using adaptive data fusion and self-learning algorithms, Mapsted enhances the accuracy of location marketing without requiring external Wi-Fi or additional external hardware. As a Mapsted customer, you can expect to benefit from the following:  

• Contextual messaging: This feature allows businesses to send personalized messages or content to customers based on their behavior, preferences, or location. For instance, a customer browsing for groceries on a store’s website can receive a message with recommendations based on their browsing history.
• Location-based advertising: This feature allows businesses to target customers with ads based on their current or past locations. For example, a grocery store can target customers with ads for their products or promotions when they are near the store or have previously visited it.
• Marketing CRM software: This feature allows businesses to manage their customer relationships and interactions across various channels such as email, social media, or mobile apps. Marketing CRM software can help businesses personalize their marketing campaigns and improve customer engagement.
• Geofencing: This feature allows businesses to create a virtual boundary around a physical location and send a specific action or message to customers when they enter or exit the area. For instance, a grocery store can send a push notification to customers when they are near the store or inside it.
• Geo Conquesting: This feature allows businesses to target customers who are near their competitors’ locations with ads or promotions. For example, a grocery store can target customers who are near a competitor’s store with ads for their own products or promotions.
• Proximity Marketing: This feature allows stores to send messages or promotions to customers when they are in close proximity to a store or specific products. For example, a customer standing near a particular product can receive a message with a promotion for that product.

Conclusion

The grocery industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and to stay ahead marketers need to explore innovative strategies that can enhance the customer experience and drive sales. One such strategy is location-based marketing, which allows grocery stores to send relevant messages and promotions to customers when they are in close proximity to the store or a specific product aisle.

Mapsted, a location technology solutions provider, offers businesses a way to simplify the implementation of location marketing strategies. By using Mapsted’s technology, grocery stores can improve customer engagement, enhance the sales experience, and build strong after-sales relationships.

If you want to gain an early advantage with hardware-free solutions for location marketing technology, get in touch with Mapsted today. If you would like to know more, watch our short video on Location-Based Marketing and check out our blog on In-Store Marketing Strategies to Drive Sales in 2024.