Expert Italia Partners with RetailTune on a Local Digital Marketing Project Involving All of the Group's Retailers

Expert, the well-known Italian consumer electronics retail chain with over 400 stores across the country, has chosen the RetailTune platform to standardize the online image of its affiliated stores and increase their visibility.

Expert stores are independent outlets that, for the main banner-wide marketing activities, are coordinated by the head office; the challenge is to bring order to the information that already exists online, so as to communicate the brand image, products, values, professionalism, and sales team expertise to consumers in a coordinated way. These are all distinctive elements of Expert, which has always focused on offering the highest level of service to end customers at every stage of the purchase journey: from online research all the way to the purchase in the physical store.

The first step of the project is to standardize and enrich all the stores' Google Business Profile listings, a key touchpoint for consumers. It is now well established that having up-to-date listings makes a store more appealing to users; research carried out by Ipsos on consumer behavior shows that listings with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions than those without, and not only that, stores with complete profiles get 7 times more clicks on calls to action (requests for directions, in-store calls, website visits) compared to less complete ones.

Once the listings have been standardized centrally, each store will be able to manage them independently, and to make updating easier, the store can download the RetailTune app, which makes it simple and quick to enter each individual store's opening hours — crucial information for consumers: in fact, 96% of users are more likely to visit a business that shows correct hours. The app also becomes a tool for managing reviews: every new review arriving on Google Business Profile triggers a notification that lets the store respond in real time. In this context, it's worth remembering that 71% of consumers say they often or always read reviews from other users before purchasing a consumer electronics product.

“The project with Expert Italy makes us proud, – says Claudio Agazzi, CEO and Founder of RetailTune – we know very well how important it is to give consumers useful information online so they can find the product they want at the nearest store. In a competitive sector like consumer electronics, being able to capture consumers' purchase intent online and lead them to buy at the nearest store is certainly a source of advantage”

“For Expert, the in-store experience is a differentiating factor. It's absolutely essential to be found online, including to achieve offline conversion goals. Very often, online is precisely the first point of contact with the physical store. With this project, we aim to improve the connection between users and Expert. Users will receive all the information they need to encourage a store visit, enabling immediate and direct communication” concludes Barbara Donelli, Marketing Director of Expert Italy.