NearSt partners with Cybertill to boost shopping in local stores

Google-backed retail technology firm NearSt has partnered with leading cloud-based EPoS platform Cybertill to boost shopping in stores by making it more convenient to buy items locally than online.

NearSt’s software brings customers in stores by showing the products stocked in local shops to people searching online nearby, making bricks and mortar stores better equipped to compete with their online counterparts.

Now integrated into Cybertill’s RetailStore EPoS platform, this means that shops can effortlessly connect their entire inventory to Google search in real time - and switch it on and off at the touch of a button.

Tripling in demand during 2020, NearSt’s software has proven to be a life-line for bricks and mortar retail during the COVID-19 pandemic, as shoppers went online in unprecedented numbers to find out “what’s in stock nearby”.

The integration with Cybertill will automatically show in-store products in Google’s MyBusiness Page, Google Shopping and in Google Maps, so shoppers will be able to see if a product they are searching for is close by and then be directed back to their local high street.

NearSt CEO and co-founder, Nick Brackenbury, who launched the business in 2015 with Max Kreijn, said: “The surge in e-commerce sales has been widely acknowledged, but what’s been largely overlooked is the even bigger surge in shoppers going online to hunt out products on nearby high streets.

"We saw a seven-fold jump in local product searches in places like Google last year, with 2021 settling on four times the volume of pre-pandemic levels.

“Google also reported an 8,000% increase in searches for “who has ___ in stock” last year. This emerging consumer behaviour of searching and discovering products online to buy in nearby physical stores presents an exciting new opportunity for small and large retailers alike.

“And thanks to Cybertill it makes it even simpler now. Everything works using the barcodes, stock levels, and pricing already stored in your existing EPoS system - so you literally set it and forget it.”

Cybertill CEO, Ian Tomlinson, added: “Offering NearSt to the Cybertill network comes from a shared belief that there is a lot to win for physical stores in the quickly changing world of retail.

"Allowing shops to show their products to locals in Google is the perfect way to tap into the rapidly growing trend among shoppers of using Google to look for products in nearby stores.”

Rather than giving platforms direct access to stock data, NearSt acts as a buffer to keep retailers in control and only sends essential information to keep data secure.