Krillion expands local search engine

Using the Internet to drive consumers into local stores has long been a goal of multichannel merchants. This week, the industry moved one step closer to realizing its goal.

Local search engine Krillion, which has been around since 2006 and until recently limited in scope by the fact that it covered relatively few product categories, has added 96 product categories to its Krillion Localization Engine. As a result, it now offers location-specific inventory information for 20,000 big-box retailers across the US, encompassing 155 product categories, 900 product brands and over 1 billion SKU’s.

I recently conducted searches for several different items – laptops, printers and oven ranges – and almost every SKU I clicked on was out-of-stock in the various stores near where I live. In some cases, the items were available online or for site-to-store delivery. The only item I could find in a store was a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet D1520 Printer, which is available at three different Wal-Mart’s near me.

The frequent out-of-stocks could be because retailers are keeping such lean inventories in these tough economic times. But with so many retailers offering site-to-store pick-up these days, and consumers looking for these types of conveniences, this looks like a viable way to drive consumers into stores.