What is Item Locator Service?

Item Locator Service^TM (ILS) provides consumers with a quick, easy way to find where product items are available to buy in nearby stores.  On-demand where-to-buy availability satisfies busy consumers when they want preferred product items.  Consumer products companies are meeting consumers’ expectations to ensure their success.

ILS assists call center representatives of consumer products companies.  These representatives are specially trained to respond quickly to callers who dial 800 numbers companies place on product item packaging.  The reps give the best consumer response they possibly can, quickly, providing appropriate item information and fulfillment that addresses caller issues, and they also capture and report consumer insights which these companies use to improve their offerings.  It’s an ongoing win-win cycle.

How does ILS help consumers?

ILS enables consumers to quickly discover nearby stores where they can purchase the specific brand items they most desire. They are relieved and gratified by the application's quick presentation of the most convenient store location.  Their satisfaction with companies providing desired items increases, reinforcing loyalty to the brands.

And, loyal consumers who receive accurate where-to-buy information are less likely to switch to competing items.  The ILS reduces frustration and stress and increases the probability of customers continuing to buy the provider companies’ products.  The ILS has become integral to these companies' product and service offerings.

Where is ILS available to consumers?

In addition to being available for consumers via 800 numbers that ring to representatives in company call centers, the ILS is also increasingly available in the companies’ branded Web sites as part of product and service information presentation.

Instead of dialoging with call center representatives, consumers can fill in interactive Web forms that instantly query a database of over 46,000 item locations in relation to the consumers’ location.  In seconds the Web-based ILS presents a list of all nearby retailers that stock desired items.

The ILS enables consumers to specify the geographic scope (radius in miles) of desired search areas, and it provides links to detailed road maps to the stores where desired items are available.  Within seconds consumers may narrow the search to the most convenient locations.

How does ILS work?

Item Locator Service uses A. C. Nielsen’s syndicated consumer products distribution database to provide availability information for tens of thousands of items stocked in 46,000 supermarkets and grocery stores across the United States.

Wilke/Thornton has been developing and enhancing its product locator application software since 1988. The ILS is in its fourth version.  Version 1 was first offered through Wilke/Thornton’s Consumer Relationship System^TM (CRS) for clients’ Consumer Affairs call centers.

Version 1 supplied item locations with syndicated data provided both by clients and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). Version 2 introduced ILS as a Wilke/Thornton-hosted Web service.  Wilke/Thornton supplied the ILS to call centers and consumers through clients’ branded Web sites.  With Version 3 Wilke/Thornton continued offering the ILS to clients as a call center service, while IRI exclusively offered the Web service for branded Web sites.

With Version 4, Wilke/Thornton now offers the ILS with both client and A. C. Nielsen item availability data, either for clients’ call centers, and clients can offer the ILS through Wilke/Thornton to consumers from their branded Web sites.

The current ILS provides clients with a seamless, high-performance, and cost-effective solution to meet consumer where-to-buy requests from call centers and branded Web sites.  Clients supply their products, identified by Universal Product Code and category.  A. C. Nielsen supplies the current item locations data.  Clients may extend scope of their data by incorporating specific store and chain data.

ILS Version 4 capabilities provide dynamic flexibility and ease of use.  The interface enables users to seek and find product items by category, keyword, description, and by their city, state, and ZIP code, specifying search terms separately, or in combinations.  Call center reps can preview item location density in geographic areas prior to executing queries and adjust the search scope.  Results appear as lists in users’ PC windows.  And, reps can communicate results verbally immediately, or they can cut and paste them into emails and letters to ensure timely efficient response.

How current is ILS item location information?

ILS, supplied with A. C. Nielsen’s syndicated data, can be updated with current stocking data of over 46,000 food, drug, and mass merchandiser stores biweekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on client preference, based on specific product distribution and restocking frequency. 

The ILS can provide the latest rolling four weeks of item data.  If a product item has been scanned at a store cash register in the past four weeks, it is considered “in stock”.

For slower-moving items, in-stock criteria may be extended beyond the rolling four week currency period.  Clients may update their Universal Product Code hierarchy tables on demand.

What are the benefits of ILS for call centers?

Consumer products companies’ consumer contact centers see greater productivity and lower service delivery costs when callers quickly receive nearby locations for purchasing desired items. The ILS reduces consumer and rep frustration by eliminating the need for callers to ask the dreaded question: “How can you not know where your products are sold?”

By having the ILS directly available to consumers on their branded Web sites, companies enable consumers to find desired items when and where they wish to by themselves.  Self-service ILS further increases customer satisfaction and decreases call center costs, since representatives receive fewer where-to-buy calls.

Just as the 800 numbers into Consumer Affairs call centers help increase customer satisfaction and build loyalty, so too do company Web site addresses on the items help increase the number of consumers visiting their branded Web sites for product information.  Call center representatives can refer consumers to their branded Web sites for self-service answers to their future where-to-buy inquires.  Self-service ILS increases the number of visitors to branded Web sites, helping justify companies' Web advertising.

The ILS also provides consumer products companies with opportunities for e-marketing initiatives.  ILS extends marketing capabilities.  By using opt-in email addresses of consumers who permit use of their email addresses for promotional communications, companies can send customers new item alerts when the items appear in the customers’ neighborhood stores.

Companies can also send promotion alerts when special discounts are to appear in neighborhoods. They can send electronic special item coupons with “Redeemable Nearby” messages. Recipe and cross-promotion distribution lists can be cultivated from consumers opting in on branded Web site permission forms. Using the address ZIP codes of these consumers can help companies generate demographic profiles and high-redemption databases for market analysis.

Why should contact centers subscribe to ILS?

ILS has proven itself as a efficiency-generating enhancement to scores of consumer products contact centers.

ILS is the quickest way for consumer affairs representatives to find the location of branded items that callers are seeking in stores near to where they live.

Being able to provide consumer product item location information quickly to callers increases their satisfaction and the likelihood of their remaining customers.

The ILS makes the contact center representatives' job much easier.

How do contact centers justify subscribing to ILS?

Consider this simple cost/benefit analysis applied to a hypothetical consumer contact center.  Assume that using ILS saves 15 seconds per caller inquiry. 

15 seconds saved per contact x 500 contacts per day

= 7,500 seconds saved each day

= 37,500 seconds saved each week

= 10+ hours saved each week

Total cost savings = 40 hours saved per month @ $15 per hour labor = $ 600

Factor in the indirect value from ongoing product purchasing of customers whose satisfaction and loyalty increases when they receive where-to-buy responses quickly.

Finally, consider the benefit of having happy contact center representatives.

Similarly, consider the cost/benefit of ILS from the viewpoint of sales lost from once-loyal customers who do not purchase items when they are unable to locate them nearby.  Compare that lost amount to the increase in sales when the center uses ILS to satisfy requests for nearby stores where desired items are available.

How many where-to-buy calls are unanswered per year? What is the average annual item purchase value per customer?  The annual opportunity cost is the product of the number of unsatisfied where-to-buy customers and their individual annual purchase value.

What is the cost to support the call center with ILS for a year?  What is the average cost per where-to-buy call?  Assume callers who receive nearby store locations where they can buy desired items do purchase them, and do so repeatedly.  Is the saved item sales and the increase from repeat sales greater than the cost of providing customers with the item locations? 

How easy is ILS to maintain?

The Item Locator Service is scalable.  Not only can clients add new items and remove old ones quickly and easily, but ILS usage reporting enables subscribers to monitor and track both the successful and the unsuccessful item location searches in order to help clients determine where their products have sufficient or lack sufficient stocked item distribution for meeting consumer demand.

How easy is ILS to use?

Using the Item Locator Service is a snap.  The following illustrations show how the ILS provides answers to consumers’ “Where can I buy this?” questions.