Make the listing describe what the public can do at the plant: a category for the store, the hours a walk-in customer is served, and the store entrance. Then give the store a page that respects your dealers.

A counter at the back of the plant

Behind the loading bays of many small manufacturers is a counter where the public can buy: seconds with small flaws, samples, offcuts and small orders the dealers do not bother with.

Neighbours drive past the plant every day without knowing. When they search for the product, the results show retailers across town, and the plant appears, if at all, as an office.

Its map listing gives the office address, office hours from Monday to Friday and a manufacturing category, which is what it was set up to show years ago.

What the listing tells Google

A map listing is Google's record of what a place is and when it is open. The category decides which searches it can appear for, and a manufacturing category matches people looking for suppliers, not shoppers.

The hours tell searchers when they can come. A listing that shows weekday office hours says nothing about the Saturday morning when the counter is busiest.

And the website, the listing's main link, often mentions the store in one line on the About page, if it mentions it at all.

What the listing needs

Google My Business lets the owner change most of this from its dashboard, once the listing has been verified.

The second matters most for walk-in trade. A listing that shows the plant closed on Saturday turns shoppers away on the very morning the counter is open.

Which hours to show

A listing holds one set of hours. When the office and the store keep different hours, show the hours a member of the public can walk in and be served.

The office's regular callers already know how to reach it. The listing is mostly read by people who have never been, and they need the counter's hours.

Put office hours, delivery hours and trade counter times on the website, where there is room to explain each one.

One listing or two

Some owners consider a second listing for the store. Google's guidelines allow a department its own listing only when it is publicly distinct, ideally with its own entrance and phone number.

Read the current guidelines before adding one. Duplicate listings for the same place can be merged or suspended, and in most cases one accurate listing serves better.

A store page on the website

Give the store its own page, linked from the menu and from the listing. Say what is sold there: seconds and what makes them seconds, samples, offcuts and small orders.

Explain how buying works: payment methods, whether prices are posted, whether items can be returned, and how to find the counter once through the gate.

Photographs help more here than almost anywhere: the sign, the door, the counter and a typical shelf of seconds, so a first-time visitor knows what to expect.

A worked example

A tarp and cover maker in an industrial park in Port Coquitlam sews boat covers, truck tarps and equipment covers, sold mostly through marine stores and truck outfitters across the province.

A small counter by the loading dock sells seconds, offcuts and simple tarps cut to size, on weekdays and Saturday mornings. Its listing showed the office, weekday hours and a manufacturing category.

The owner added a store category and changed the hours to match the counter, including Saturday. The map marker moved from the office door to the counter entrance at the side.

The website gained a page called Buying at the plant, explaining what seconds are, what the counter sells, how to pay and where to park a truck with a trailer.

For custom covers and fitting, the page sends visitors to the dealer list, sorted by region, and says so plainly. Dealers were shown the page before it went live.

The listing now describes the counter, not the office, and the page answers a new buyer's questions.

Buying direct without upsetting dealers

Dealers carry the full range, measure and fit, and handle warranty claims. A factory store that undercuts them on their main products damages relationships the business depends on.

Keep the store to what dealers do not want: seconds, offcuts, samples and small orders. Price first-quality goods as the dealers do, or keep them off the counter.

Say on the store page what dealers offer that the counter does not, and link to them by region.

Signs from the gate to the counter

The listing and the website bring people to the plant; the signs bring them to the counter. A sign at the gate and another at the door save a walk through a working yard.

Describe the route on the store page in the same words as the signs, so the two agree.

If the counter closes for lunch or during a plant shutdown, say so on the page and in the listing's hours.

The counter-case

Some manufacturers do not want walk-in customers at all. Forklifts, trucks and a busy yard make a working plant a poor place for shoppers, and some dealer agreements limit direct sales.

For them, the right listing is the one they already have, with office hours and a manufacturing category. The website can say plainly that the plant does not sell to the public, and point to dealers.

The problem described here is the other case: a counter that is open to the public, but that nobody nearby can find.

Putting the counter on the map

  1. Decide what the counter sells and when it is open.
  2. Add a store category to the listing.
  3. Show the hours the public can walk in.
  4. Move the marker to the store entrance.
  5. Build a store page and link the listing to it.
  6. Show dealers the page before it goes live.
  7. Put up signs from the gate to the counter.

Step six protects the business that pays the bills. Dealers who hear about the store from customers assume the worst; dealers who saw the page first can send small orders there themselves.

The same need for one location's hours, services and directions, under an agreement that limits the website, comes up in a franchisee's page on the head office website.

Frequently asked questions

Why do neighbours not find our factory store?

Your listing probably describes the office: a manufacturing category and office hours. Searches for the product then show retailers, because nothing says the plant sells to the public.

Which category should a factory store use?

Keep the manufacturing category and add one that describes the store, chosen from Google's list as the term a shopper would search for.

Which hours belong on the listing?

The hours a member of the public can walk in and be served. Put office, delivery and trade counter times on the website, where they can be explained.

Should the store have its own listing?

Only if it meets Google's guidelines for departments, such as its own public entrance and phone number. Otherwise one accurate listing for the plant serves better.

How do we avoid upsetting dealers?

Sell what dealers do not want, such as seconds, offcuts and small orders, price first-quality goods as they do, link to them, and show them the page first.

What should the store page say?

What is sold and what makes a second, how to pay, whether returns are accepted, the hours, and how to find the counter from the gate.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

A counter at the plant nobody can find?

Send us your listing and website, and we will suggest the category, hours and store page that put the counter on the map.

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