boosting performance in the retail industry

Bing Maps for Enterprise

Boosting Performance in the Retail Industry


Table of ContentsIntroduction 3

Strengthen Customer Connections 4

Provide useful and visually stunning maps 4

Add point-to-point directions and search 5

Combine directions, search, and in-store pickup 6

Provide customers with immersive experiences 7

Additional business benefits 8

Marketing and partnerships 8

Decreased calls to customer service 8

Improve Business Insight and Performance 9

See trends, opportunities, and competition 10

Manage mobile resources 11

Rapidly develop Web sites 12

Learn More 13


Introduction Retailers today are in tight competition for every consumer dollar. In an environment where people

are hesitant to spend their money, giving them a superior experience can make the difference be-

tween a visitor to your Web site and a customer. The Bing Maps for Enterprise platform can help you

deliver an immersive experience that distinguishes your site, engages site visitors, and helps make it

easy for them to find your locations, products, services, and events.

In addition to providing rich experiences on your customer-facing Web site, Bing Maps is an equally

powerful business intelligence tool. With Bing Maps, you can overlay data on a map and view the

data in a geographical context for decision making. You can use your own data (such as inventories

and customer demographics) or third-party data (such as census information and weather feeds).

The visual representation can help you identify trends and areas of opportunity or underperformance,

manage mobile resources, and more.

View data in a geographical context for business insight

Microsoft designed the Bing Maps platform with ease of development and your total cost of owner-

ship in mind. With a gallery of applications, tools, community resources, and technical articles, plus

an online interactive software development kit (SDK) available from Microsoft, your developers should

be able to quickly create tailored customer experiences and easily update your site so your business

remains competitive and current. And with flexible licensing, transparent terms of use, and a wealth of

included datasets, you can select the combination of terms that is right for your company.

3


Strengthen Customer ConnectionsThe store locator page of your Web site offers a unique opportunity. It is a frequently visited page on

a Web site and may represent the first time a person experiences your brand. In addition, each person

who views the page has sought out the information and is considering coming to your store. It is an

opportunity you will want to use to its fullest advantage.

With Bing Maps, your store locator page can become a way to

differentiate your brand and provide an exceptional customer

experience. Your Web site can provide useful and striking maps,

point-to-point directions and search capabilities, and even the ability

to build social networks. You can also use Bing Maps to help create

revenue-building marketing and partnership opportunities.

What’s more, companies with Bing Maps have reduced costs through

a significant decrease in calls to customer service.2 With point-to-

point directions available within a detailed map, customers will have an easier time finding your stores.

Provide Useful and Visually Stunning MapsGive visitors more than they expect when they visit your store locator page—maps that are both highly

useful and a pleasure to view. Bing Maps provides high-resolution images that people can view in:

• 2D or 3D view for a more lifelike

experience.

• Aerial view for high-level perspective.

• Bird’s eye3 view, which is an aerial

image view at 45 degrees.

• Bird’s eye hybrid view, which combines

bird’s eye imagery with roads and labels.

“In addition to delivering fast, flawless

performance, [Bing Maps] enables

Starbucks.com to deliver customer

service so good, it actually cuts costs

to the company.”1

Rob Reed, Director of Web Services, Starbucks

Bird’s eye hybrid view provides 3D images with roads and labels(www.bankofamerica.com)

4


Add Point-to-Point Directions and SearchWith Bing Maps, visitors can get directions in 13 languages, as well as point-to-point instructions, so

they don’t need to leave your Web site and go elsewhere for driving or walking4 directions. For ex-

ample, The Body Shop International uses Bing Maps on its global store locator page to provide both

driving and walking directions, so customers can choose the best way to find a store from wherever

they are.

Combine lifelike maps with point-to-point directions

You can also offer visitors the ability to search for store locations with

certain inventory or amenities. At the 7-Eleven store locator page,

powered by Bing Maps, visitors can search for 7-Eleven locations that

sell gas; have ATM machines; and have check cashing, money order,

and bill paying capabilities, and more. The U-Haul site offers search for

trucks, hitches, and propane by location.

Store events can also be included in the search menu, as Starbucks does on its site. The tab structure of

the Starbucks site adds to the satisfying customer experience because visitors don’t need to leave the

store locator page.

Providing search criteria for customers to choose from also makes them aware of products, services,

amenities, and events they might not have considered buying or attending without that prompt.

Search for products and events incorporated with Bing Maps(www.starbucks.com)

“With Bing Maps, rather than clicking

10 times to find information, custom-

ers get it right away with the com-

pass control.” 5 Narayanan Kasiarunachalam, Technical Advisor, FedEx

5

http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/services/storelocator/ChooseAddress.aspx?LCID=1036&striFrame=0

http://www.7-eleven.com/StoreLocator/tabid/214/Default.aspx

http://www.uhaul.com/finder/

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/find/default.aspx


Combine Directions, Search, and In-Store Pickup Extend the possibilities further by adding inventory searches, online purchasing, and in-store pickup.

For multichannel retailers, offering the option to purchase online and pick up in a store creates an

opportunity to increase sales per customer. Many large retailers that offer online buying with in-store

pickup, such as REI and Ace Hardware, find that approximately 30 percent of customers who choose

that option buy additional items when they pick up their purchases.6

Some retailers find that customers who buy online and pick up

in-store spend even more. According to Internet Retailer, when The

Container Store tested its online purchase with in-store pickup fea-

ture, it found that customers who ordered items online for in-store

pickup spent two times as much as those who ordered online for

home delivery, and three times more than customers in stores.8

Borders Books and Music has also found that combining full-

inventory search capabilities, online purchasing, and in-store

pickup increases customer spending. Site visitors can search the

entire Borders inventory, which contains more than any individual

store, and have items shipped for free to a nearby store. Borders

found that among customers who choose that option, 35 percent

buy additional items. Borders also offers site visitors the option to

reserve items online and buy them in the store—a feature that

25,000 to 30,000 Borders customers use each week.9

Using Bing Maps to give site visitors point-to-point directions

can help you make it easy for those customers who purchase or

reserve items online to easily find your store—and perhaps spend

even more.

“At FedEx we absolutely believe that

technology is a major driver of value and

a differentiator of the marketplace, so we

embrace new technologies such as

Bing Maps.” 7

David Zanka, Senior Vice President of E-Commerce Technology, FedEx Services

6


Provide Customers with Immersive ExperiencesSome retailers are taking Bing Maps technology in an exciting direction: Using it to offer ways for

site visitors to connect not just with products but with each other. Taking a cue from the tremendous

popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, retailers are adding networking

capabilities to store locator pages to engage visitors; make the most of their shared interests; and

give them a reason to stay on the site, post product reviews, and bring their friends.

For example, on the Starbucks site, visitors can send an invitation with a map to others to meet in

a store. Harley-Davidson takes the idea even further. The Harley-Davidson Ride Planner uses Bing

Maps to give customers a way to plan and share motorcycle trips. Customers can locate scenic road

routes and events such as chili cook-offs and motorcycle shows. Repeat Web site visits help create

more loyal customers and help differentiate brands in an increasingly competitive retail environment.

Engage visitors with innovative and immersive map-based experiences(www.harley-davidson.com)

7

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/find/default.aspx

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp?locale=en_US


Additional Business BenefitsIn addition to the business benefits of providing great customer service and an engaging customer

experience, retailers are discovering additional opportunities for marketing, creating revenue, and

reducing costs through their store locator sites powered by Bing Maps.

Marketing and Partnerships

Using Bing Maps, companies can provide a search menu for services, products, and events in addi-

tion to their maps, helping customers find what they need and making them aware of products and

services to buy. Advertisements can also be included on the page to enhance your brand. The Body

Shop International, for instance, incorporated a rich streaming video ad on its store locator.

Bing Maps offers an opportunity to enter into strategic relationships with other retailers and show

their locations on your site as well. For example, in addition to routes and events, the

Harley-Davidson Ride Planner showcases the locations of dealerships and hotel partners. It also

includes fuel locations and a link to another Harley-Davidson site for apparel and accessories, making

the most of revenue opportunities.

Decreased Calls to Customer Service

With a map for visitors to use, retailers have found that phone calls for help locating stores have

decreased substantially. At FedEx, locator help calls were practically eliminated.10 Before Starbucks

implemented its Bing Maps solution, requests for driving directions accounted for one of the top

three reasons customers called customer service. Those calls also have been virtually eliminated.11

8

http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/services/storelocator/FindStore.aspx?Method=post&LCID=1036&striFrame=0&strAddress=&strLocation=paris&strCP=&strCountry=france

http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/ridePlanner.jsp?locale=en_US


Improve Business Insight and PerformanceRetailers face an ever-expanding volume of data to consider when making decisions. This data is of-

ten complex, stored in difficult-to-interpret tabular or textual formats, and not placed in a context that

facilitates insight or broad understanding. When the data is related to location, overlaying it on a map

for visual representation can help you quickly draw conclusions from the data.

Overlay data on a map for at-a-glance insights

9


See Trends, Opportunities, and CompetitionFor example, three separate spreadsheet tables with data representing customers, competitors, and

demographics may not reveal many insights if viewed in a tabular format. If this data is overlaid on a

map, however, companies can quickly see where their best customers are located, where their cus-

tomers are located in relation to competitors, and which regions represent the best business potential

based on underlying demographics. Companies can also quickly see stores and areas of underperfor-

mance that may need additional attention.

The following screen shot shows Bing Maps being used to quickly view regional store performance

during a sales promotion. A manager can click a store location, view color-coded sales statistics, and

make decisions about inventory, demand, and the success of the promotion.

Quickly draw conclusions from data by visualizing it on a map

10


Manage Mobile ResourcesBing Maps can help you track mobile assets for just-in-time deliveries, to anticipate inventory ar-

rival, to prepare loading docks with updated delivery schedules, and to manage fleets and other

mobile assets.

Liaison Can./U.S., an international shipping company, and Ship2Save, a Microsoft Gold Certified

Partner, created a solution using Bing Maps to improve fleet management. Dispatchers can visually

follow trucks, monitor traffic situations, reroute vehicles, and reduce delivery times. Liaison custom-

ers can also track their own shipments through a Web portal.12

By integrating Bing Maps with the previous Liaison radio frequency identification (RFID) shipping

and tracking solution (which was based on Microsoft .NET), dispatchers now have bird’s eye, aerial,

and satellite imagery to track truck locations, save fuel costs, and improve customer service. In less

than a year, the company reduced operating costs by 25 percent and achieved return on invest-

ment. It also increased customer satisfaction and insight into its business data.13

Track mobile resources using Bing Maps

11


Rapidly Develop Web SitesThe ease and speed of deployment of a Bing Maps solution help companies of any size save precious

time and development money. IT developers can use their existing HTML and JavaScript skills to add

Bing Maps to Web sites. Bing Maps also offers rich development tools in its interactive SDK, which

shows the code needed, depending on desired functionality. These features support rapid prototyp-

ing and ease of application development.

When FedEx decided its customer-facing Web site needed updating,

it chose Bing Maps in part because of its ease of deployment. Using

Bing Maps saved the company time-to-market, with the proof of con-

cept taking just three weeks to build. Technology integration abilities

with Bing Maps will also make it easy for FedEx to develop future ap-

plications by incorporating imagery, mapping, and business informa-

tion from multiple sources.

“The SDK is very user-friendly,” said Miles Hoelzel, the business application

advisor for FedEx. “There is a lot of information on the Web site about

how to employ it in various applications, and our team was able to imple-

ment it in our locater seamlessly. The current implementation of Bing

Maps has exceeded our expectations from a development perspective.”15

Additionally, Bing Maps works well both with much non-Microsoft

software and with Microsoft products that companies are already

using, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 data management

software, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 business

intelligence software, Microsoft SharePoint® Products and Technolo-

gies, Microsoft Commerce Server 2007 (and soon-to-be-released

Commerce Server 2009), Microsoft Dynamics® business management

solutions, and more.

“We love the Bing Maps SDK.

It shows a demo and its source code,

and if you really want to know more

details of how a feature got imple-

mented, you can go to the reference

section—it’s all right there.” 14

Narayanan Kasiarunachalam Technical Advisor, FedEx

12


ConclusionEngaging potential customers and bringing them into your store is increasingly crucial in this chal-

lenging economy. With Bing Maps, retailers are discovering new ways to tighten connections with

customers by giving them more than they expect when customers visit their store locator pages. The

static maps of competitors’ sites pale in comparison to the vivid, lifelike maps these retailers offer—

with point-to-point directions, search, and social networking capabilities all adding up to an immersive

customer experience that makes them stand out from their competition.

No less significant are the business insights that are possible by using Bing Maps to visualize data in a

geographical context on a map. The visual representation of data can make it easier to draw conclu-

sions from the data, such as identifying regions of opportunity, expansion, and underperformance.

Bing Maps can also be used to track valuable mobile assets, deliveries, and other assets in the context

of location to boost profitability.

Created with ease of development and total cost of ownership in mind, Bing Maps comes with an on-

line SDK and resources from Microsoft to help developers quickly and easily create tailored customer

experiences for retail sites.

Whether used for a customer-facing Web site or internally for business intelligence, Bing Maps can

help retailers build stronger customer connections today and make better-informed strategic deci-

sions for the future.

Learn MoreTo learn more about Bing Maps for Enterprise, read case studies, and view the Web sites of

companies mentioned in this paper, go to http://www.microsoft.com/maps/.

13

http://www.microsoft.com/maps/


© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This white paper is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRAN-TIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT. Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, MapPoint, PerformancePoint, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Bing Maps are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

References1 Microsoft case study: “Starbucks Supports Corporate Marketing Programs and Strategies with MapPoint Web Service.”

March 2005. http://download.microsoft.com/documents/customerevidence/12418_Starbucks_MapPoint.doc

2 Microsoft case study: “Starbucks Supports Corporate Marketing Programs and Strategies with MapPoint Web Service.”


Microsoft case study: “FedEx Improves Customer Experience with Integrated Mapping and Location Data.” November 27,

2008. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002887

3 Available in many metropolitan areas. Not available for government customers.

4 Available in many metropolitan areas in North America and Europe.

5 Microsoft case study: “FedEx Improves Customer Experience with Integrated Mapping and Location Data.” November 27,


6 Davis, Don. Internet Retailer. “Profits in Pick-up?” Vertical Web Media. November 2008. http://www.internetretailer.com/

article.asp?id=28296



8 Internet Retailer. “Click and Pickup is the new organizing principle at The Container Store.” Vertical Web Media. October

17, 2008. http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28149

9 Internet Retailer. “Borders’ online strategy makes its web site the cross channel hub.” Vertical Web Media. January 22, 2009.

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=29155&ya=track&ref=ya



11 Microsoft case study: “Starbucks Supports Corporate Marketing Programs and Strategies with MapPoint Web Service.”


12 Microsoft case study: “Shipping Company Cuts Costs 25 Percent with New Interactive Mapping Solution.” August 2008.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/b/5/db5302e7-0997-425c-86cb-2976363e401a/GEMS14662/Liaison_Virtual_

Earth_Case_Study.doc.

13 Ibid.



15 Ibid.

14

http://download.microsoft.com/documents/customerevidence/12418_Starbucks_MapPoint.doc


http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002887


http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=28296

http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=28296


http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28149

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=29155&ya=track&ref=ya



http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/b/5/db5302e7-0997-425c-86cb-2976363e401a/GEMS14662/Liaison_Virtual_Earth_Case_Study.doc

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/b/5/db5302e7-0997-425c-86cb-2976363e401a/GEMS14662/Liaison_Virtual_Earth_Case_Study.doc


boosting performance in the retail industry

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