GSC Locator Service - Description

Locator Service: Description

GSC offers a private label store locator service that you can link in to your Web site to help customers find your store locations quickly and accurately. This page briefly explains how the service works.

Operational Description

You place a link on your home page or elsewhere in your site that says something like "Find Stores Nearest To You." We provide you with the URL to place inside that link. The URL points to our servers. Our servers respond by presenting a page that lets users specify their location. You can choose how that page works. Users can specify their location by: filling in a form, by choosing from a list, and/or by clicking in an overview map. The page can also offer other criteria for searching, such as the type of store, or the type of services offered at that store. The page is customized to look just like it's part of your site, and includes your site's standard links back to other pages on your site.

Once the user specifies his or her location, our servers respond by finding the stores geographically closest to the user. Our system can present those results to the user in several ways: We can show them a custom map showing their location surrounded by your nearest stores, we can present just a list of those stores, or we can present both a map and a list.

The store list presented to the user can include any information you'd like about each store, such as the store's name, address, telephone number, hours, email addresses, individual store web pages, driving directions, and a link to see detailed street maps for that store. The list can be formatted as a table, or as a sequence of paragraphs, to match the overall style of your site.

Users can interact with all maps presented by our system to effectively get their bearings and to see all needed detail. They can do this quickly and efficiently by selecting from a list of recommended street maps for each store, or by manually panning and zooming to create any desired view.

All pages presented by our system look like they are part of your own site. And we do not place any advertising from other parties on your pages.

Getting Started

Our locator service provides everything you need to add a high quality interactive map-based store locator to your Web pages. We prepare your store locations for mapping and all processing runs on our servers. We maintain all of the extensive map databases. Map usage statistics are compiled and reported to you on a regular basis. All you need to do is provide us with your store addresses and add a locator link on your page, linking to our system.

There are two general phases of the service, first the initial setup and thereafter, ongoing support. During the short setup phase we create customized locator pages and forms that match the overall look and feel of your other Web pages. We also assign geographic coordinates to your store locations, and prepare the information from your store database for display on the locator pages. From then on we provide a full package of support services including round-the-clock Internet access to the store locator, ongoing maintenance and upgrades of your store locations, ongoing maintenance and improvements to our locator hardware and software systems, updates and improvements to the map databases, and periodic reports to you on your usage statistics.

Who Can Use the Service

Organizations of any size and type will benefit from using our private label store locator service. Regardless of whether you have 10 locations or 100,000, whether your territory covers a single metropolitan area or is nationwide, whether you want to help customers locate your stores, offices, dealerships or ATMs, the service works equally well. It is easy to use, will make it easier for your customers and prospects to find you, and will boost the effectiveness of your Web site.