There’s a purchasing behavior that English speakers call ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline): people research online, weigh their options, then buy in store. It’s not a new phenomenon, but in recent years it has become systematic. Consumers use digital tools to orient themselves even before setting foot in a store: they compare prices, read reviews, check availability. The purchase journey starts online, but it doesn’t necessarily end there.
Within the ROPO phenomenon there’s an even more specific case: local searches with high purchase intent.
"Running shoes near me."
"Washing machine available today in store."
These aren’t generic browsing. They’re the last step before walking into a store.
According to Google, 28% of local searches generate a store visit within 24 hours. Three-quarters of consumers who find local information useful become more likely to visit the store. There’s only one question: does your store show up in those results?
Google’s Local Inventory Ads are the tool designed for this exact scenario. They show geolocated users the products available in nearby physical stores, with price, availability, and distance updated in real time. The format captures people who have already decided to buy and are choosing where to do it.
Yet most retailers still haven’t connected their physical inventory to Google. The product is in stock, the store is open, but for the user searching it stays invisible. Activating LIA requires a structured local feed, validated and synchronized across every store: a pipeline that, for distributed physical networks, needs to be managed with dedicated tools.
Highstreet.io is a certified Google partner for Local Inventory Ads. It manages the entire operational pipeline, from connecting ERP, PIM, and eCommerce systems to automatically syncing inventory across every store, with feed validation and AI Enrichment to optimize relevance in local searches. For retailers with distributed physical networks, this translates into a concrete advantage: being present at the exact moment purchase intent takes shape.
LIA are one of the applications of a broader platform: Highstreet.io works with eCommerce businesses to simplify product feed management and scale their presence across every digital channel, with proprietary technology and specialized support