Why are global brands investing in location-level growth strategies?

Published On: January 14, 2025

Our COO, Sandeep Singh shares the blueprint of how brands can thrive in the global market by leveraging location level growth strategies

No brand wants to lose customers to competitors right under their nose, but if it’s happening, then it’s an alarm for businesses to reassess their strategies. As markets become more saturated and dynamic and consumers demand personalization and localization, global brands realize that a one-size-fits-all approach no longer works. That’s why, they are turning to location-level growth strategies to better tailor their offerings to local preferences, demographics, and competitive landscapes. This granular approach allows companies to unlock new revenue streams, enhance customer experiences, maintain relevance in diverse regions, and most importantly, stay ahead in the global marketplace.

Exchange4media engaged in an interesting conversation with our COO, Sandeep Singh to get to the heart of the topic Why are global brands investing in location-level growth strategies?’ and discussed all the ifs and buts of investing in location-level growth strategies, its growing need to stay ahead in the global marketplace, the role of technology in increasing personalized customer engagement at a hyper-local level, businesses that can benefit from location-level growth strategies, the future of digital presence for physical stores, and so much more.

His views on global market trends and location-level growth strategies

Speaking on the shifting dynamics of global markets, Sandeep emphasized, “The global trend for many years has been towards consumers’ adoption of digital products and platforms. The penetration of smartphones and easy access to high-speed data has made information accessible to everyone, even in the smallest towns. Today, consumers have a smartphone in their hands with high-speed data, putting information at their fingertips.
 
Sandeep also highlighted the growing influence of tier-2 and tier-3 cities in shaping consumer behaviour, “Data suggests that more than 50% of Google searches have local intent. This shows that consumers are increasingly seeking information about businesses and services near them. Nearly 80-90% of our transactions or consumption happen within a 5 to 6-kilometer radius of our office or home. Whether it’s finding a restaurant, the nearest ATM, or a fuel station, our choices are predominantly local,”
 
Addressing the competition faced by global brands, Singh states, “While many brands operate on a global scale, the real battle happens on the ground. For instance, a local insurance agent carrying a multinational brand name competes directly with local players. Additionally, hyper-local players and D2C brands, particularly in the food and beverage sector, have emerged as strong competitors. These businesses, though limited to specific areas, often enjoy immense popularity within their regions.”
 
Then, he underscored SingleInterface’s core mission to empower businesses to build a robust digital presence for their physical locations, helping them stay competitive in an increasingly digital- first world.  

Key challenges faced by global brands while implementing local-level growth strategies

According to him, a key challenge for global brands has been aligning their digital and physical presence. “Global brands have focused heavily on their digital destinations-e-commerce websites and apps. However, in doing so, the digitization of their physical stores and retail networks has been overlooked. Beyond integrating point-of-sale systems or UPI payment methods, these locations haven’t been equipped to benefit from the increasing trend of customers searching for businesses online,” he asserts.
 
Explaining the challenges and complexities of operating at a large scale, Singh said, “When you operate at a smaller scale, the challenges are relatively easier to manage. But this is a problem of plenty the more locations you manage, the more incremental challenges you face. With every incremental scale, you solve for new challenges, and that expertise adds to our strength. 

Key factors for effective location-level growth strategies

Highlighting the critical factors that businesses need to focus on when creating effective location level growth strategies, Singh emphasized the three important I’s: Infrastructure, Involvement, and Insights
 
“When I say infrastructure, I mean getting the right technology stack and digital assets in place. Digitalization is about ensuring your physical locations have a discoverable digital presence. Without it, your locations will remain invisible to potential customers,” Singh explained. “At Single Interface, we manage close to 4,000 locations through our platform. Having the right digital assets ensures that businesses not only establish a presence but also drive discoverability,” he precisely mentions.
 
Secondly, Singh stressed, “Decisions taken by central or brand marketing teams will not be effective unless regional teams, store- level employees, and ground staff are involved. These are the people engaging with customers, generating reviews, and benefiting directly from these strategies.”
 
Lastly, he underscored the importance of gathering and analysing hyperlocal insights to refine strategies, “Once you have the infrastructure and team involvement, you will start generating valuable insights. These insights occur at a hyperlocal level and require the right technology to identify actionable signals from the data, like customer calls or chats.”  

Businesses that can benefit from location-level growth strategies

“Any business with a physical infrastructure stands to benefit from location-level growth strategies,” said Singh, emphasizing the broad potential of the strategy. He noted that while early adopters of this strategy have traditionally been sectors like automobile and BFSI due to their historical affinity for embracing digital technologies and marketing, the adoption now has significantly expanded.
 
“Today, we work with a cross-section of brands across diverse segments such as building materials, construction materials, heavy duty industries, and commercial vehicles,” Singh revealed. He highlighted that these are sectors where products are predominantly bought offline. Lastly, he states that SingleInterface helps businesses build a strong digital presence and enhances discoverability, enabling businesses to reach their target audience effectively even for high-involvement purchases. 

Role of Technology in empowering global brands with effective location level growth strategies

When asked about the technology stack powering Singleinterface, Sandeep emphasized, “At Singleinterface, we see each location of a brand as a unique business unit. Our aim has always been to ensure that all the tools and marketing capabilities available at a central level for a brand are equally accessible at the location level. This Includes better discoverability, great websites, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing, chat, and e-commerce.”
 
He further explained that Singleinterface operates as a full-stack platform designed to cater to every marketing and commerce need of physical business locations. “We want to empower every location with the technology necessary to thrive digitally. By offering tools that support both marketing and commerce, we help stores meet their digital marketing and commerce requirements comprehensively,” he added.
 
“Al is at the heart of what we do,” Singh stated. He illustrated that the platform leverages artificial intelligence across its solutions, from review response management to driving insights and optimization. “AI drives our discoverability tools and other business functions. For instance, our use of large language models (LLMs), built using our proprietary data from customer insights at the location level, enables as to deliver personalized and actionable intelligence to our clients,” be said.
 
In addition to its proprietary LLAMs, he revealed that SingleInterface also integrates OpenAl and the unique services it offers such as translation, transcription, and insight generation, covering all major Indian languages. This ensures they analyse customer feedback and deliver insights tailored to brand needs in diverse markets. He further explained how SingleInterface is helping numerous brands in bridging the hyper-local location strategies, “Our goal is simple but impactful: to ensure every store or location of a brand has access to world-class digital marketing and commerce tools, regardless of its size or market.  

Strategies for secure location based growth

Mentioning Singleïnterface’s robust approach to data security, Singh stated, “We are an ISO-certified company and have conducted extensive tests, including penetration testing, to ensure the highest standards of security. Being an ISO-certified organization, we’ve established ourselves as a reliable and secure partner for our clients. Two years ago, we were recognized by Deloitte as one of the fastest- growing technology companies, which underscores our commitment to innovation and trust.”
 
Speaking about the company’s technology stack, he elaborated, “We work with numerous national and international businesses, all of whom conduct thorough due diligence on our servers, security protocols, and data handling procedures. Our protocols are designed to ensure that any data residing on our servers or being transferred to client servers is protected using encrypted technology. We take pride in offering one of the most advanced tech stacks that safeguard Jocation data and brand customers information.”

Why do global brands trust SingleInterface?

When asked what sets SingleInterface apart from other players in the industry, Sandeep highlighted, “We look at a brand’s problem of searching for a location as a full-stack problem, and sohing it with a full-stack solution is something we believe is our differentiator, He further elaborated the scale at which SingleInterface operates, and added, “Since we manage over 1,000 locations on our platform, we understand what it takes to manage 40,000 locations for a particular brand, everything from the required security protocols to SOPs Underlining Singletaterfaor’s extensive experience and proprietary technology in which several brands believe, Singh asserts, “When a brand works with us, they do so with the confidence that we’ve been in this space for almost 7-8 years, pioneering solutions in managing location data and sensitive customer information. Our proprietary technology has delivered outstanding outcomes and results for our chents. 

The future of location level growth strategies

Looking ahead, Sandeep shares that SingleInterface constantly focuses on the ever-evolving world of technology and multi location enterprises. Moreover, he explained the unpredictability and evolving nature of technology as it changes often before one even gets a chance to reflect on it.
 
“Al will continue to evolve, and we are committed to embedding it into our product stack. We are on a mission to democratize this technology so that even the smallest store, whether it’s a franchisee or a small retailer, can leverage the power of digital transformation,” Singh said, mentioning a few trends he foresees in the future.
 
He continued, “Conversational Al will be a game-changer” and highlighted “As AR and VR become more mainstream, the digital experience of visiting a physical store will become incredibly immersive. Through SingleInterface, he envisions a future where consumers can virtually walk through store aisles, interact with products, and even speak to store representatives-making the digital shopping experience both accessible and engaging in ways never seen before. As technology continues to evohe, Singh concluded that Single Interface will remain focused on staying ahead of these trends, ensuring businesses of all sizes can thrive in an increasingly digital world.

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