A consumer’s shopping journey has drastically evolved since the age of online shopping became the norm. These days shopping software, such as WP Maps and SOCi are widely used before a shopping session.
Today’s shopping journeys are dominated by activities such as online browsing, product comparison, and cashless purchases. As a result, brands have taken notice of these activities and have begun creating an online presence to raise brand awareness and increase sales.
One of the best and easiest ways to raise awareness for your products and stores, and to drive more sales is by using a product and store locator widget on your website.
Currently, there are two software that provide store and/or product locator services, WP Maps and SOCi. These two software are compared for the value they can provide.
In this article, we will take a closer look at both WP Maps and SOCi. Furthermore, we will compare both WP Maps and SOCi side-by-side to find out which software is better at providing store and/or product locator services. The comparison will be done in 5 “rounds”, at the end of each round a winner will be decided. Finally, in the end, we will see which product and store locator is the overall winner of this SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison.
Let’s get a bit of background information about both WP Maps and SOCi before we jump into the comparison.
Let’s Start with WP Maps.
WP Maps is store and product locator software created by AgileLogix, who are also the creators of the highly successful and popular store locator plugin, Agile Store Locator.
WP Maps allows users to create a product locator page and a store locator page on their website in a few simple steps. All you need to do is upload your product and store location data, configure the store and product locator, and then paste an automatically generated HTML code onto your website. It’s that easy!
WP Maps is an easy-to-use software that even non-tech people will find easy to use and navigate. Moreover, WP Maps comes with a bunch of customization options such as color customization, template customization, and layout customization.
The two main benefits WP Maps provides users are increased sales and awareness. It does this by providing your customers with everything they need to reach your store and make a purchase, this includes:
All the above elements work together to remove any potential barriers that might prevent a customer from buying a product.
WP Maps comes with a host of useful features that are designed to give users a pleasant and sophisticated experience when using the software, such as:
There are many store locator applications in the market, but we believe WP Maps is the superior choice. Discover how WP Maps is better than the following store locator software:
SOCi is a software that is described as a marketing platform that can be used by businesses with multiple locations to market their brands using various channels. SOCi provides brands with marketing capabilities through:
With SOCi you can also market your brand through localized store locator pages on your website. This store locator widget can guide customers to different physical stores from your website.
The SOCi store locator widget is responsive on any device. In addition, the store locator widget is customizable to the point that you can create a consistent brand experience by adding banners, image galleries, social feeds, etc. to your store locator widget.
Similar to WP Maps, one of the applications of SOCi is to drive more traffic to a physical store(s) and boost sales. However, unlike WP Maps, SOCi does not provide users with the ability to create a product locator widget. This means that you will not be able to display products on your website by using SOCi.
Lastly, SOCi also comes with a lot of great additional features such as:
Consumer shopping gradually began to evolve due to the introduction of online shopping. Furthermore, consumer demand and expectations have also changed to adjust to the new age of digital shopping.
The traditional way of shopping has been on a steady decline ever since digital shopping through the Internet became more common. In fact, in 2021 it was estimated that 2.14 billion people shopped online. Furthermore, the global e-commerce sales forecast for 2024 is expected to reach $6.4 trillion. These figures show a clear shift in shopping behavior.
Retailers began noticing this shift in consumer shopping behavior, and they saw new opportunities to promote and sell their products online. As a result, these days you will find almost every major retailer with an online presence (website, blog, social media account, etc.).
Consumers nowadays usually carry out the following steps when deciding to buy something:
Alternatively, a consumer might decide to make an in-person purchase by going to the physical store after doing their research online. According to one stat, 65% of consumers prefer in-store purchasing to avoid delivery fees. Therefore, brands need to provide customers with everything they need to easily and quickly find your products and stores so that they can make a swift purchase.
This is where product and store locator widgets come into play.
This change in consumer shopping behavior has led to businesses and independent people opening online stores to take advantage of online shoppers. You may also be considering opening an online store if you don’t already have one. Moreover, there are many platforms you can use to easily create an online store such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc. See this guide if you are looking to create the best Shopify online store for your business.
The main purpose of a store and/or product locator providing software, like WP Maps and SOCi, is to add a store and product locator widget to your website.
A product locator widget allows you to display all of your products in neat and organized ways. As a result, it allows your website visitors to browse your entire product catalog and quickly find what they need.
Once your customers have found a product they want to buy, they will be directed to the store locator widget. The store locator widget has a map that shows the location of all your stores that have the customer’s selected product in stock. In addition, the store locator widget also provides accurate and up-to-date information on how your customers can get to your store if they want to make an in-person purchase. The information provided by the store locator includes address, location, directions, store timing, stock information, etc.
By adding a store and product locator widget to your website, you will ensure that your customers will have no barriers to buying your product
Oftentimes when a consumer is browsing a website looking for a product to buy, he/she is prevented from making a final purchase decision by the following “barriers”:
All the above “barriers” hinder the consumer’s purchase journey. Moreover, by having a store and product locator widget installed on your website, you will successfully remove all these barriers, and now the customer will not be prevented from making a purchase due to the above reasons.
This is because a product locator displays all your products and provides your customers with all the product information they need. Whereas, a store locator widget makes it easy for the customer to reach your store to make a purchase by providing them with all your store locations on a large map. Moreover, the map provider for the store locator can be chosen to be either Google Maps or Mapbox. Some business owners might want to compare Google Maps with Mapbox for a more objective decision.
By installing a product and store locator widget, you will most likely see more customers coming to your physical store after browsing your website and finding their desired product. As a result, the increased traffic coming to your store(s) will give you more opportunities to:
Now that we have all the background information we need about WP Maps, SOCi, and store and product locator widgets in general, we can move on to the SOCi vs. WP Maps comparison.
The SOCi vs. WP Maps comparison will be carried out in 5 “rounds” which are price, customizability, ease-of-use, key features, and analytics. At the end of each round, we will determine which software surpassed the other.
Price is one of the first factors a person compares when deciding to buy something. After all, the price of the product determines whether a product is purchased or not.
The price of SOCi is not explicitly mentioned on their website and this makes it difficult to determine at what price they are going for. Furthermore, to find out the price of SOCi, you might need to arrange a demo with one of their representatives.
Based on the information we have of other software that provides similar services, we can guess the price for the most basic SOCi package might be approximately $500. However, we can’t say for sure. Moreover, it is unclear if SOCi provides some or all of its features at different price points.
The verdict on the price of SOCi is that it is uncertain what price you will get once you talk to one of their representatives.
WP Maps, on the other hand, has much clearer and concrete pricing. WP Maps is available in 4 different flexible packages that range from $19 per month to $185 per month.
With the lowest tier package of WP Maps, you will get the most basic features that will allow you to create and add a store and product locator widget to your website. However, the higher-tier packages will grant you access to more valuable and powerful features that will improve your overall experience of creating and managing your locator widgets.
All in all, WP Maps is available at price points that can suit the needs of businesses of all sizes. The “Corporate” package will provide you with premium, top-of-the-line store and product locator software with all the available features. On the other hand, the “Entry” package is perfect for small businesses that need only the most basic features.
In this round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, WP Maps is the winner for having more affordable and flexible price points. Furthermore, WP Maps provides the extra service of a product locator widget in addition to a store locator widget, while SOCi only provides you with a store locator widget.
For the next round in this SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, we’ll be discussing the customization options of each of these software.
Customization options are a very welcome feature in products. In many cases, the customizability of a product can become a huge selling point for a product. Moreover, customization allows users to make a product unique and one that is close to their vision.
WP Maps has extensive customization options that will enable you to create the perfect store and product locator widget for your website.
On the store and product widget, you can customize colors, texts, layouts, etc. You can even create custom maps for your store locator widget and customize it according to your needs. Furthermore, you are also able to customize various “templates” of the WP Maps store and product locator widget, such as:
SOCI also provides users with a lot of customization options for its store locator widget. The SOCi store locator can be set up using many templates. Furthermore, each template can be customized with banners, image galleries, social feeds, and much more.
With a SOCi store locator, you will be able to add a store locator widget to your website that is consistent with your brand image.
For this round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, there is no clear winner. Therefore, this round is a tie. Both locator software provides users with extensive customization options that let you create your ideal store and product locator widget which perfectly fits your website, visually.
In this round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, we will see which software is easier to use.
Although SOCi claims to be easy to implement, on further inspection the software looks pretty complex. Moreover, since it comes with multiple marketing channels besides a store locator widget, we feel getting this software exclusively for the store locator widget would be a big hassle.
WP Maps, on the other hand, has a very simple UI and a straightforward design. All the features and tools are laid out in a systematic order that makes WP Maps very easy to operate, even for non-tech people.
Creating a store and product locator widget, configuring it, and customizing it through WP Maps is quick and easy. In no time, you will have an ideal store and product locator widget set up on your website.
So for this SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison round, WP Maps slightly edges out SOCi for having a more simple and straightforward UI that focuses solely on product and store locator technology.
In this penultimate round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, we will look at some of the key features of both these software, and see which one provides a better set of useful features.
WP Maps has the following key features:
The main advantage of WP Map over SOCi is that WP Maps also gives users the ability to create and add a product locator widget to their website. With a product locator widget, you will be able to display all your products to your customers in an organized manner, and thus make it easier for your customers to find the product they need.
SOCi has the following key features:
Both WP Maps and SOCI have an impressive line-up of features that are designed to improve the overall user experience. However, when it comes to features that are designed to help you create a valuable and useful store and product locator, WP Maps has a significant edge in this department.
While SOCi may provide you with a bunch of tools and marketing channels, if you are looking for software that solely focuses on locator widgets, you are better off with WP Maps.
Therefore, for this round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, the winner is WP Maps for providing features that are exclusively geared towards improving store and product locator services.
Here is a table that summarizes the features that are available on WP Maps and SOCi:
| Feature | WP Maps | SOCi |
| Analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Google Sheet Integration | Yes | No |
| Multiple Layouts and Templates | Yes | Yes |
| Fixed Price Points | Yes | No |
| Customizable Interface | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Language Support | Yes | Yes |
| Intuitive User Interface | Yes | Yes |
| Lead Forms | Yes | No |
For the final round in this SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, We will be comparing the analytic features of both these software.
WP Maps comes integrated with Google Analytics. The analytic data provided by WP Maps gives you valuable information about your customers’ browsing and shopping behavior on the store and product locator widget. Moreover, with WP Maps, you will be able to gain data such as:
In addition, WP Maps is also able to provide you with another useful piece of information. With WP Maps you can get access to user demographic data (region, country, items viewed, age, etc.) for all the top products and stores in your locator widgets.
All this analytic data from WP Maps can help you optimize your selling strategies to maximize sales through better decision-making.
SOCI also comes equipped with analytic data reporting capabilities through which you can gain insights into customers’ behavior. Furthermore, these insights can be used to drive marketing strategies and optimize sales and results.
Both WP Maps and SOCI have an above-average analytic data-providing mechanism. Overall, there does not seem to be any difference in the quality or quantity of the analytic data provided by these two software.
Therefore, for this round of the SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison, we have to declare a tie.
Bringing customers from your website to your physical store is a great way to raise awareness for your brand and increase sales.
One of the best ways to bring more customers to your store from your website is by installing a store and product widget.
Both WP Maps and SOCi are excellent software that can easily add a store and/or product locator widget to your website.
However, when it comes to choosing which one of these software to go with, we have to go with WP Maps for the following reasons:
Although SOCi is a quality software, we feel it focuses on doing too many things at the same time. Furthermore, while it does provide store locator services, it does so along with other marketing services, which we feel diverts focus from the store locator side of the software.
Therefore, the overall winner in this SOCi Vs. WP Maps comparison (in our opinion) is WP Maps.
If you would like to explore more diverse topics related to e-commerce, please see our blog pages.
Talha has 3 years of experience in writing blogs and guide articles about topics that cover e-commerce practices, WordPress plugins, and SaaS apps. His blogs are SEO-oriented and have ranked high on SERPs. His main goal is to convey complicated topics in an easy-to-understand format for his readers. Usually, this involves thoroughly researching a topic beforehand before translating it into a comprehensible article. Talha has completed his bachelor’s from the American University of Sharjah where his passion for writing and communication was sparked by learning to write about a wide range of topics such as social issues, history, and scientific methodology. His main area of expertise was writing technical papers that were easy to digest by a general audience.
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