Why your shop catalogue is worth more than your shop page
"Who is near me" and "who has this today" are different questions, and only one of them brings you a customer who has never heard of your shop. The second is answered by your catalogue.
What this covers
People arrive at a shop directory with one of two questions. "Who is near me" — answered by the location filter. And "who has prawns today," or a 12mm spanner, or size 9 in that particular shoe — answered by nothing at all on most directories.
ANOQR Shops answers the second one by searching inside shop catalogues rather than across shop names. That is the difference between being found by people who already know you, and being found by people who do not.
Every item is a door
A catalogue entry is not inventory management. It is a search term you now rank for locally.
- Six items listed: six ways to be found.
- Sixty items listed: sixty ways.
The customer who searched for the specific thing you happen to stock was never going to type your shop's name. They typed the thing. If it is not in your catalogue, that search found the shop four kilometres further away that did list it.
Write catalogue entries the way customers say them
This is where most catalogues underperform. The entry should be the words a customer would use, not the words on your supplier's invoice.
| Written like this | Rather than |
|---|---|
| Nendran banana | Item code NB-1 |
| 12mm spanner | Hand tool assorted |
| School shoes, black, sizes 4–9 | Footwear |
| Fresh prawns, medium | Seafood |
Include the brand where the brand is what people search — customers ask for the brand of paint, cement, mobile accessory or medicine far more often than they ask for the category.
And add the variations people actually type, including the everyday name for something that has a formal one. A catalogue written in trade language is a catalogue written for nobody who is searching.
Prices, if you can
Listing prices is optional and it does raise the enquiry rate, because "how much" is the question that otherwise consumes the first message of every conversation. Where prices move — produce, fish, metals — a range or "today's rate on WhatsApp" is honest and still useful.
Keep it truthful about availability
The failure mode that damages a shop is a catalogue that says yes when the shelf says no. Someone travelled for that.
For fast-moving stock, prune rather than expand: list what is actually there. A short accurate catalogue produces fewer, better enquiries; a long aspirational one produces enquiries that end in an apology.
The hour that pays
If you do one thing on your shop listing, sit down for an hour and enter your real range properly — names customers use, sizes, brands, variants. It is dull, it is a one-off, and it is the only part of the listing that brings you people who had never heard of your shop.
Frequently asked questions
- What does ANOQR Shops search — shop names or products?
- Both, but product search runs inside shop catalogues. That is what matches a customer looking for a specific item to nearby shops that have listed it.
- How should I name catalogue items?
- In the words customers use, including brand names where people search by brand. Supplier codes and trade categories match almost nothing a customer types.
- Should I list prices in the catalogue?
- Where you can, yes — it raises enquiry rates because "how much" is otherwise the first message every time. For items whose price moves daily, a range or a note to ask on WhatsApp works.
- Is it bad to list items I sometimes run out of?
- It is worth pruning. A catalogue that promises stock you do not have sends customers on wasted trips, which costs more than the extra listing gains.
- How many catalogue items make a difference?
- Every one adds another search you can be found through, so listing your genuine full range matters far more than listing a handful of headline items.
