Valvoline recognized how significant it was to provide geocoding and time zone features in its store locator.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Established in 1866, Valvoline is a pioneer in the global market for premium, branded lubricants and automotive services. With 1,600 locations currently in the U.S., Valvoline Instant Oil Change store locations increase by more than 150 per year. Valvoline recognized how significant it was to provide geocoding and time zone features in its store locator. Driving the same rapid growth in its all-in-one app and resourceful website, Valvoline sought a more reliable and functional mapping and data storage solution.
BENEFITS
“Our partnership with Woolpert Digital Innovations is all we can ask for thus far because we do business with the best.”
WORKING WITH WOOLPERT
Due to rapidly increasing customer volumes, Valvoline switched to Woolpert Digital Innovations as its premier Google partner. The integration enabled Valvoline to take advantage of Woolpert Digital Innovation’s volume price discounts and one-on-one customer support.
“We have seen the benefits of working with Woolpert Digital Innovations. The biggest issue we’ve had was a billing problem. When we received the invoice, payment was to be split between two accounts and somehow that was messed up. Woolpert Digital Innovations took care of it in a phone call,” stated Valvoline Digital Marketing Manager, Cecil Helton.
THE SOLUTION
Geocoding APIs and TimeZone APIs pinpoint accurate representations of stores close to users in the Valvoline Instant Oil Change app and on the Valvoline website. “Time zones and store hours are critical information we need to provide the customer in order to do business,” stated Valvoline Digital Marketing Manager, Cecil Helton. These features enable users to find nearby stores that are open. Helton continued, “Not only do we want to give guests an accurate representation of VIOC store locations near them, we also want to update customers on specific location updates, for example store closings.”
Valvoline leverages Google’s free, mobile-native feature within dynamic maps to provide internal and external users with a familiar, easy-to-use map. Helton praised the significance of Google Maps Platform’s reliability and accuracy, as well as its familiar interface. Along with GMP, Google Cloud secures and scales data seamlessly as Valvoline grows.
In the current version of the mobile-native app, VIOC displays wait times for customers. Users can then make selections based on their preferences. Valvoline announced an updated store locator rollout in mid-October utilizing GMP, which will include the same in-app wait time feature as its website. “In terms of a store locator, our goal is to build one that’s best in class. We are confident we have done that each time we have rolled out a new version. We couldn’t ask for a better partner to execute this process with,” explained Helton.
