Tesco Partners with Yext to Manage Digital Knowledge for Over 4,000 Locations

Tesco, the United Kingdom's leading retailer, have partnered with global digital knowledge management provider Yext, to ensure consistency in the knowledge about its brand across the leading maps, apps, and search engines their customers use.

Using the Yext Knowledge Engine, Tesco will be able to update store information across the web in real time — from addresses to phone numbers, to hours, to products sold, and more, so that customers searching online will always find the correct information, no matter where they look.

The Yext Knowledge Engine is a cloud-based platform for businesses to manage the public facts about their brand that appear on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and 100+ other online sources.

As part of the partnership, the Yext Knowledge Engine will support over 4,000 Tesco locations, including supermarkets, pharmacies, opticians, phone shops and cafes across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

"We are proud to partner with Tesco to put stores on the map and to maintain their high-quality digital knowledge across the web," said Brian Distelburger, Yext Co-founder and President. "As search evolves, consumers are using increasingly advanced AI-based tools like Siri and Alexa alongside mapping and navigation apps to find businesses; this changing behavior has vast implications for how businesses reach their customers. Tesco is future-proofing its business with Yext's Digital Knowledge Management technology, so customers will always find their stores, no matter how they search."

The announcement comes at a time when increasingly mobile consumers in the UK and around the world are fueling demand for innovation in business location data technology. A recent study by TCC Global found that store location was the leading driver of supermarket selection, with 48% of UK consumers citing it as a key factor. This compared to the 40% of consumers who cited "range of products and services" and only 34% who cited "low everyday prices." With location being the most important factor in consumer decision-making, the importance of displaying accurate and consistent information about stores across the web has never been greater.

At the same time, a Yext study found that 8 in 10 UK consumers reported encountering incorrect information about business locations online. Of those who note encountering incorrect information, over half say it is not a rare occurrence. In this environment, companies that excel in digital knowledge management, like Tesco, have a distinct advantage.