Supermarket giant Asda has added a mapping service to its web site to help shoppers find their nearest outlet and drive sales across the group.

The search service, based on supplier Multimap’s Storefinder technology, allows shoppers to find their nearest store by location and store type, and provides customers with the five closest shops.

‘With increasing volumes of traffic visiting our web site, we had to deliver a robust, easy to manage, user-friendly service that provides a simple method of finding a local store,’ said head of home shopping Richard Ramsden.

Visitors to Asda’s web site click on the store locator link, enter the town or postcode, select a store format and even refine the results by specific facilities, such as 24-hour trading or petrol station.

The store locator then lists the five nearest stores fitting that criteria, in order of proximity. Each listing includes details such as opening hours, full contact details, services, facilities and product ranges in addition to a link to a content-rich map.

‘Our Storefinder service is particularly popular with large national and international chains looking to make it as easy as possible for their customers to find their nearest outlet,’ said Multimap head of sales Steve Frost.