Key points:
- Eye level is buying level" is a strategy that shows the quality products in the window
- Social media is the perfect way to stay in touch with your customers online
- Well-trained sales associates are the key to a better customer experience
- It's critical for a small business owner in the retail industry to create a memorable customer experience that fosters loyalty and referrals. Almost every business owner's first concern when starting is increasing foot traffic and attracting new customers.
Here are the most successful ways to boost retail sales to address those concerns.
Outstanding retail marketing
Attracting foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store can be difficult. These retail marketing tips will help you improve customer loyalty and sales.
Your window show should get people's attention.
We live in age of visual communication. It would help if you thought like your customers to hold their focus. Create a fantastic first impression from the street.
How many times have you been for a stroll in the neighborhood and been drawn to a new florist's or gift shop's spectacular display? Even if it's locked, it catches your eye and piques your interest enough that you'll want to come back.
Steps to take:
- On a sandwich board, write a funny joke. Even if a passerby does not want to shop, there's a good chance they'll take a picture for social media. As a result, make sure your signage includes your social media handles and any hashtags. The best kind of marketing is customer-generated marketing.
- Put the most impressive products upfront, including trendy items that are hard to come by in other stores or are in short supply. "Eye level is buying level," as the phrase goes in retail sales. Ensure the visual merchandising shows are between four and six feet off the ground.
Prepare the store for social media.
Making your shop photogenic to appear on your customers' social media pages is part of being social media-ready. In addition, this concept refers to consumers who assist with your marketing campaigns while shopping—it's a win-win situation.
Steps to take:
- Add some eye-catching signage to a wall. It may be a one-of-a-kind vintage poster, a neon sign with a clever or trendy expression, or a work of art or vibrant wall design that draws customers in.
- Several shops dedicate an entire corner to photo opportunities with props. Make decisions based on what is best for the client base. For example, a full-length mirror with a written prompt and hashtag would suffice. Make a hashtag or a selfie competition. Give a gift or a minor discount with their order to entice consumers to participate. Small acts like this will inspire people to share their purchases on social media and spend money in stores.
Organize a class or a public speaking case.
You're more likely to draw foot traffic if you offer a free event with an exciting speaker or class. If you're a fitness store, it could be a free yoga class; if you're a bookstore, it could be a book signing.
It doesn't have to be extravagant or expensive—a pot of tea and some biscuits would suffice to pique a shopper's interest. The more intimate the gathering, the more exclusive it will appear.
Make minor adjustments to your online presence.
While potential customers are taking selfies in your store, make sure you have a way to interact with them online as well. Every retail company doesn't need to have a mobile app or an intricate e-commerce strategy; it can be more straightforward.
You're off to a great start if your website performs well on both desktop and mobile devices and includes connections to your social media accounts. However, the bottom line is that you must participate in the online dialogue and consumer interaction that is already taking place.
Action items include:
- Since the social media environment is constantly changing, consumers can find it challenging to find your company among the noise. Distribute your content on the website of someone they already follow to make yourself more discoverable. Ask one of your current clients if they'd like to partner if they have a large social media following. In return, invite them to the launch of a new product or feature them in a series of events to profit from the publicity.
- Follow the pages of other local businesses in the area and interact with them daily. Keep the lines of communication open, whether it's about upcoming group activities or content you enjoy.
With market analysis, set a fair price.
Beating your rivals on pricing is the fastest and most successful way to boost retail sales. You'll need to develop a pricing plan to determine what makes sense.
Your pricing strategy is based on the following factors:
- Prevailing market trends
- What the rivals are doing
- Audience segments
- Margins
- Operational costs
- Economic conditions
- Distribution costs
- Other variable costs
Both price and value are essential to customers. If the cheapest commodity is of low quality and must be substituted quickly, it isn't appealing. Consider the total value of your competitors' products, not just the price, when conducting a competitive analysis.
Market research doesn't have to be complicated or costly, and there are plenty of low-cost options for determining competitive pricing.
Exceptional customer service
It's time to put the marketing strategy into action and build the ultimate shopping experience. Without a corresponding in-store customer experience, even the best social media campaign is futile.
Merchandise as if you're serious about it.
We've all visited those shops where nothing makes sense. There's still one supermarket where the peanut butter is held next to the toilet bowl cleaner. It's a frustrating shopping experience when you can't find what you're looking for or the store layout is confusing.
Creating a plot for merchandising is one of the most effective ways to boost retail sales.
While there isn't much of a link between peanut butter and toilet bowls, cross-selling or cross-merchandising is a term that refers to bundling experiences to boost sales. It's preferable to put peanut butter next to jam or crackers, for example.
Cross-merchandising has the following advantages:
- It saves consumers time
- It jogs their memory or sparks new ideas.
- It's a tailored approach to introducing new goods to consumers.
Program of loyalty
A loyalty program encourages your customers to shop with you again. It also provides you with access to their data. By monitoring your current customers' transactions, you will learn a lot about them. You can start building an email marketing strategy when you request additional details, such as email addresses.
An email marketing campaign collects emails sent to a specific group of customers with messaging intended to promote a particular activity or action (CTA). It could be anything from going to a website to signing up for an event or purchasing something.
Action items include:
- On your customers' birthdays, give them a gift or a special discount.
- Make a tiered points system that leads to discounts: loyal buyers, for example, receive one point for every dollar spent; once they hit 100 points, they receive a $10 discount on their purchase.
- To attract new customers, start a customer referral program. For example, you might build a custom coupon code (say, 10% off) to share with their friends and family. This will also give your insight into who they're talking to, which can help you better understand your clients.
- Offer repeat customers exclusive in-store celebrations.
Often double-check your email marketing for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws in your region. The GDPR is the most stringent privacy legislation globally to safeguard consumer data. Fines will be imposed if these laws are not followed.
Make sure the salespeople are well trained.
Since your salespeople can make or break your customer experience, they must be well qualified to manage all sales activities.
- Teach all employees how to communicate with everyone, including new customers, potential customers, and current customers, in an authentic, human way.
- Create a compelling and personable customer-centric checkout process and point-of-sale system. For example, to avoid bottlenecks at checkout, give sales associates card scanners.
- Teach them how to use suggestive selling to increase sales by providing honest and acceptable product recommendations.
- Make eye contact and use body language to recognize new customers who join the room, even if you're helping other customers.
Make choices with consumers in mind to boost retail sales.
Suppose you've ever walked into a store and been ignored by the salesperson, tried to locate a product, or waited while the employee fiddled with the POS system or cash register. In that case, you understand how important these gestures are.
Small business owners have many balls in the air that it's easy to forget that being your customer is the most basic way to boost retail sales. If you know what your customers want, you'll be able to give them an unforgettable shopping experience.