Getting customers to look up from their screens to head in-store

In a digital age, more and more shoppers are using their phones, devices, and computers to buy what they want at any hour of the day. Customers are being sent the latest deals, discounts, and new products via email, SMS, and through the constant stream of images and ads they’ll see, while scrolling through their feeds.

While this is great for brands and businesses in some respects; it does impact the amount of footfall a shop will receive, and numbers will be dropping annually. Christmas is often a gauge for how well a shop is doing in comparison to its previous years, and with big names like Debenhams suffering a significant loss in sales last year; it goes to show how fierce the competition is.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are plenty of people out there who still prefer to go to the shops to look around, pick up items, and try things on. Therefore, there remains an array of opportunities and chances to increase the footfall and physical customer traffic into your shop. And, there are various things you can do to improve your chances of drawing potential customers in and increase the chances of converting the traffic into sales. The following are some ideas and inspiration for those who need to give their physical store a boost to increase the number of customers that enter and invest in their business.

The shopper’s experience

It won’t matter how great your products are if your store isn’t an enjoyable place to spend time; shoppers will head elsewhere, or back online, where they’ll be greeted by your competitors. Therefore, you need to ensure that your shop provides an environment that your target audience will appreciate. Age range, gender, style, and needs, should be taken into consideration. It’s worth looking into reputable independent retail design agencies so that you can work together to create a place that can show off your products well. You’ll also need to provide people with everything they need to have a positive and memorable time in-store so that they’d look forward to returning again.

Straightforward success

Shopping online has become so straightforward and simple, that you need to make sure that your in-store experience provides people with a similar, easy and simple approach to making purchases. The POS should be a calm area, where you’ve done all you can to reduce queues, invest in the technology to make payments quickly, and are offering the little extras that customers can’t get online. It’s your chance to upsell and ensure that visitors see more of your products, without even noticing. Above all, customer care and service should be second-to-none; this is something they cannot get on the internet, and it will keep them returning for more of that feel-good factor.

Match-up

Your physical store and e-commerce website need to match-up so that one doesn’t put customers off the other. Therefore, you’ll need to invest in both so that you can continue to grow as a business, and you’ll have enough online and foot traffic to keep your shop going through a challenging financial climate, to become a great success story.