Thinking of setting up your own retail establishment? Having your own store is a big responsibility. Aside from the major investments needed, you also need to regularly maintain the quality of the physical aspect of your store. One of the responsibilities is seeking how to constantly attract customers and regular foot traffic to your establishment.
Why should you care about in-store foot traffic? Customers should always come first. Without them, there is no business to begin with. What can you do to entice more customers to your store?
Importance of Customer Experience
In-store customer experience involves a holistic approach to a customer’s purchase journey. Despite the many online alternatives to shopping, in-store shopping remains irreplaceable.
Most customers want to feel and assess a product before purchasing. This is where in-store experience benefits from. In a retail establishment, one can manipulate how a potential buyer sees and experiences a specific product.
Customers are oftentimes after the experience and not merely the product offered. This is why it is important to allot time and resources to providing quality in-store experience to customers, especially if you want your business to thrive.
Customers are vital in any business. Customer experience is next. This is how a business gets returning and loyal customers. By having these loyal customers, your business will thrive.
If you don’t allot enough resources to enhance in-store experience, there will be a high chance that your store’s foot traffic will soon dwindle. Your investments will go to waste in the long run.
How to Improve Customer Experience
Let’s say you have decided to push through with this responsibility. How can you improve in-store customer experience?
Despite the presence of a physical store, one can still utilize digital means to enhance in-store customer experience. There are many apps that can be utilized or even developed specifically for a certain function in your store. Combining digital technology and the physical experience may greatly enhance customer experience. This can even shorten the customer journey.
Visual merchandising is another factor that should be looked into when trying to increase foot traffic in-store. Obviously, presenting products in a flattering light would increase the potential of a sale. So providing effort in visual merchandising and hiring someone specifically for this task can elevate your in-store aesthetics.
Pay close attention to detail. Keep your store up to date and don’t forget to change “sale” signs when the season is over. This only means to keep a regularly updated store that is obviously maintained well. Clean the mirrors often to achieve a spotless look. Dust the racks and shelves to avoid the accumulation of dirt. These small acts will pile up over time and benefit your store in the long run.
Improve your store flow. Providing quality customer service should start from the moment the customer enters your store up to the moment they step out. This means that you should consider improving efficiency when it comes to delivering services. This could be in the form of making a more organized inventory or changing your cash register to a new one if the old one is already malfunctioning.
Another factor to consider is your store’s logistics. One of the most important aspects of a store is lighting and its heating system. You would want your customers to literally see your product in good lighting. Dim lights won’t do that for you. You can’t also keep your customers freezing in your store. You have to keep them comfortable so that they can make good decisions when choosing a product. Look for trusted electrical services in your area to make sure you get a good-quality service.
COVID-19 and In-store Experience
Increasing foot traffic and sales may be difficult, especially during the pandemic, but there are ways to entice customers into your store safely.
Promote how your store strictly follows safety protocols at all times. Make sure that you follow up on this and keep your word for it. Strictly implement a ‘no mask, no entry’ rule in-store. Also, you can limit entry to promote safe social distancing measures inside.
Before you set up your own retail establishment, consider these factors. Remember that these aspects, when combined, create comfortable and enjoyable customer experience. As business owners, this is what we want to achieve. We want our customers to be satisfied with our services as well as our products. This is so that we can have returning customers who may also recommend our products and services to others. So go ahead and invest in visual merchandising, lighting, and such. The returns will be worth it.
