It is a fact that the world is witnessing a shift towards the digital space, and so does the retail industry. Lately, there has been a rising trend of retailers expanding, or even completely transforming to e-commerce as customers are now more and more interested in online shopping. However, statistics indicate that the main and primary revenue is still from brick-and-mortar stores. And physical stores will still be preferred by consumers for quite a long time as they facilitate the customers’ need of being able to see, touch, and experience the products by themselves. The principal point is how to increase footfall, which has always been a real challenge facing big retailers and large enterprises. And it becomes even tougher for SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) to attract footfall to their brick-and-mortar stores.
If you’re running an SME with offline stores, this article is for you. Today, we’ll be your companion on the way to keeping the traffic to your physical stores always steady and increasing.
Overview
How can SME attract more footfall to offline stores?
To achieve that, it is crucial to know what and why your current customers love about you that keep returning to your stores. Only when having that information, you can make sure that your business is communicating with your targeted market in the right way.
So, the question to ask yourself as a physical store owner and manager is “What is about your business that attracts them?”. Your affordable prices, your excellent products? Or maybe it is how you treat them with the best customer service. All are about the favorable experience you create for them. Make sure you know the true reasons behind it to make your SME attract more footfall.
In just a few moments, we are going a little bit deeper into exploring a few strategies you can try to increase your footfall to your brick-and-mortar stores.
Comfortable atmosphere
Shopping now is no longer only about buying products anymore. It’s shifting toward something called “the experience economy” when customers are more interested in the experience brought about in what they’re doing. A lot of your customers will land on your site looking for a good and positive vibe. While people are entering your physical store, it’s fruitful for you to create a comfortable atmosphere for your customers. That can be achieved by playing the proper types of music with a reasonable volume. Additionally, the physical environment should also be relaxing and inviting. So, for SME to attract more footfall, make sure everything is well-organized and well-placed. Last but not least, do not forget to say “Hi” to every customer who enters your offline store.
Attractive curb appeal
Your window display is one of the most valuable assets you have on your hand. It helps your physical store catch the eye of the curious passers and invite them to come in. That’s why having your products well-organized and attempting when looking through windows is vital and fruitful. You can put your most interesting items, your best-sellers or the new collections to brag about them and captivate everybody’s eyes.
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This applies to your storefront as well. The front needs to be tidy, clean, and appealing. Your front-of-house staff needs to greet every customer coming into your stores as we mentioned earlier. Keep in mind appearance, design, and arrangement are one of the primary factors of your customers coming back to your stores.
Busy looking at all times
You don’t want your customers to think you have a lot of free time and store space due to the lack of customers coming into your offline stores. Especially when you’re SME, this notion is even stronger. Thus, make sure all your shop assistants are at least organizing around the store. And you can’t get behind them, so make sure you will be seeing a clean floor and folding clothes. Tidying around or being helpful overall. To customers, this also indicates the professionalism of your staff and that they’re always open to any question and ready to assist them when necessary.
The appearance of your store needs to give you a feeling of pride and joy. Having that feeling by yourself will help you transmit it to your customers.
Updated and trendy store appearance
For SME to attract footfall, it’s essential to keep track of what is new and trending in the business industry. And also make sure your best products are always in stock. Having products that are popular at the moment will increase the footfall in your store for sure, particularly when you’re SME and competing with strong and fierce competitors who are the big and long-standing ones.
However, you need to be careful about what you are keeping in your inventory. A lot of the times some stores overstock with a product that loses popularity a few weeks after. Trying to sell products that are not popular anymore can be a hassle for you and your physical stores.
Loyalty scheme
“I always go to the same convenient store”, “My mom often buys bread and milk at the same place” Why? Because those SMEs have an attractive loyalty program that offers discounts and rewards in return for customers’ purchases.
This type of affiliation like “you will get a free drink every 10 drinks purchased” is a great way to boost your customer loyalty and maintain it for a long period of time. Especially, loyalty schemes are really effective for SME to attract more footfall.
Final thoughts,
As we are reaching today’s journey end real soon, we hope that you, as business owners and operators, have come up with some great ideas for your SME to attract more footfall to your offline stores. Above are our suggestions, including:
- Create a good vibe always
- Making your store design and arrangement attractive
- Appear busy and conscientious all of the time
- Keep your offline stores updated and trendy
- Hav a well-run loyalty program
Those act like a starter pack to a more stable and increasing traffic flow to your physical stores for SME. It’s totally up to you to build a great and successful business in your own way.
So, we hope we helped. And if you’re into such a kind of topic, visit our website and read our blog posts every day to learn more about the commerce industry, as well as how technology has been changing the game in the field. We, ConnectPOS, will always be your supportive companion!
Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!