How retailers can bring consumers back to their outlets

The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation, bringing the future closer to us. Many retailers all over the world have been hit hard by the drop in walk-in customers, making it hard to keep their heads above water, which is evident with the closure of big retail brands. 

Brick and mortar retailers are scrambling to get on eCommerce platforms to meet their customers where they are shopping, which further accelerates the rate of brick and mortar retail shops disappearing. That being said, it still is not the end of the road for brick and mortar retailers.

How can retailers like you bring your customers back to shop at your outlet? Here are some tips.

Focus on the customer experience

What sets your brick and mortar retail outlets apart from eCommerce stores is the human touch. Humans are social creatures and need social interaction(even an introvert needs some level of social interaction). Shopping on eCommerce sites, while convenient, does not provide human interaction with consumers.

The interaction between you/your staff and customers builds trust between customers and your retail brand when you offer them a personalized customer experience. This makes them more likely to come back to your retail store and even spread your retail brand by word of mouth, the most powerful marketing channel. Return customers generally spend more than first time customers.

How to create a personalized customer experience?

• Use their previous purchase data to make suggestions on products they may be interested in.
• Be patient and listen to what your customers are looking for and make helpful recommendations.
• Offer special membership benefits to your loyal customers.

These suggestions may seem tedious to upkeep while running a retail operation but the right POS system for your retail outlet makes it easy for you, allowing you to keep your focus on key areas of your operations.

Provide incentives for customers to come back to your store

The competitive prices and the convenience eCommerce platforms provide may be difficult to compete with. Your retail business may already be selling on an eCommerce platform or have an eCommerce site and are doing well with your online sales.

You can capitalize on your online success and bring customers back to your retail store by offering incentives such as discounts for self collection at your store, lower prices when your customers shop in your store instead of online, or even provide vouchers to your online customers which can be used in your retail store.

Quicker checkout with self checkout kiosks

One of the reasons why customers prefer shopping online is the long queues at the checkout counters. When shopping online, customers can make their purchases immediately.

One solution for this would be to open up more checkout counters at your retail shop. This may seem like you have to spend more on labour, which may not be feasible for you in the current economic situation.

Many supermarkets and retail shops have adopted self checkout kiosks to increase the amount of checkout terminals, which helps to move the queue faster while maintaining current labour costs or even reducing manpower dependency.

If self checkout kiosks are not for you, you should also consider upgrading your POS system to an enhanced POS system which is able to perform a transaction in as little time as possible.

On top of that a capable POS system will be integrated with payment terminals so that your staff do not have to re enter bill amounts into the payment terminals when customers opt to pay through cashless means. This speeds up the checkout process and provides better transaction security, safeguarding your revenue.

Use localised ads (Shop online, pick up at store)

Google and Facebook provide cost effective ways to perform targeted advertising within your local area. These pay per click advertising are much cheaper to run than traditional media advertising and you get to choose the demographic you want to target through your advertising.

Let people know your retail shop is nearby! Targeting the people near your retail outlets helps increase the chances of which your target audience will drop by your retail outlet instead of shopping online. 

Streamlining your operations

Running a retail outlet’s operations can be tedious work with many aspect of your operations to manage. Getting an enhanced cloud based POS system like MEGAPOS can help you streamline these processes, so that you have more time to focus on bringing customers back to your retail outlets.

If you are interested in a cloud based POS system, do drop us your contact details below and we will be happy to arrange a free demo with you!