Plenty of people in the world of business have been forecasting the demise of the bricks-and-mortar store for a decade now. Yet, despite the pandemic and the rise of online shopping, consumers remain resolute in their passion for visiting stores in person, and as such the physical store remains a cornerstone of the global economy in 2022. This article is about how to leverage the consistent popularity of these stores to your advantage, making the most of footfall in order to boost your profits this year.
Smart Marketing
If you run an online store, you’ll market your brand and your products to the world. If you run a physical store, you’ll want to market your products to the local people who are within range of your premises. To do this local form of marketing, you’ll likely avoid most online forms of advertising. Instead, you’ll want to target locals through word of mouth, billboards, posters and placards, through streets salespeople and through flyers offering discounts or vouchers. These forms of marketing are tried and tested ways to get new customers through the door and to the checkout of your physical store.
Protection
Your physical store might be doing admirably after the disruption of the pandemic, but there may well be risks and disasters ahead that, like the COVID virus, were simply impossible to predict. One way to protect against potential mishaps in the future is to buy a store insurance policy, which is designed to help you protect your key physical assets. Whether you’re concerned about rioting, adverse weather or a criminal break-in, these insurance policies will help you avoid the huge financial hit that such disasters can deliver to your business.
Experience
In the digital world, the buzzword of 2022 is “CX” or customer experience. That’s actually the same in the offline world too, where people are more and more interested in sharing experiences with friends, and sharing those experiences on social media, than they are about simply buying products that they like. That’s why the larger stores are now installing Instagram-friendly photographic areas in which young people can share their trip to the megastore. You can buy into this trend by making your store not just a place to buy great products – but a place to have a great experience that’s worth sharing with others. Think creatively about the ways in which you can improve the experience a consumer has when they visit your store.
Discounts
It’s often true that shopping online is cheaper than shopping in-store. That’s a huge part of the reason that online stores are doing so well – and why consumers have, on the whole, been looking to online stores for bargains. You can counter this impression by offering discounts and guarantees that consumers will not find a product you stock sold cheaper online. Even if that means you’re narrowing your profit margins, being known as a cheap store – cheaper than online stores – could help get many more customers through the door.
Make these changes to your approach in order to generate more sales in your physical store this year.
