3 ways to get more foot traffic into your retail store

When you’re running a traditional bricks and mortar retail store, you rely heavily on foot traffic to make sales. You will get some customers that go out specifically to visit your store but most of your customers will be people that are passing by and take an interest in the shop, so they decide to come in and hopefully buy something. The levels of foot traffic that stores get is declining and you need to find other ways to serve customers, like opening an online store as well, but foot traffic is still important. If you’re finding it hard to attract enough foot traffic to your retail store, here are some simple changes that you can make. 

Rethink your design and layout 

The design and layout of your shop, especially the front windows, is so important. When people are passing by, they’ll look at your shop for a few seconds before deciding whether they want to stop and have a look or just carry on walking. That means you need to grab their attention and give them a reason to come inside in those few seconds and that can be tough. A lot of the time, shops are struggling to get foot traffic into the store because the design and layout just aren’t that exciting or it doesn’t showcase the products well enough. If you think that your retail store could do with a makeover, you should enlist services like retail design from D4R to help you with a new design. 

Getting some expert advice can make all of the difference and you should notice an increase in traffic. In general, you need to make sure that you consider the type of customer that you’re trying to attract and create an aesthetic that is likely to appeal to that demographic. You also need to showcase your best products and deals front and centre in the window. 

Approachable employees 

If somebody looks into your store and they see grumpy looking employees that don’t look like they want to be approached, they’re not likely to come inside. Your employees are such an important part of your store and the atmosphere that you create in there, and it’s important that they’re friendly and approachable. That comes from hiring experienced people and giving them the right training. Just make sure that your employees aren’t too pushy either because that will put people off. 

Eye catching signs 

The design on the shop itself is important, but you should never underestimate the effectiveness of a few good signs as well. If your shop is located somewhere that doesn’t get a huge amount of passing foot traffic, people might not be coming in because they simply don’t know that you’re there. But if you design a few eye catching signs and place them in busier areas with directions to your shop, you should get more people coming in. 

Getting foot traffic into your store is difficult, especially as more people are shopping online, but as long as you follow these tips, you should be able to keep a steady flow of customers coming into your retail business.