Retail marketing strategies to survive Covid-19 crisis

The Covid-19 crisis has affected every business domain and the retail industry is not an exception.

If you are a retailer, you may have witnessed a massive loss in in-store foot traffic and sales. Staffing, logistics, and inventory management are some other challenges you may be dealing with. While you may have already moved to the online model, customer acquisition and online customer retention are still major concerns.

Even though nothing can be said about the future of the industry, one thing that is clear is that you would have to realign their marketing strategy. Let us highlight the ones you can depend on to survive the Covid-19 crisis.

Focus on customer convenience 

The key to retail success in the pandemic and post-pandemic era lies in delivering great customer experience. Whether it is about bricks and mortar selling or online selling, your prime focus should be on making shopping easy for the customers.

Since the pandemic is apparently going to be around for some time, you should definitely invest in an e-commerce store to facilitate online ordering for your customers. Most of the stores have already implemented measures like curbside pickup and home delivery for avoiding social contact. Making free delivery is another way to ensure the loyalty and stickiness of your buyers as it shows your intention to serve while you sell. 

Win with personalisation

The biggest challenge for retail marketers lies in the competition in the domain. There will be hundreds of businesses like yours and you cannot expect to win only on the basis of product and pricing. An extra push to your marketing plan can get you ahead and this is possible only through personalisation. Connecting with a local marketing expert through Snupit South Africa makes sense because it is the best platform to find service providers in your area.

A brand marketer can design a holistic plan that focuses on a personalized approach with tactics like email marketing. They can even help you leverage the historical offline data to reconnect with the in-store buyers and make them aware of your online presence. 

Use triggered product alerts to drive sales

Though inventory management is not a part of marketing, it has an immense impact on your ability to satisfy the customers. Retailers are encountering inventory struggles at present, both in the form of excess and inadequacy. And there is also the challenge of keeping up with demand while focusing on high-margin products and pushing seasonal items.

Triggered alerts make a great measure to send across real-time notifications to customers about the products they would want to buy. The idea is to boost sales by offering products that they will be interested in. Adding alerts related to price drops, low inventory, and back in stock products is also a good idea to push conversions and sales.

These unique retail marketing strategies have a huge potential, specifically in the current scenario when following the ordinary approach will not help. You need to think out of the box because the circumstances are extraordinary and customers expect you to go one step ahead with the experiences you serve.