Boosting sales in your store

If you own a retail store, right now, your main focus is probably on boosting sales post-pandemic.

In order to do this, you need to ensure that you fully understand your customers so that you can use them to your full advantage. Here are a few ways you might want to do that:

Keep options to a minimum

A lot of retail store owners think that packing their stores with as many options as they can fit into the spade is the way to go if they want to make the most money possible. However, this is rarely the case.

Study after study has shown that having too many options can paralyse the customer, preventing them from buying anything at all. This is known as the paradox of choice, and it is a very real thing.

If you’re a Netflix viewer, you will probably be familiar with it; you spend so much time scrolling through all the options that you never end up watching anything at all. This can happen in overcrowded stores too so limit your stock, and you’re likely to see more sales as strange as it may seem.

Renovate the store

Stores that look good, and which appeal to the target audience, are fast more likely to help you make sales than stores that are run down, or which do not hold much in way of appeal for the consumer. One thing that can really help is changing the colour of your store.

For example, if you’re targeting a young audience, painting your store in bold, eye catching colours is likely to lead to more sales, whereas older customers would prefer more muted tones.

Other than that, it’s just a matter of making sure there is plenty of space, the floors are level and attractive - something C24 Timber can help with - and that the merchandise is presented in a simple, uncluttered way that makes it easy for the consumers to find exactly what they want, and have their eyes caught by things they didn’t even know they wanted.

Create a loyalty program

Loyalty programs are ideal for retailers who want to not only sell more but also gain more insight into their customers.

A good one will reward customers who make regular purchases at your retail store, while also collecting information on them, so you can better tailor your marketing efforts towards them.

As if that wasn’t enough, research has shown that customers who have a reward card are happier when they’re in your store, more likely to leave a tip, and more likely to smile than those who don’t.

They feel like they are part of a “secret” group and that benefits their behaviour more than you might think possible.

Play on their emotions

Playing on the emotions of your customers is a powerful way to sell more stuff, especially if that emotion happens to be nostalgia.

If you can set your retail environment up in such a way that it makes people feel something positive, they will tend to spend more money in your store and feel happier when they do so.

That’s why filling your retail store with positive messages like “Discover your greatness” instead of “High-quality art supplies” when selling paintbrushes and such like, will always have a bigger impact, and boost your bottom line more effectively because it is more inspiring.

On the nostalgia front, think about the kinds of things that would have been popular when your target audience was young whether that be neon signs or checkerboard floors, and add them into your retail environment, along with music from that era, and you’ll have them eating out of your hand in the most low-tech way possible.

Use shopping and payment apps

Low-tech may be effective at snaring some customers, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be using all of the latest technologies in your company too. In fact, using the latest retail technology is a must if you want to make as many sales as possible, and shopping and payment apps are a case in point.

Anything you can do to make the payment process easier for customers is going to result in more sales, which is why, if you’re serious about boosting your bottom line, you should invest in your own retail shopping apps that allow customers to scan products as they move around the store, and pay for them immediately on their phones without the need to stand in a busy queue.

If you want to go really high tech, you could follow Amazon’s example and create staffless store examples, where products are automatically scanned and paid for without any input from the customer at all, although this will be expensive to install, it will quickly pay for itself in terms of low staff costs and increased sales.

Encourage online reviews

Even if you are operating a bricks and mortar retail store, you are going to want to encourage your customers to leave reviews for your company online.

Why? Because these days, before anyone buys anything, they look up reviews online. If you have lots of good reviews, you will be able to boost sales in your store with far more ease.

OK, but how exactly do you encourage customers to leave a review online? First, make sure you have a website with a review section where they can do so. Then, create an app for your store.

Then, it’s just a matter of printing a QR code for the app and the name of the website on the back of your receipts and offering the customer an incentive, such as the chance to win a shopping voucher, for leaving a review. It’s a lot easier than you might think.

Personalise what you can

People are more likely to pay attention and take action when something seems more applicable to them. That means you need to personalize as much of the purchase process as you can.

In a retail store, this usually means using customer management software to handle interactions and ensure that promotional emails always address the customer by name and offer discounts and special offers on the products and services they are most likely to be interested in.

Using data analytics to gather this information will make the whole process very simple and ensure that you can sell more stuff in your retail store overall.

Maintain your manners (mostly)

If you went to boost sales in-store, you need to train your employees to be as polite and knowledgeable to your customers as possible or they may be turned off from making a purchase.

Surprisingly, there is an exception to this rule and that is if you sell luxury items. Some studies have shown that luxury retailers are more likely to make sales when their sales teams are slightly on the snooty side. It must bolster the high-end image nor something!

Anywhere robotic delivery

This may be one for the (near) future, but when it is possible it will definitely be a trend to embrace. What does it mean? Basically that a client will be able to take a photograph of any given location, and you will deliver their goods and services to them via robot.

Right now, you may need to have an actual living, breathing, delivery guy make the drops, but it won’t be too long before you will be able to use a robot, and when that time comes, embrace it because not only will it be cheaper and more convenient, but the novelty factor is sure to increase your sales somewhat too.

Focus on sound and smell

Want to sell French wine? Play French classical music in the store. Want to sell expensive flowers? Diffuse beautiful floral essential oils throughout the store.

Our senses of sound and smell are very powerful, and by utilising them in your store, you can absolutely sell more of your products. The key is to choose the right sounds and smells to match the products you want to sell, and which will most appeal to the customers you are targeting.

If you can get that right, you’ll be surprised at how much more effectively you are able to sell.

Start selling something really expensive

A good bit of consumer psychology is to start offering a really expensive version of your products and services alongside your more keenly priced ones.

This makes the customers feel like they are getting a good deal on your normally priced products because they will naturally compare it to the more expensive one, and since it feels like a bargain, more people are likely to buy.

This is a neat trick that has been used by retailers pretty much forever, and you’ve probably fallen for it more than once yourself, so why not give it a try?

If you implement any of the above in your retail store, you are likely to see a small increase in sales; implement them all, and pretty soon your sales will start to climb and go through the roof, so what are you waiting for?

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