The most exciting and relevant tips for retail entrepreneurs

Let's look at the main advantages of offline retailing and tips for the retail sector in the current environment.

Advice for retail in 2022

Retailers, do you remember the good old days when you controlled virtually every aspect of the customer experience, and their behaviour was all about Point of Sale interaction?

Those days are long gone. You no longer control customer behavior - they do it themselves. It means thousands or millions of people can share a single negative experience in real-time. Today's shopping model is becoming more mobile, social, and meaningful.

Consumers, constantly in touch with each other, are demanding positive experiences at all points of contact with the retailer, not just during the shopping trip.

Times are changing rapidly now, and this is especially evident in the retail industry. In a recent article by Jon Swartz in USA Today titled "Why, Shopping Will Never Be the Same," Cyriac Roeding, CEO at Shopkick, said, "Retail will change more in the next five years than in the previous 100 years”.

Even resources such as online casinos are now also part of retail, as they sell merchandise based on Bollywood Casino and similar games.

The store of the future - as well as shopping behaviour in general - is changing right before our eyes, spurred on by rapid changes in personal technology. But are retailers ready to take advantage of the opportunities these technologies present to them?

Can they reach the customer, engage them, and build a mutually beneficial relationship with them?

According to a recent ExactTarget study titled "About Retail Engagement," only 44% of traditional offline stores communicate with the customer via email after making a purchase. Further, only 5% of offline stores add a personal touch to their email communications with customers.

With two-thirds of smartphone owners shopping via mobile devices, retailers should take the consumer-brand relationship to the next level by bringing more than just product pricing to every outlet.

If a particular retailer can't deliver on its product, service, or price promises, consumers have several alternatives - right in their hands.

To meet consumers' expectations and ensure their long-term loyalty and profitability, retailers must be able to harness the power of information and situational awareness to optimise customer behavior by adopting four fundamental principles.

Offline has something to contend with online

To compete with the speed and convenience of online shopping, retail market players are forced to transform and adapt to the new reality.

For example, modern shopping centres are developing unique concepts of experience, blending digital and physical formats that cannot be transferred online - in other words; classic retail is turning into retailtainment. Therefore, the modern shopping mall is:

●      Time experience: a pleasant and comfortable environment. Now in shopping malls, you can find not only clothing stores, groceries, equipment, and other things but also restaurants, cinemas, beauty salons, co-working rooms, gyms, water parks, skating rinks, and other entertainment and development spaces.

For example, the Mall of America in Minnesota offers a Nickelodeon activity park, and the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai offers skiing. In addition, regularly organise theme quizzes, workshops, festivals, competitions - everything to make the visitor interested and want to stay for "an hour more."

Technology is also actively used for greater comfort: voice activated elevator calls, upgraded payment systems, and self-propelled shopping carts gradually appear in the most advanced retail outlets.

●      Unusual consumer experience: experiences as goods. Buying goods can be an exciting experience, and offline has more room for imagination in this respect.

For example, British Nike actively gamifies its promotions with augmented reality: the customer can point his phone camera at the product and find a hidden discount on the screen.

And some Tommy Hilfiger boutiques have smart mirrors in the fitting rooms, which help find the right clothes and accessories.

No. 1: Improve communication with customers

The most crucial idea for retailers is that everything starts with the customer and ends with the customer.

Therefore, assortment, promotion, pricing, and other aspects of customer interaction should be based on a clear understanding of their needs, which goes beyond demographic issues and, in different ways, addresses individual customer preferences.

A great example of this is the Amazon store. Amazon uses primary online navigation for the shopper or customer and researches his buying behaviour to tailor the shopping process further and recommend products that might interest him.

Shopping today is a journey through many outlets, including online storefronts, mobile apps, social media, call centres, web enabled terminals, and kiosks in traditional offline stores.

Some retailers are taking this into account by adopting technologies such as geofencing (building a virtual perimeter for a natural geographic area) with carefully targeted messages to maintain social interaction and quickly provide the customer with real-time product, location, and pricing information.

While building connections with customers requires an enormous amount of data, the powerful tools of modern technology make it much easier for salespeople to do so, enabling them to deliver an optimal customer experience.

No. 2: Eliminate communication clutter

Consumers are annoyed if a product they like online is unavailable or has a different price in-store.

With competition at an all time high, it's critical to provide a seamless shopping experience across all channels, allowing them to take advantage of the transparency, flexibility, and autonomy of online technology all along the "path to purchase."

Retailers must take care of the "customer experience" - design, brands, pricing, product availability, and store capabilities - and the organisation of the internal system that ensures order fulfilment and inventory control, transportation, and other logistical issues.

This aligned, multi-channel approach to shopping, led by customer participation in all shopping operations, often simultaneously, is no longer a "nice to have" but a competitive advantage.

No. 3: Advantage through understanding buying behaviour strategy

A complete buyer behaviour strategy determines achieving service goals while maintaining profitability.

Current one size fits all methods of maintaining profitability for all transactions are unreliable. Instead, retailers must develop rules to achieve flexibility and profitability with the communication specifics of shopping and automatically apply those rules to each unique transaction in real-time.

This automation will allow the retailer to offer products online or instruct the employee in the store in a way that meets the customer's needs, preserves profits, and delivers the necessary sales.

For example: what opportunities or incentives are available for a loyal customer? For a new customer? For a significant dollar transaction? For a high profit deal?

An agile supply chain with connected technology systems and an intelligent price/service model are crucial to ensuring high levels of supply flexibility and customer satisfaction, and long-term profitability.

No. 4: Turning loyalty into long-term success

It used to be that many retailers sought to compete by lowering prices. In today's multi-channel world, this reduced price model limits strategic options.

To differentiate themselves profitably and win customer loyalty, retailers should instead work to create a unique offering that reduces the role of price in the purchasing decision.

There are many ways to gain commitment and partnerships, including rewards programs, buying communities, maintaining connections, and tailoring the information and promotional messages shown to a given customer through social media, subscription services, mailing lists, and online campaigns.

The future of retail begins now, and it will only become more complex as technological innovation emerges. By focusing on strategies that optimise customer behaviour, retailers can continuously evolve to meet today's shoppers' needs and ensure their long-term loyalty and success.