Any successful retail business can manage to entice customers into its stores and promote footfall to keep their revenue high.
From gift shops to furniture stores, all kinds of retail businesses should focus on increasing footfall to maximise profits and ensure a profitable business. Over the past year, many businesses in the retail industry have struggled to maintain consistent levels of footfall, leading many companies today looking for new ways to increase their flow of customers and generate more sales. From improving marketing efforts to enticing customers with stunning window displays, we have outlined 5 tips to help increase footfall in your shop and help out your retail business.
The Effectiveness Of An Engaging Window Display
If your retail business has a storefront, an engaging window display is a surefire way of increasing footfall and bringing in more customers. You should take the time to consider how you want to use your window display and what will attract the most customers. As a general rule, try to make your shop front as welcoming and inviting as possible for customers. Keep your doors open to let people know you are ready for business and approachable.
Window displays are an excellent way to promote deals and offers for your retail business as it informs customers about what’s going on in-store. Use the window displays in your store to your advantage by keeping them fresh and relevant, helping to entice customers. By focusing on your window display, you can easily catch people’s eyes and create a great first impression! You should also try to align signage with seasonal periods and remove irrelevant or outdated posters as and when required, which is great in keeping your store and brand perception relevant. Wholesale gift suppliers, like Widdop & Co, often organise their products by occasion on their website, making it simple to choose seasonal products that will fit seamlessly into a themed display, such as for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.
Improve Your Online & Offline Marketing Efforts
Retail marketing is a fast-paced environment that can change on a weekly basis. If you have already established in-store promotions and window display signage, it’s time to spread your marketing message a little bit further. Consider a variety of marketing strategies that include online and offline retail marketing- this gives you the widest reach to attract new and existing customers to your store.
You should also be promoting your latest deals and offers on social media platforms like Twitter and engaging with your audience online through comments and shared posts. Alternatively, if you have an email list for customers, make sure that they are receiving timely emails that inform them about new and upcoming special offers. By implementing marketing efforts like these, you can easily improve on making consistent progress in your business to help the footfall and many other aspects.
Finally, try to do some housekeeping with your Google Business page. This can include making sure all information is accurate, up-to-date and populated so that customers can find you easily. You can actually track in-store visits using Google Ads, so if you are looking for useful metrics to monitor this is an excellent place to start.
Useful Ways To Advertise Your Store
If you have a retail business in a well-populated area, it can really benefit your marketing efforts and footfall if you advertise and promote your business out in nearby streets. For example, if you have a new drink product you can offer free samples at a vending stall. This gives you an excellent opportunity to engage with customers and promote your business. Other options include using flyers or leaflets to offer deals or promotions for products. For example, you might want to offer 10 % discounts for anyone with a leaflet to encourage their visit in-store, which can be a great way to invite customers in your store and generate more sales, as well as increasing brand awareness.
Interact With Local Businesses
If you are looking to encourage more footfall in your retail business, you can partner up with other nearby businesses to boost your visibility. Think about related businesses in your area that you could reach out to for a partnership. For example, if you are a coffee shop you can offer coffee samples at a nearby bookstore. It is important however to make sure that you make this a two-way street, so that both you and your partner can benefit from improved visibility. By inviting them in-store for presentations of their products or hosting joint events for customers to enjoy, this is a great way to increase footfall for you and the other local businesses around you!
Use Loyalty Schemes To Reward Customers
Increasing footfall in your retail business can mean rewarding your existing customers and encouraging them to visit your store. Loyalty schemes, rewards cards or returning customer discounts are all viable ways of bringing in repeat custom and increasing footfall. It also shows that you care about your customers and that you reward their repeat business.
There are many benefits of loyalty programs to businesses, and there are plenty of great ways that you can use loyalty schemes too, from offering a free drink for every 6th purchase to birthday vouchers that offer 10 % discounts on their birthday- get creative and tailor it to your business so that it really resonates with your customers and you will soon foresee the benefits this can have on your shop footfall!