Improving the Retail Experience For Your Customers

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There are two types of people: those who enjoy shopping and those who don’t. Those who love to head into town and scour the shelves and racks looking for great deals, and you can rely on them to keep coming back every time. However, those who aren’t so keen on shopping often prefer to find other ways to get the products they need. 

These methods can include online ordering and delivery. They don’t care about getting the wrong products, as the return process is generally straightforward. But, with these online orderers, you’re missing out on potential impulse purchases and a proper feeling for your products. 

The dislike of shopping, whether it’s food, clothes, or tech, can be fixed by improving the retail experience for the customer. While they may not be happy at first, by the end of their shopping trip, they’ll feel much better about getting out of the house and taking a walk around your store. 

Reduced Lines

One of the significant issues with shopping is how busy it can be. Some shoppers may not mind, but others like to get in and get out, and if they see the line for the cash register is too long, they may abandon purchasing anything altogether. 

This loses you business and keeps the customer away on specific days such as weekends or after work. You can overcome this by investing in more sales assistants, especially over the holidays. If this is not part of the growth plan, and maybe you can’t afford to train and hire more staff, consider installing self-service registers for those with a few items. 

Straightforward Organization

No one likes to wander through a maze of a store searching for something, so make sure to organize the shelves and racks of your store logically. In the case of supermarkets, products should be arranged so that each aisle blends into the next. 

This prevents shoppers from returning to multiple aisles during their visit. If they can’t find something because it is not placed where they expect, they may give up altogether. While some customers don’t mind asking for assistance, others do not, even if they know it will benefit them. Make it easier for everybody by ensuring they can find everything they need without doing several laps of the store. 

Personalized Experience

Something an online store does that a physical one cannot is analyze trends in shopping habits and recommending similar or complementary products. However, it is still possible to combine the two store locations to give them a more personalized experience next time they are in store. 

Customers who use reward cards to collect points and have an email address connected to this account can receive deals catered to their shopping habits. You can send them emails or texts advertising something that they need, which allows them to pick it up in-store next time they visit. 

Give Back to Them

Everyone likes feeling they are appreciated, so giving back to your customers when you can increase their brand loyalty and have them more likely to use your store over your competitors. 

Reward schemes are a great way to do this, as is offering a store credit card for them to use to make their shopping experience more comfortable. However, as useful as these systems are, they need to be easy to use, and even if you offer excellent benefits, no one will want to sign up if it takes 20 minutes. Take advantage of an app that allows them to use their phone number or email and scan a QR code when shopping. 

Lend a Helping Hand

As a customer, consider how many times you have been to the supermarket and realized you had forgotten a coin to rent the shopping cart. This happens more often than people would like to admit, and it could mean the customer relies on a basket, which has a small capacity, or even turn around and go home. 

It’s frustrating when this happens and can ruin the shopping experience before they’ve even started, so consider offering shopping cart tokens in place of coins. With your name and logo, it’s something they will always remember, and they can keep it in their wallet or car without needing to remove, which could happen with a coin. 

Flocking Every Time

The great thing about shopping is that everybody needs to do it, and while online shopping has its place for those short on time, it’s still not the same as visiting the physical store. To make sure that every shopping trip leaves your customers feeling better about the experience than when they walked in, use these tips and keep them flocking back to your store.