How Online Techniques Can Boost Business for Retail Stores

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With the recent announcement that the iconic Vancouver luxury goods store Leone is to close down after 33 years’ trading, many other retailers must be feeling that the outlook for them is distinctly uncertain. After all, if a successful business with a very high profile is struggling, what hope for the smaller, less well-known retailer? Although not specifically cited as a reason, the competition from online sellers of luxury goods has undoubtedly been a contributing factor. And, with the proportion of online sales on the rise – accounting for around 10% of all purchases today compared with 5% back in 2014 – this is not an issue that’s going to go away.

But there is a chink of light for bricks-and-mortar retailers and it’s a fairly obvious one too. Essentially, it’s using some of the techniques that have helped to make online retailers successful and re-purposing them for the offline world. They fall into three main categories.

Convenience

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Ask most people what they like particularly about online shopping and they’ll say that it’s the convenience of placing their order and having it delivered to them. In the good old days this was also how many kinds of stores from grocers to drapers used to operate and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be brought back. Obviously, it’s more suitable for some kinds of products than others but for the more portable items it would be reasonably simple to introduce. People are busy during the day too, so making deliveries to where they work would be a real benefit to them.

Incentives

Online businesses rely heavily on making incentives to attract new customers, as well as to reward existing ones. The most straightforward technique for the offline retailer would be to make a price match offer to equal any equivalent deal available online. But they could go a little further, for example by offering the sorts of extras favored by online casinos. Often these take the form of matching an initial deposit so the retail equivalent would be an instant credit to use in-store. It’s a tried and trusted technique that’s been a big success for the casinos, and it could be for retailers too.

Offers

For retailers who also operate online as well as in stores, generally the offers that they make online are better than the ones available for customers who choose to visit instead. But, to safeguard the financial health of the store, it might be a better idea to flip this around so the best deals are available in the retail space. It would certainly get noticed as well as being the sort of claim that could even carve out a unique profile for the store.

Obviously, all these techniques are going to cut into margins and will need more than a little organizing. But in a time of change for retailers and when the options are to either see a slightly less healthy bottom line or go the way of Leone, surely it’s a fairly simple choice to make.