By Arnab Dey
While there’s no doubt that the internet is shaking up the way that many people now like to shop, the traditional brick-and-mortar store will always have an essential role to play.
However, with so much competition out there, attracting customers to your store can be a challenge. Happily, there are a number of effective strategies that can boost foot traffic to your location, and drive sales in the process.
Here Are Some Useful Strategies To Increase Foot Traffic To Your Store:
1. Give Them A Reason To Visit
It’s never been easier to access goods and services from the comfort of our own homes, so if you want your customers to make the trip to your premises, you need to give them a reason.
Adding an extra dimension to your store can be a great way to make a visit more appealing, and there are many ways that this can be achieved.
Offering food or beverages for sale can be a tempter for passers-by, and can build valuable brand loyalty as you develop regular visitors to your cafe or restaurant.
Offering special in-store services is also smart. Clothing stores with an attractive “selfie wall” by the fitting rooms will make your customers want to visit, and even buy more.
Customer service should be fun, and attentive, making each customer feel special – something that a website just can’t deliver in the same way.
2. Work With Influencers
Even if right now you want to focus solely on in-store foot traffic, you can still harness the power of the internet. By partnering with social media “influencers”, you can create engaging advertising for your store. This approach can also be of great value.
Influencers may even give your store a shout-out in return for a “gifted” item from your store, so be sure to choose a local influencer whose content matches the nature of your business. This way, you will be reaching followers who have already a proven interest in your area of business.
A clothing store might be the ideal partner for a local fashion influencer, for example, whilst a hardware store would be ideally suited to working with an influencer who focuses on home renovation.
Find your perfect partner by searching applicable hashtags on social media platforms such as Instagram or TikTok. If there are a good number of suitable candidates in your area, why not host an in-store event?
Influencers will love the chance to create content in your store, as well as network with their peers, and your store will get plenty of online coverage that will reach your target demographic.
3. Rethink Your Displays
Technology can be a wonderful tool for boosting footfall in your store. Opting for digital A-boards or in-store digital signage is proven to bring more people through your doors, as well as boost customer engagement once they are inside.
Digital signage is shown to capture 400% more views than regular signage and comes with an incredible recall rate of 83%. Simply placing a digital sign outside your premises can bring in new shoppers, as a FedEx study found that 8 out of 10 passers-by would enter an unfamiliar store if they saw digital signs advertising it.
You can increase foot traffic with digital signage software that is quick and easy to update, allowing you to tailor the signs to reflect special deals or in-store events.
Use the signage to create buyer urgency by advertising “today only” or “this hour only” discounts, and make use of QR codes that shoppers can scan on visiting. This will help to earn your store coveted “verified location” status, making it even easier to bring more people into your premises.
4. Display Your Merchandise Carefully
Of course, an eye-catching window display is also important for bringing customers into your store, and be sure to switch it up regularly to keep it looking fresh (as well as showcasing new stock items).
A video screen can be a simple but extremely effective way to draw attention to your store, too. Inside, focus on how your products are displayed in order to maximize the conversion rate of browsers into buyers.
It’s been proven that having products displayed at eye level leads to more sales, and keeps tempting regular visitors by making a focal point of new stock and seasonal items. With a few quick and easy tweaks, you can freshen up your store and keep your customers coming back through your doors.
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