If you are on this page, the chances are high that you have successfully started a retail business. You must have left no stone unturned to market your new business offline as well as online.
At this point, you might be asking yourself:
How can I take my retail business to the next level?
The possibilities are endless but only when you adopt the right strategies.
Use customer loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are great ways to increase sales. It is not a secret that acquiring new customers cost more than retaining existing ones. Building a customer loyalty program makes your customers more loyal to your products or services, when they perceive that they’re getting rewarded for their loyalty to your brand. In addition, great loyalty programs attract new customers by showcasing the rewards of being loyal to a new brand.
What to look out for when launching a loyalty program:
- Speed to market with a flexible and scalable loyalty program
- Personalization with smart offers that enhance member engagement and generate incremental revenue and program profitability
- Security and dependability for your customers’ data
Loyalty customers spend 60% more per transaction, and on an average, they are 50% more profitable than non-loyalty customers.
Use promotions
Promotions enable you to reach shoppers, only when they are used effectively. Use promotion optimization powered by prescriptive analytics which gives you an insight into the customer’s buying influences. It helps you entice customers and offer deals that are relevant to them. You can use smart offers to serve this purpose as it increases member engagement and generates incremental revenue and profitability. With this, you can also optimize your loyalty program promotional expenditure, create new category buyers, and better experiences with the brand.
Promotion optimization enables you to put an end to unprofitable and ineffective promotions and getting visibility of what is working and what not.
Gain knowledge about your locale
Whenever possible, sell products with some local connection. For example, you can collaborate with local artisans, goods that are locally made, merchandise with a local touch. It lets customers connect more where you have set up your business.
Offer individualized offers
Individualized offer helps you improve customer lifetime value while ensuring promotions are optimized and implemented in a brand sustainable manner.
What you get in return for delivering individualized offers:
- Increased conversion rate, purchase frequency, and average order value
- Optimize promotional expenditure
- Deeper category penetration and better demand shaping
Expand to social media channels
Even if you aren’t super tech-savvy, your business must be present on all important social media channels. Focus on increasing your social media reach and engage your customers.
Website optimization
What is the simplest way to drive increased conversion? Undoubtedly the answer is – website optimization which enables you to unlock full revenue potential. With data-driven design and rapid implementation, you can easily achieve 35% revenue growth and ten times increased ROI on your products and services. Website optimization includes research insights into designs that encourage visitors to take buying action.
Start in advance
One mistake many business owners commit is to advertise after they open their retail shops. Don’t wait and start one or two months in advance. Spread the word about your store, product or services by sending a press release. The abundance of online news distribution services has made this task a lot easier. You can announce new product lines, special events, and other news related to your business.
Make room in local listings
How would a customer locate you?
In this technology-driven world, when everyone has a smartphone, the internet is the simplest mean customer will use to find you. Make local shoppers find your business by getting listed on local listings. Search engines have developed multiple tools to enable customers to find you by providing a location in maps, specifying hours of operations and offering coupons. Many of these listings are available free with upgrade options for a fee. Use them to be found.
Create a newsletter
As already mentioned keeping in touch with your existing customers is an important marketing strategy in building a long-term relationship with your loyal customers. Newsletter and email marketing help you stay in touch with your customers and inform them about new product launches, special offers, deals, and events. It takes much effort and time to make a loyal customer. So, don’t leave them and keep them hooked with a variety of ways.
Expand your products and services
Adding new items to your catalog is one of the proven business strategies which help you achieve unbelievable results. Think of any related products and services you can sell. Look for shoppers’ particular requests. There must be many things they need, but you are not selling yet. Think of ways to allow customers to make the most out of what you are selling and offer those services to them.
Running a retail business is nonetheless a continual learning experience. If you want to take your retail business to the next level, you need to pair your products with excellent customer experience as well as effective marketing strategies.
