The pandemic-led sudden growth of eCommerce and widespread lockdown brought intense competition for brick-and-mortar stores. Physical retail has been severely threatened over the last few years, but as the world finally opens up, there may be some respite for store owners.
The good news is that despite the preference for online shopping, 55% of buyers still advocate for traditional stores because that's where they get to interact with products directly.
So, as social distancing restrictions are lifted, it's time to use exciting new retail marketing strategies to empower your traditional retail practices.
Your prospective buyers appreciate that your brick-and-mortar store can offer what eCommerce giants can't: instant gratification in the form of immediate purchases, no shipping costs, and no costly returns because they've tried or experienced the product before buying. The Customer Experience part is a particularly valuable component of the traditional retail environment - actually being in a store and seeing, smelling, tasting, and touch cannot be easily replicated online. Let’s not forget hearing messages that differentiate products being sold from a friendly and well-informed human being.
Costco understood the power of store sampling almost four decades ago, and that propelled their US retail sales to third place behind Walmart and Amazon. Considering that Costco only has 561 stores in the US vs Walmart’s 5,326, and Amazon’s lion's share of sales comes via eCommerce you have to wonder what drives their sales. Shoppers come to their stores for free food and leave them with more purchases than they planned to. But wait, there is more … all this growth is funded by the product vendors, all Costco has to do is schedule and coordinate these store sampling events.
So, why not take advantage of demo scheduling software to increase monthly Traffic per store and Sales per customer transaction without raising your headcount? This can be your secret weapon for delivering the ultimate retail customer experience, growing store traffic, and increasing Sales per customer transaction.
Let's explore this retail marketing strategy in further detail.
Retail marketing can surely help your business expand its reach, connect with customers, nurture long-term relationships and share your brand story. Not only this, but retail marketing also creates a competitive edge, keeping your business one step ahead of its rivals.
Modern retailers need to keep an eye on different channels, tactics, and activities that bring visitors to the store.
For obvious reasons, in-store demos have become an integral part of retail marketing strategy. Retailers need reliable and hassle-free demo scheduling software that delivers cost-saving without compromising their retail customer experience.
It is not just an occasional promotional event to sell the dead inventory; it's the best way to introduce your customers to new products and record sales. It's a building block responsible for growing relationships between customers, vendors, and retailers.
In a nutshell, demo scheduling software helps with:
Retailers have discovered the power of in-store sampling as an experiential marketing strategy. According to Win Sight Grocery Business, it's among the most potent experiential marketing tactics, recording a 475% increase in sales. It's when the customer is given a free sample of the product, which is an opportunity to try it.
Another study stated that in-store food sampling converted browsers into buyers with a 20% increase than the customers who didn't sample the product. It also revealed that the conversion rate for personal care and beauty products is 30% higher with the in-store sampling tactic.
Promotional scheduling outlines the specifics of the marketing initiatives your retail store will take part in for the entire year. It ensures that the store staff, managers, and marketers are always on the same page while eliminating missed deadlines or forgotten ideas for good.
The retail industry has become hyper-competitive. Hence to improve the impact of its promotions, it's essential to create a promotion scheduling model designed to deliver enhanced ROI. According to research, an efficient promotion calendar showed a 4% uptick in-store revenues and a 14% increase in ROI.
The modern retail marketing strategy isn't restricted to the 4Ps of marketing; instead, it focuses on delivering the ultimate customer experience to keep those visitors coming. Demo scheduling software, in-store sampling, and promotional scheduling can help you win the retail sales game while delighting and engaging your customers better than ever before.
