The Experience That Physical Stores Can Offer To Succeed

Let's start with the shopkeeper, and then get to why & how to truly make shoppers feel smart (especially, offline stores) and thereby do some awesome sales via assisted buying and enhanced buying journey. Big words (Sorry, workplace hazards).

I am a "smart" shopkeeper if I do not let my customers leave after they've bought what they came to buy. I've got to make them buy that one other thing that I am trying to sell. That's smart. My store, my rules, my sales targets/GMV, my games, & my douchebaggery!

There are plenty of ways marketers can game consumers and get them to buy MORE. However, some of us don't share the same opinion about what SMART is. Sticking crappy or some random product that one did not want to buy is a WOLF OF WALL STREET kinda marketing and sales strategy. Great movie, but really sorry for the penny stock buyers.

I personally believe that the world would be a better place if consumers come to a shop, buy what they want at the right price, and leave the shop.  

Be it online or offline, we (marketers) may not change, but you as a shopper can. So yeah, internalize and remind yourself before shopping that you will buy what you want when you want it, and resist the temptation of buying other stuff that they (shopkeepers) are trying to sell.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

This article isn't about how to be a smart shopper, but about improving sales and increasing revenues for a shop. But then, I hope the introduction helps you understand that I am not talking about the usual marketing games & gimmicks. 

I strongly advocate the art being a smart shopper, and I've come to realize that we buy at places where we feel smart about ourselves.

In my scheme of things w.r.t in-store marketing, we at Gaian Solutions help all kinds of businesses increase their sales, revenues, & brand value via our Digital Signage Solutions for Retail. I see enormous potential in how shopkeepers can reach out to consumers via their usual marketing & branding tactics, but what really caught my eye about my product (my bragging rights) was that it aids a shopkeeper in making their consumers truly feel smarter. 

The tech, such as Digital Signage, is efficient and sometimes non-negotiable for businesses, however, not all mom-and-pop stores need tech to solve their problems.

This is not about Tech. Shops can implement these without any tech. So, here's how you make your consumers truly feel smarter:

• In-store Guidance: Help consumers easily find what they are looking for. Touche. Guide consumers in a targeted fashion, give them site/store navigation, & an ability to directly find what they are looking for. Plenty of times, consumers just walk out of stores just because they did not get the required guidance to purchase what they came to buy. 
• Compare & Contrast: Help consumers weigh the different options, & make an informed purchase decision. Well! They don't necessarily know what you know about your product line. Make recommendations and show the pros-and-cons of choosing one product/service over the other. 
• Live Demonstration: Show and tell. If it works, it works, and people buy it as they clearly see the utility.

• Connect & Interact: In the world of recommendation engines, the most genuine recommendations come from subject matter experts, not sales executives. So, ensure that your sales executives act as the subject matter experts for their product line. Don't just try to sell, try to recommend and educate consumers...the selling will happen.
• Personalize by being Locally Relevant: One size fits all won't work. Every consumer is different, and they need to be served differently. Have your staff or signage displays show locally relevant content even if you are a multi-national brand. Actually, global brands understand this far better than the mom-and-pop stores.
• Contextual Communication: Every day in business need not be treated the same. Show contextual content or have your staff learn and engage your consumers with contextual data about the products & services based on the seasonality, time of the day, or the type of the consumer. 

The motive is to help the consumer truly feel smarter while shopping at your store. Let me know your thoughts on what you think are good ways to make shopping experience worth it, especially, give it a thought about why certain malls/shops are your favorite spots.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: These are completely my personal views. On a professional front, if you are considering a Digital Signage or any content delivery network that pretty much covers the above, give me a call or reach out to our experts here. Gaian's Digital Signage solutions have been extensively used across multiple verticals, know more from news room.