There’s a lot of talk about the rise of eCommerce, but in-person retail shopping is still the king. Retail shopping revenue has been increasing year-on-year, and in-store visits are not exceeding their pre-pandemic levels.
All in all, the signs are good for brick-and-mortar businesses. With that said, those types of businesses do face challenges. Competition for consumers remains high, and even though consumers may be shopping downtown, they’re not necessarily thrilled about it — just 9% of customers say they’re satisfied with the in-person shopping experience.
This information presents both a warning sign and an opportunity. You can’t take consumers for granted, but equally, businesses that can tap into the customer’s needs and expectations can help to bolster foot traffic, and in turn increase sales. In this post, we’ll run through a bunch of ways that businesses can drive foot traffic and get more people than ever through their doors.
Make It Easy To Find
People can’t walk through your doors if they don’t know who or where you are. Increasing foot traffic depends, in part, on meeting the modern consumer in a place that makes sense for them — and that increasingly means on their smartphone. A simple, effective way to increase footfall at your business is to claim and complete your ‘Google My Business’ page, which will ensure that you appear when your potential customers search for the products/services you sell.
Remember, people no longer ask passersby if they know if there’s a stationary store nearby; they simply pull out their phone, open Google Maps, and type ‘stationary.’ Make sure that you fill out as much information as possible on your Google My Business page, and pay particular attention to the opening hours; there’s nothing that annoys a customer more than traveling to a store expecting it to be open, only to find that it’s closed.
Get An Attention-Grabbing Look
The products that you have inside your store may be exceptional, but if you’re unable to get the attention of passersby, then your potential customers will never know about them. Ensuring that your potential customers notice the outside of your store is a key part of their journey towards stepping into the inside — and once they’re there, you can let your awesome products do the talking.
But first, you’ll need to draw people’s attention your way. Installing an eye-catching LED handrail, working with a designer to create an attention-grabbing sign, and all-around ensuring that the front of your business is organized and tidy are effective ways to not only get the public’s attention but also to ensure that consumers have a positive first impression of your business. It’s worth periodically reviewing the front of your business to ensure that it’s still aiding, rather than hindering, your business, since it’s one of those areas that’s easy to overlook.
Update Your Window Decor
Your window displays should offer a tantalizing glimpse into the quality of the products that your visitors will find when they walk through your door. How you arrange your window displays will depend on the type of business you run. Whatever it is, make sure that you don’t wait too long before switching things up — keeping things fresh is essential for preventing your store from becoming “invisible” to people who regularly walk past. At the bare minimum, look at changing your display every few months, perhaps in line with the changing of the seasons.
Host Events and Experiences
There’s more than one way to get people into your store. Some will come in because they’re directly interested in the products you sell. Others will only figure out that they are interested in what you’re selling after they’ve spent a bit of time there.
So, how can you encourage people who aren’t initially interested in becoming customers to walk through your doors? By hosting events and offering experiences. Hosting concerts, putting together workshops, or organizing a pop-up event are effective ways to drum up interest in your business, albeit in an indirect way. Once they know you exist, they’ll be much more likely to return in the future.
Offer Freebies
Looking for an effective way to grab the attention of the public? Offer them something for free. It’s a tried-and-tested method for encouraging people to move towards your business. And what’s more, what you offer them doesn’t have to be anything overly complicated. Even a sample size of a pastry or a coffee/tea will do the trick.
This approach will work best if there’s at least some reason why you’re doing it. It can look a little forced for a clothes store to be handing out pastry bites on the street when there’s no logical reason why they should be doing it. Tying it in with a reason — a local holiday, the anniversary of your opening — will make it feel more natural.
Promote on Social Media
Your potential customers are on social media. How do we know that? Because everyone — more or less — is on social media. One effective way to boost foot traffic to your store is to advertise your business on the leading social media channels. This approach can involve more than simply trying to grow your follower count, which can be time-consuming. If you have a clear idea of your target audience (and you should), then you can use targeted ads to get your business in front of the people who are most likely to be interested in your brand.
It can take a little bit of work to figure out the social media advertising strategy that works best for your business. The best approach is to start small and slow, see what works, and then make adjustments based on the data.
Partner With Local Influencers
Another way to use the power of social media to boost foot traffic is to partner with local influencers. In fact, if you partner with the right people, then this approach can be even more effective than a social media PPC campaign.
The right influencer will be one who already operates in your niche, has a large local following, and understands your business (or takes the time to do so). If they don’t meet those criteria, then continue your search. Done correctly, a social media post from a local influencer can have a profound impact on brand awareness, helping to drive many more people to your business.
Host a Flash Sale
As with freebies, consumers will always be drawn to sales. Indeed, it can create customers out of people who had no prior interest in your products. You’ll likely find that foot traffic increases around the major sale periods (after Christmas, New Year), but you can also increase foot traffic during other periods of the year by hosting a flash sale. Offering 20% of all items can be enough to get people to walk through your door and see what your business offers. This approach can do more than provide a quick boost to sales. Once a person has been into your business once, it’s more likely that they’ll return again in the future.
Put Yourself In Other Areas
Finally, if possible, look at putting your brand in other local areas beyond your store. For example, if you’re a coffee business, then you might set up a stand at a local market. Even product-based stores, such as clothes and book stores, can take this approach. You’ll likely make some sales, but it’s mostly about brand awareness; once they’ve seen what you have to offer, they’ll be more likely to visit your store.
A penny for your thoughts?