The holidays are just around the corner and you’re probably looking for innovative ways to boost sales in your store. Whether you’ve recently experienced a slump or are just trying to maintain the positive momentum that you already have going, it’s important to be constantly looking for new ways to keep your sales tactics fresh and dynamic.
Here are ten of the most creative ways to increase retail sales and keep your business thriving:
1. Hire and develop the right employees
In order to increase retail sales, you should always hire people who are knowledgeable about your product and can offer exceptional customer service. Not everyone is cut out for sales, and that is ok. Be thorough in evaluating your staff, providing them with targeted training, and giving incentives for them to sell more.
2. Make use of strong in-store visuals
It is often the creative visuals that will end up getting people through the door and increase the retail sales. Create something that is hard for people to take their eyes off of and you’re guaranteed to get more people into the store. You don’t want to overdo it and look tacky, remember that sometimes less is more. Provide a clear and striking focal point.
3. Update your displays regularly
Your retail display shelving should be refreshed and updated on a regular basis. After all, you want to keep giving returning customers something new to look at. If at first glance they feel that they’ve already seen everything you have to offer, they’re likely to pass and miss out on discovering new or recently discounted merchandise.
4. Offer service that isn’t intrusive
Although the last thing you want in your store is someone searching for help and being unable to find it, you also don’t want to overwhelm your customers with aggressive salespeople. Use your team strategically to reduce wait times and strategically engage with customers who seem eager for assistance or additional information.
5. Have a winning assortment
Variety is the spice of life, right? Someone might come through your door looking for one thing and end up walking out with something entirely different that caught their eye. Keep your offerings diverse but united under a general and cohesive theme. Keep complementary items close to one another to encourage shoppers to naturally gravitate towards making joint purchases.
6. Strengthen your online presence
Although people do still like come into the physical shop to try-out, try-on, or simply touch items before they purchase them, they do like to have an idea of what they can expect before they arrive at your store. By having a strong and dynamic online identify, customers can get a sense of what you’re all about before they even step foot in the store. You can even offer interactive promotions over social media or offer shoppers a discount if they post photos with your products on their own social media pages.
7. Reward your customer’s loyalty
Speaking of ways to engage your customers, having a strong loyalty program in place will ensure that people come back to your store time and time again. When people spend a lot of money somewhere, they expect owners and management to acknowledge this and give them special attention. By offering special promotions or limited-edition items exclusively to your best customers, you’ll let them know that you appreciate their patronage and that their loyalty will continue to be rewarded.
8. Be true to who you are
Authenticity should also be an important part of your marketing strategy. Just because something worked somewhere else doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best option for you. Try to find ways to communicate with your customers that feel genuine, sincere and that reflect your overall vision for the store. Don’t allow yourself to get carried away with gimmicky marketing, or you could end up looking cheap and desperate.
9. Take advantage of upgrades and add-ons
Offer upgrades and add-ons whenever possible. Although you don’t want to come off as pushy, it is important to remember that in many cases your customers might not even know that certain offers exist unless you tell them. Whether it is a treatment product for the leather purse they just bought, a matching scarf to go with a pair gloves, a portable mobile charger, or a sharpener for their new kitchen knives, always be on the lookout for ways to upgrade the purchase.
10. Use product returns to your advantage
Small retail outfits might be tempted to gravitate towards strict return policies because any return ultimately feels like a loss. This is the wrong way to look at things though. Plenty of consumer studies have shown that stores with liberal return policies, which make it very easy for customers to return merchandise, do better in the long run. By promoting the fact that you have flexible return policies, it shows customers that you have faith in the products you’re selling and gives them the freedom to take a chance on a product that they may have otherwise been hesitant to buy.
