When you have so many competitors selling online, offline, or both, selling products and merchandise from your retail store might be a task. Getting new customers to try out a store was easier in the past than it is now. To differentiate themselves from their competitors, most shops combine a convenient shopping experience with competitive pricing and use different retail marketing strategies.
Today, though, things are different. As a modern store owner, you must create meaningful interactions with customers at every point of their purchasing process. You must continuously reinvent your retail marketing strategies and provide an amazing client experience to stay relevant. However, coming up with and implementing innovative and creative retail marketing strategies isn’t always straightforward.
Retail Marketing Strategies
We’ve put up a list of innovative and extremely effective Retail Marketing Strategies for your store that will help you enhance sales both now and in the future:-
1. Make better use of your current marketing space
Before branching out into other retail marketing strategies, it is best to make the most of what you already have. Retailers have been using these below-mentioned spaces for a long time, but the way they use them has changed considerably throughout the years. These are:-
- Curbside
- Display in the window
- Merchandising
Curbside and window displays will help you increase foot traffic and improve the image of your brand. Once customers are inside your business, optimizing your merchandising retail marketing strategy will help you increase basket size.
2. Extend your reach via social media
Retail is a consumer-driven industry, it’s ideal for promotion on social media platforms to audiences predominantly made up of consumers. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are popular social media networks with big user bases that allow shops to market their goods. However, with the volume of content that each user is bombarded with on social media platforms these days, it can be difficult to stand out and engage with your audience.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that most successful social media businesses started with one or two platforms. They expanded to other social media sites after establishing their presence.
It’s critical to follow suit if you want to thrive in retail marketing strategies. Based on the things you’re selling and the audience you’re trying to reach, ask yourself which channel works best for you.
3. Use google to promote your company
Google offers a variety of tools for merchants to improve their online exposure and attract people to their stores or website. It also owns over 90% of the search engine market and is the default search engine for a vast amount of consumers.
Consumers today expect information at their fingertips, and they want it immediately. Even if someone wants to buy something from a physical store, they don’t want to go out and look for one. They might wish to find a business that sells the things they want online and visit whenever it is convenient for them.
Google gives merchants many options for expanding their online presence and making it easier for shoppers to locate them. Here are some ways how you can put Google’s services to work for your company:-
- Google My Business page
- Shopping ads on Google
Pro tip: To promote sales through this channel, it’s a good idea to use high-quality photographs of your products and relevant titles.
4. Form on-brand collaborations and partnerships
Striking the appropriate relationships relevant to your brands can be used as part of your retail marketing strategies, and at the proper moment, can pay off big time for your company. Let’s take a look at some of the different types of collaborations you can make in your retail marketing strategy:-
- Marketing with influencers
- Collaboration with other small firms is a good idea.
5. Marketing via SMS and email
SMS and email marketing are two of the most cost-effective marketing tactics available. Emails have a 28% to 33% open rate, but text messages have a 99% open rate, with 97% read within 15 minutes of transmission. SMS and email can also be used as part of your retail digital marketing plan, and they’re getting more popular among retailers as mobile phones and the Internet become more common.
SMS marketing campaigns allow you to make use of the power of direct mobile communication to increase client loyalty and attract and keep new customers.
Email marketing has become the standard and anticipated from a modern marketing manager of a firm, with more and more solutions accessible on the market for mass emailing that many sectors are employing despite not being well prepared with technology.
Marketers in a variety of industries, including retail, have seen a soaring return on investment from email marketing initiatives.
6. Be relevant in your community
The world is becoming smaller as the Internet and low-cost transportation change people’s travel habits. Even if they live thousands of kilometres away, you can reach them both digitally and physically. It’s tempting to try to reach out to a larger audience and reach as many people as possible with your marketing efforts.
However, because a large portion of your customers is likely to be locals, you’ll want to cater to them and make them feel special with local retail marketing campaigns and loyalty programs. You can participate in the following activities:-
- To interact with your local audience, set up pop-up stores at well-known local locations or events.
- Use Facebook, Instagram, and Google’s geo-targeting technologies to create ad campaigns tailored to them.
7. Establish referral programs
Your retail business’s finest marketers are happy customers. They will provide you with free word-of-mouth promotion. Friends and family recommendations are also trusted by many consumers more than advertisements or other retail campaigns. Because a customer suggested by a friend is 4 times more likely to make a purchase, referral marketing helps you attract customers to your retail store and is more likely to increase sales.
Customers who have been referred to your company are also more inclined to participate in other loyalty programs. These programs also assist you to keep your current clients pleased by providing an incentive for them to spread the word about you.
8. Address important societal challenges
Consumers are more conscious than ever before, and they want to support a company that stands up for social causes. According to surveys, 79% of consumers alter their purchasing decisions depending on social responsibility, inclusivity, or environmental effect. Taking on important topics is a wonderful way to promote your company and may also be a component of your retail brand strategy. So many ways are there to have a positive social impact with your resources as a store, but you must do so ethically and without hurting people’s feelings.
To boost exposure and reputation within your target audience, you might engage with a local charity and execute awareness campaigns with them. Make sure your message is clear so that your customers understand what you’re doing and can participate if they want to.
Conclusion
The eight retail marketing strategies outlined above use a variety of marketing channels to reach your target audience. With so many marketing channels accessible today, deciding which ones are right for you and your company can be difficult. The most common blunder made by retail marketers is drowning in possibilities. The first step in creating your next marketing or retail promotion campaign is to establish your objectives.
Always remember to choose your retail marketing strategies for your store after you’ve set your goals, not the other way around. The key to success is to try out numerous methods, examine the performance of each track, and choose the retail store marketing plan that gives you the best return on investment.
