How to Create Engaging In-Store Experiences that Drive more Traffic and Sales?

In 2021 alone, e-commerce accounted for 18.1% of the total retail sales around the world. Despite the growth of e-commerce, most people still visit brick-and-mortar stores.

So, you don’t have to worry about losing sales due to the increased e-commerce presence. But this does not mean that you stop putting effort to bring more customers to your physical store.

Customers want a good reason to come to the store. For that, you need to think of ideas that make people want to come to the store instead of shop online. To do that, you need to adopt ways to make your in-store experience comfortable and easy.

Empowering your front-line employees

Front-line employees are people you can rely on. Because they improve customer experience. As they deal with customers one-on-one every day, make sure they are interactive with them.

Your employees don’t necessarily have to be persuasive. Remember, being persuasive might irritate the shoppers. Instead, your employees need to be active while dealing with customers.

For instance, a customer should always have one of your employees by their side while looking through your products. This way, if they have any questions, your employee can actively answer them. And it will save the customer the hassle of looking for assistance.

So teach your employees how to approach customers, explain products to them, and assist them in case they are facing any difficulties in-store.

For that, you can always have training sessions on improving the in-store customer experience. And these training sessions will also enable your employees to understand the brand and products.

Letting customers try products

Having an attractive interior design and modern facilities in your shop certainly draws the shopper’s attention visually. But your focus should not only be on visualization.

Customers come to your store in hopes of being able to try the products. So it’s your job to make the experience of consuming your products more accessible. Thus, it will convince them to buy it.

For example, if you own a cellphone repair shop, you can allow the customers to try out your accessories on their gadgets. It will persuade them to buy it.

Creating a good atmosphere

Creating an excellent in-store atmosphere is very important. Because it will make customers want to come back again and again. So, make sure your in-store atmosphere is comfortable enough for customers.

For instance, you can play cheerful music in your store. Because it will create positive and joyous emotions. You also need to keep your store aisles broad for customers to move freely without worrying about dropping something. Lastly, always have a comfortable seating arrangement for customers to relax on in case they get tired.

Blending physical and digital retail experience

Living in a digital age, you must have an online store as well. But make sure that your online store works side by side with your physical store.

You can allow customers to order online. And then pick it from the store as well. When they come to pick their order, they are more likely to purchase additional items as well.

Another way to go about it is by bringing your online store to your physical location. It is an excellent strategy, particularly if you have more than one store. And you have different stocks available at various locations. 

If you are in the repair industry, you can integrate your offline and online shopping experience through repair shop software. It will enable you to manage orders, sales, and customers single-handedly.

Promoting a sense of retailtainment

Always find ways to bring together people in your store. You can easily invite customers to the events at your stores. And they can learn new things about your products and interact with like-minded people.

A great example is having an influencer meet-up at your store. You can invite influencers to try out new products in your store before making the products available to other customers. The influencers can review the products on their social media. And this will get you both online and offline traffic.

Moving outdoors

You need to create an atmosphere that something exciting is going on in your store. You can do it by entering the sidewalk sale. It will indeed create curiosity, and people will want to check it out even if it’s not on their to-do list for the day.

For example, you can let people try out your products outside your store. If they like it, they can always come in and purchase it.

Giving free wi-fi

Free wi-fi is the pain point of almost all people. Why not cash on it?

Around 62% of businesses have reported that customers tend to spend more time in their store after offering free wi-fi. It can get you more engagement and sales.

For instance, if your store has a free WI-FI sign outside, it will drive in more customers. People will come in to use it, and might also end up purchasing products or services from your store. 

Improving the checkout experience

Having long lines at the checkout will only drive customers away. You can avoid it by having more than one cashier and register to enable customers to quickly checkout. If you have only one checkout point, you are bound to have long queues, especially during a sale.

The checkout process can be easy and effective through POS software. The most significant advantage of POS software is that you can use it on smartphones, tablets, and cash registers. And your employees can easily find a product the customer is looking for in seconds.

In addition to this, you can also have in-app checkout. The scan-and-go service is an innovative way to enable customers to pay without having to stand in line. Customers can quickly scan the product barcodes, deliver on the app, and show the e-receipt at the counter.

When searching for innovative ways to get more in-store traffic, you need to get creative. If you have your finger on the pulse and know your customer base, you will have plenty of options to implement to increase in-store traffic.