How to Increase Customer Footfall in Your Retail Store?
1) Use eye-grabbing Signage
Research says retail stores have observed a 24% increase in footfall after implementing digital signage, and 80% have noticed a 33% increase in sales among brands that have already used digital signage.
Ways in Which Digital Signage can Increase Customer Footfall
Use digital signage to attract window shoppers: The digital signage screen in the store's front window is an excellent way to get window shoppers interested in what the store has to offer. With its continuously changing, colourful, attractive images, video displays, and highly immersive content, it is sure to stop people in their tracks, make them look at the store's message, and prompt them to impulsively enter the retail store.
Sort high-performance products using digital signage. Retailers can compel shoppers to take shopping action using signage such as "most popular', "bestseller", or "favourite". They can also create a FOMO and make a shopper feel like they may miss a big discount if they do not purchase the item now.
It can bring your potential customers to purchase through offline and online store visits. Digital signage can help highlight the unique aspects of your product, whether it's clothing, shoes, furniture, home decor or cosmetics industry. It can help attract customers and boost sales.
2) Leverage Influencer Marketing
Yes! Influencers do have a strong impact on driving in-store visits and retail sales. It has been confirmed by a research that says 71.6% of the consumers have gone into an offline store to look at something an influencer has recommended. Here is how retail brands use influencer marketing to grow in-store traffic to their retail stores.
Offer influencer discount codes to boost sales: Many retail companies use influencers to promote exclusive discount codes for their products. This helps to increase the retail brand's outreach on the internet. Influencer's followers who purchase the product using the shared discount code grows sales as well as product visibility.
Below, Fynd's campaign on Instagram is a classic example of an influencer offering a discount code on shopping with Fynd.
Meet and greet program with influencers: Aerie, a women's fashion brand, was honoured with the Glossy award for best influencer campaign in fashion. This award is based on their #AerieReal campaign, for which they have advocated for unretouched images and chosen influencers as "role models" to showcase real women wearing their clothes.
These women go on tour with Aerie, where they give talks and do meet and greets. The digital engagement they have generated in response is staggering.
3) Have Strong in-store Visuals
In-store visuals can solve some of the retailers' deepest fears, like a customer walking away from the store without making a purchase. They are important for retail brands because they create an exciting atmosphere for the customers that is conducive to making a purchase. Here are some creative examples of in-store visuals in retail stores to attract maximum customers:
Use artwork to distinguish your retail store: Different businesses, such as pop-up stores and retail stores, can all benefit from having unique artwork. Artwork can help create a memorable customer experience and give a store a distinctive and exclusive feel.
Group Products to Create a Unique Appeal
Placing products that complement each other attracts customer curiosity and encourages cross-selling. Adventure gears are a great example of displaying different components of outdoor adventure accessories like ropes, jackets, trekking bags, protection gear, sleeping bags and a lot more.
An attractive front desk or checkout area of low value items can also be used to attract customers and increase the basket size.
Use impactful Social media Content
As attention spans continue to shorten, it becomes increasingly important to use concise, direct, and impactful language. This is where social media comes in. By using such content in your in-store displays, you can create a sense of familiarity and strong connection with your potential customers.
You can further engage visiting customers by collecting authentic customer reviews from social media aggregators and displaying them on digital signage screens inside your retail store.
Just reading about someone else’s amazing shopping experience can give that extra bit of social proof to buy one product over another one.
4) Use Digital Engagement to Increase in-store Foot Traffic
You will be excited to know that 47% of millennials are influenced by social media when making a purchase decision – including those made in physical stores – and 19% of consumers are influenced by social media during the purchase process.
Digital engagement strategies to increase in-store foot traffic:
Invest in local SEO: Investing in local SEO is a must for better online visibility. Developing a local SEO strategy like creating Google My Business (GMB) listing for your retail brand can make it easier for residents of your city or area to find your retail store in online search results.
Create retail brand fan pages on social media: 90% of consumers try to reach out to brands on social media. If the experience is good, 70% of the respondents said they are more likely to use a brand's product or service. And close to half of the consumers surveyed said they are more likely to purchase either online or in the brand's brick-and-mortar store.
Victoria's Secret employs a strategy of giving its social media followers exclusive news and perks, which makes fans feel as though the retailer is extending a personal invitation to connect. It enhances loyalty among fans in a significant way.
In its unique campaign, customers were invited to partake in a social-enabled fashion show party in exchange for a $10 coupon.Customers were asked for a ticket in stores and snapping a photo with the ticket before uploading it on Instagram.
5) Buy Online Pickup In-store (BOPIS)
A study says 50% of adult shoppers use BOPIS, and 67% of those consumers increase their order value when they know they can pick it up immediately. BOPIS lets you create a seamless online and offline shopping experience that boosts customer satisfaction and increases foot traffic and in-store sales.
When customers come to your store to pick up their order, they may quickly look around, buy additional products, or remember something they wanted to purchase in-store. Either way, this could lead to increased sales. It adds another avenue to get the customer to walk in your store and make a brand impression and buy their loyalty.
Top retail brands offering Buy Online Pickup In-store (BOPIS) service:
- Target
- Kohl
- Walmart
- Whole Food Markets
- Kroger
- Sprouts Farmers market
Signing Off
Each strategy discussed in the blog offers a unique way to increase retail customer footfall. Many of these have been adopted well by world-renowned retail brands and have helped them grow the number of visiting customers, overall sales, brand visibility, and customer loyalty.
In-store assistive sale solutions like Fynd Store also offer some stand-out features that help you attract more customers to your offline retail stores.Retailers who adopt Fynd's omni channel solutions see rapid growth in offline and online customer traffic.
World-class brands like Michael Kors, Tiffany & Co, Nike, Celio, and Hamleys have leveraged this tested retail strategy to drive business expansion. Book a demo today with one of our retail experts to learn more and see how Fynd could benefit your retail business.
