Offline shopping. How to bring customers into the shop

Mafpels trading blog
If you have a physical store (not online), then it is extremely important for you to establish a stable flow of customers. If there are no people in the store, there will be no sales or profits. Then there is no point in paying rent for the premises and salaries to the sellers. But if you sit and wait for people to come themselves, you are already losing money. Every minute in the store without customers is a minus at the cash register.

Let's figure out how to really attract customers to an offline point and make sure that they do not just come in, but buy and come back again. The specialists of Mafpels company will help us with their advice.

The display is your hook

Mafpels trading brand
If your display is boring, people will pass by. To make them want to buy, you first need to grab their attention.

Make sure you have a bright and interesting design that stands out from the crowd. It has a clear message: what exactly are you selling? And change the display often so that regular passersby don't get used to it and ignore it.
Nobody goes to a store just to look. For any action, a person always needs to understand why. Without a reason, they will pass by.

What to do? Recommendations from Mafpels management:
  • Place noticeable announcements about promotions at the entrance, but set restrictions (for example, “only today”, “first 10 customers”, etc.);
  • Come up with interactive activities - free testing, tasting, master class;
  • Create a “wow effect” - install a non-standard element that you want to photograph and post on a social network.

Give a reason to come in

If your salespeople are looking at their phones and greeting potential customers through clenched teeth, this is 70% less customers right away.

People want smiles and attention, but not intrusiveness. Emotions decide a lot, especially offline, where the buyer will associate your store with your salesperson. Do you want salespeople to sell? Pay bonuses for conversions. No motivation — no sales.

The staff is your live marketing

Word of mouth is fire, if you set it on fire correctly. This means: give people a bonus for a review or recommendation to a friend, ask customers to tag your store on social networks — post stories and photos with tags or hashtags. Come up with something unusual: a costumed salesperson, a live showcase — anything, as long as visitors remember it.

Make people talk about you

How does the store smell? What music is playing? What kind of lighting? All of this affects the emotional perception of your store by the customer. Make the music to match the mood of the target audience. Smell - neutral or pleasant (think about what smell you would like people to associate your store with).
Don't skimp on the atmosphere
According to marketing research, the first time a customer brings 1 conventional unit, the second time - 10, the third - 100. Marketers say that repeat customers are the cheapest for the store owner.

Mafpels Cyprus managers advise how to achieve this:
  • Loyalty card or bonuses for purchases;
  • Personal offers;
  • Surprises: "you made 3 purchases from us - here's a gift."

If you want your offline store to survive and become profitable, stop hoping for a "good place" and start thinking like a marketer. Yes, it's hard. Yes, a lot of work. But if you don't do it, your competitors will. Change strategies, come up with enticing concepts. Offline, the winner is not the one who is cheaper, but the one who has emotions, energy and a clear business plan.

You can read about how to open a retail outlet in the previous publication on the Mafpels website.
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