In today's tough economy, the battle for share-of-customer by retail stores to effectively capture sales hasn't been fiercer. Retail stores that relax and wait for the economy to boost will have a very long route to recovery. Aggressive retailers which go after sales by working the critical three-mile business radius surrounding their shop will not only survive for the short term but will prosper once the economy turns positive - and it will!
Local Store Marketing (LSM) ought to be a critical, constant component for driving retail sales. In many cases, it forms the muse for your customer "point-of-differentiation" and lots of LSM tactics can be executed by your existing staff for hardly any money. Retailers should look at the following suggestions to prop up their sales:
• Improve Visibility: Has your store join the landscape? Have you become retail wallpaper? Create excitement outside of your four walls to draw in attention to your store. A-frame boards at the street; cold-air balloons in your roof; mascots waving in crowds; search lights; etc. all create and increase visibility.
• Nudge Your visitors: For those retailers that have customers' lists - reach out to your customers by emailing or calling -- inviting rid of it to your retail store. All it takes is a friendly reminder to maintain your retail store top-of-mind. A customer list is only powerful when it is utilized.
• Create Customer Loyalty: Introduce a person loyalty card and provide incentives for your core customers to talk to your stores more frequently. Use these same loyalty incentives to make casual customers into core customers.
• Start Product Sampling: Wish to entice trial of one's core products? Deliver product samples to surrounding businesses in the three-mile radius around your shop. Be sure to hand out flyers together with your product samples, after which watch the sales roll in.
• Create Clients: Establish new relationships within your three-mile radius with local business owners by offering gift packages of one's proprietary products; contact local hotels and businesses to promote your products to hotel guests and business people; and set up meetings using the local chamber and surrounding schools or churches to hype your store as a great venue for his or her next event.
• Launch Special Recognition Days: Everyone wants to be recognized, so create an event at your retail store that recognizes and appreciates certain categories of customers such as specific businesses; age groups (i.e. kid's day); or student specials.
These are just a few proven LSM tactics a shop can begin to implement immediately for little if any cost. Local Store Marketing is critical to your overall marketing strategy and a must in the current tight economy. The most successful retailers win the battle for customer traffic simply because they make an operational commitment to local store marketing. They understand local store marketing captures the whole customer base in the critical three-mile radius surrounding their store. In addition, they know that implementing local store marketing is low cost or no cost. Successful retailers effectively infuse their year- long promotional campaigns with local store marketing, developing a strong sales foundation for sustained and long-term growth-and you are able to too!
The decision is yours: you may either choose the passive route -- letting business energy or failure be predicated on customers opting for your store--OR you can aggressively increase sales opportunities inside your three-mile business area. Prudent store operators control their marketplaces with LSM to maximize every sales opportunity.