Attracting customers to your retail grocery store can be a challenge—especially when you’re competing against big box stores and online shopping. But that doesn’t mean you can’t compete! The following steps will help you attract new customers, keep existing ones coming back, and keep them spreading the word about your store.
Step One: Optimize Your Online Presence
People are searching for grocery stores on their mobile devices, and if your website isn’t optimized for local search, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to make contact with potential customers.
Make sure you include your name, address, and phone number (NAP) in the footer of every page on your website. Make sure it’s consistent with the information on your Google My Business page and other online listings. Then create a page dedicated to your location that includes:
- An embedded map
- Directions to the store
- Store hours
Step Two: Create a Cohesive Customer Experience
Customer experience is a holistic experience. It’s not solely about the in-store experience or just the online experience. It’s also not just about marketing and social media either. Customer experience is the totality of your customer’s experiences with your brand across all of these channels.
A good customer experience creates an emotional connection between a shopper and your store, one that will have them coming back again and again (and bringing their friends along as well).
Step Three: Utilize Targeted Promotions and Deals
Use promotions strategically and seasonally. For example, if you own a bakery, offering bread at half-price in February makes little sense. In contrast, if you run the same promotion in December, it will give more people an incentive to purchase bread and other baked goods as they prepare for holiday dinner parties and feasts.
Never offer too many promotions at once or your customers will get confused about what exactly it is you want them to buy. Remember that the whole point of running a targeted promotion is that it helps you move products quickly and efficiently. Therefore, keep your promotions targeted!
Use analytics tools to assess how successful your targeted promotion was at attracting new customers and increasing the order value for repeat customers. You may find out that some tactics are much more effective than others when it comes to targeting existing versus new clients.
Don’t forget to add something new to your sale. These should be products that will delight your customers, such as plant based protein products.
Step Four: Mobile is Important
There are two main roads you can take when going mobile: an app or a mobile site. The difference between an app and a site is simple: sites are accessed through a browser, while apps have their own standalone app icons on the home screen of smartphones and tablets. A lot of small businesses choose to go the route of mobile sites because they are easier and less expensive to create. Mobile sites can also be accessed on any device, whereas apps often require separate versions for each operating system (i.e., Android vs. iPhone).
Step Five: Collect Data, Don’t Be Creepy
It’s important to remember that the data you collect is not the end goal. What you do with it—how you use it—is what will impact your business. Collecting data isn’t creepy, but misusing it can be. Customers are willing to share their personal information in exchange for something; if they don’t feel like they’re getting anything substantive, they’ll unsubscribe and/or complain to other people about how creepy your business was. Make sure you provide them with something of value in return for their data, and that they understand what they’re getting out of the deal.
Step Six: Offer a Rewards Program
Promotions and loyalty programs are an effective way to give incentives to customers and increase the likelihood they will choose your store over others. There are two main types of rewards programs: points-based systems, which give points that can be redeemed for merchandise or discounts on future purchases; and promotional systems, where shoppers earn free products or discounts at the time of purchase when they reach a certain threshold.
Step Seven: Don’t Forget About Human Interaction
Your sales associates should be at least as knowledgeable as the average customer about what the products in your store do. They should also be trained on how to interact and engage with customers, and how to help them find what they are looking for. Ultimately, a good customer experience can lead to great reviews, which helps improve your brand’s reputation online.
Step Eight: Don’t Forget About In-Store Design and Layout
After you’ve done the legwork to bring in your customers, it’s important to make sure they can find what they need and purchase it with as little difficulty as possible. Here are a few tips:
Create a store flow that guides customers from one department to another. This will both encourage them to shop your entire store and optimize in-store foot traffic.
Make sure that wayfinding signage is clear so consumers can find what they are looking for more easily.
Provide excellent customer service by having your staff well trained and equipped with information.
Step Nine: Create A Welcoming Environment
The first thing you should do when it comes to attracting customers is to create a welcoming environment. Make sure the exterior of the store is clean, well-maintained, and professional-looking. You want people to feel like they can trust that they’ll be safe if they come inside.
Try these tips in practice and increase sales!