Basically, increasing foot traffic in a retail store involves a combination of strategic marketing, customer engagement, and creating an appealing shopping experience.
Start Selling Food (Or Snacks!)
Selling food, drinks, and snacks can greatly increase foot traffic to your store. The reasons are simple - food is the most in-demand product, and by expanding the assortment with such items (even if it is chips), you can attract the attention of people who have never entered your store before.
Using the attention of new buyers, you can offer them other products and thereby turn them into regular customers.
Invest in Your Employees
Many store owners and other business owners do not understand how important the behavior of employees when communicating with customers and visitors is. Having invested in staff training, you may be surprised to notice how the attitude of buyers is changing for the better, and their number is increasing.
Even a simple smile and courtesy on a cloudy day can completely change the way a person visits your store - now imagine how such an influence would work on a larger scale.
Host Special Courses or Classes
Depending on the type of your business, you can run various training seminars, courses, or classes related to topics that may be of interest to your current and future customers. In an effort to increase foot traffic to your retail store, you can provide additional opportunities for visitors.
For example, if you are engaged in gardening and horticulture, you can invite customers to seminars on choosing seeds or gardening tools. It’s not certain that this direction will be useful to you (for example, if you have a simple grocery store), but in many cases, courses and training can help create a new active audience in your niche.
Use Instagram!
Instagram has become a tool for attracting the attention of a wide audience to literally anything - this also applies to business. If you want to increase foot traffic to your retail store, be sure to set up a business page on Instagram and pay attention to its development and promotion.
Instagram will help you post spectacular shots, launch Stories, and attract new audiences through special promotions and interesting content. The possibilities of this social network are endless - and it would be foolish not to use them to your advantage.
Create Your Own Community
Building a community of fans or interested people can help increase (or even create) a pool of customers who will visit your store on a regular basis. For example, if you're selling specific brands or sticking to a single commercial niche—health food, active supplements, or other products—you can use these accents to grab the attention of active consumers.
Offer Products for Kids
Children are a goldmine in many businesses, and if your store can offer products for children, expanding the range can help attract the attention of new customers. In addition, family buyers often choose products for themselves, so the average check is growing, and the number of your regular visitors is increasing. If you're looking to increase foot traffic in your retail store, don't forget the kids!
Offer Unique Shopping Experience
A unique shopping experience will never replace online shopping, and as you strive to increase foot traffic to your retail store, you should consider offering a unique shopping experience for your business. It can be a special, pleasant atmosphere of a holiday or celebration (if we are talking about seasonal events - for example, New Year's holidays), or simply an attractive atmosphere of comfort and tranquility, where you can leisurely choose goods. Creating corners where visitors can spend time with a cup of tea or conversation also contributes to creating a special atmosphere for your store.
Make Partnerships
Competitors are not always enemies, and by entering into mutually beneficial cooperation, you can get much more advantages than costs. Being located in a very competitive area - for example, in a shopping center or on a high street - you can offer casual passers-by special conditions when visiting your stores. For example, purchase discounts, special promotions or other exclusive opportunities. Thus, both you and your partner will get new satisfied customers.
Offer Pick-Up and Return Options for Online Orders
The ability to order online and pick up your purchase in the store greatly simplifies the life of many shoppers and allows stores to take care of delivery. Returning an item to a store can also help greatly improve the shopping experience by merging online and offline shopping and driving new foot traffic to your store.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many different ways to get new foot traffic to your store. If you are in doubt about how best to do this for your business, GetPlace analysts will help you find answers to your questions!