Sales Strategy
Three Reasons Not To Return To Pre-Pandemic Retail Practices October 06, 2021 (0 comments)
Louisville, KY—Yes, you know there’s a post-pandemic “new normal” in retail that’s here to stay. But instead of longing for pre-pandemic days, embracing some of the changes of the past 18 months can help retailers create better customer loyalty. Consumers especially love BOPIS, the industry-wide acronym for “buy online, pick up in store.”
In an article for RetailCustomerExperience, Holly Draher, a national account director at Harbor Retail, says that traditional brick-and-mortar retail had a few pain points that were overlooked until the pandemic brought them to light. She offers three specific pandemic-driven steps for eliminating those issues and creating a better retail experience:
1. Better stock transparency. Customers appreciate being able to check out the availability of the items they want, she writes, and are actually less upset about having to postpone picking up merchandise than about making a trip to a store and finding it’s not in stock.
2. Cut the line. The more a retailer can eliminate checkout lines, the happier customers will be, writes Draher. Whether it’s BOPIS, self-serve kiosks or self-pay apps, or some other method, not having to wait in line boosts customer loyalty.
3. Try to boost add-on impulse buying both online and in-store, says Draher. Online, technology can suggest higher-ticket products based on what's in the customer’s cart or other SKUs they've browsed; convenient displays translate that impulse into an in-store experience.
(Editor’s note: Wegmans grocery store is outstanding at this practice. House-made chocolate chip cookies are displayed both in the store’s bakery and on a rolling kiosk in front of the milk case. The grocer’s line of gourmet flavored butters and marinades are sold in the dairy and grocery departments, but also are merchandised in or next to the cases alongside the meats and fish they’re meant to be used with.
Jewelers can follow the same practice by merchandising a product by both brand and category; i.e. put one pair of a designer’s earrings in that designer’s branded showcase, and another pair in with your other earrings.)