subject: How Retailers Can Compete With Online Retail Businesses [print this page] Online retail businesses are tough competitors. They are open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. They have negligible real estate costs, lower labour costs and better value options for attracting passing-by traffic.
As many studies have shown, shoppers do their research in physical stores and then do their buying online.
This is hurting many retail businesses across many different retail channels.
Retail stores can fight back, especially if you know that online sales are hurting your business. To do nothing will see the trend continue until one day...
How do you fight back against people who want to use your expertise but then want to shop for the deals online. Here are some practical tips
Educate your shoppers. Create a sheet with horror online shopping stories. Give one out to every customer for a few months. This needs to be a truthful and consistent message, something which you pitch and re pitch.
Promote in store. Create signs for inside your store demonstrating the value of shopping with you versus shopping online. Consider creative which connects with a feeling of a warning against making the mistake of shopping online.
Educate your sales team. Make sure that they weave into their customer interactions information about the risks and high hidden cost of shopping online. The more they understand about the difference between shopping in your store and buying the same items online the better.
Use coupons. Create coupons which entice browsers back into your store. Encourage them with a purchase decision within a certain period of time. Have the sales person sign the coupon to authenticate the offer. This adds credence to the offer.
Compare prices. Get on the front foot and look at what shoppers are paying online for items you sell. Compare prices for exactly the same brand. Use this information to help develop your competitive pitch. If items are cheaper online, explain the reason for this in comparative information you have in store.
Service, service, service. This is the real difference of a retail store compared to an online store. If you provide excellent personal service which gets your shoppers talking about you and you are able to blend into your pitch the value of this over online, you can expect to win business from some of these face to face shoppers.
Promote local. The better your connection with the local community and the value you demonstrate that your business delivers to the local community the greater the perceived value of your business in the minds of local shoppers. Unashamedly promote your local connection and credentials. Online businesses rarely have a local connection. Your investment in local clubs, schools and other groups should translate into good local business.
Retail businesses can compete with online businesses with a coordinated and consistent campaign throughout the business, from the top down and from the front window through the shop. Do this and expect to claw back sales you may have lost to online shopping.
by: Knight Bryant
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