By 
With the onslaught of e-commerce, the retail business has been on the receiving end. Retailers the world over are revisiting their marketing strategies to stay competitive and profitable.
If you too are a retailer keen on converting shoppers into buyers, your marketing options are limitless. Web promotions, billboards and commercials help create brand awareness. However, nothing compares to the power of in-store promotion in driving sales, and profits.
What are in-store promotions? How to execute them for maximum benefits? Let’s discuss.
In-store promotions spelt:
The term in-store promotion stands for a set of promotional activities executed in a brick and mortar retail location. These activities are designed to spread a word about your business, bring customers through the door, and help earn sales, and up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. Plus, the activities can be targeted towards educating prospects and buyers, cutting down customer wait-times, and supporting sales staffs. The in-store promotions can be anything, from in-store advertising to gala events, and retail promoter deployment to special offers.
How to pull off in-store promotions?
You have multiple in-store promotional tools at your disposal. The real deal is to choose the right one suiting your budget, marketing objectives and bottom line. The execution has to be equally efficient for maximum gains. Here’s your checklist for the right planning and execution.
- Rebrand your sellable:
A product might not attract customer attention and sales due to weak, inadequate branding, changing customer preferences, outdated packaging or ill-reputation. If you too have such an inventory, it’s time to rebrand it. Just give it a packaging makeover in line with the latest trends. The buyers will find it more palatable. Using posters that depict the sellable in a different light is also advisable. It’s all about changing the narrative of your product to suit buyers’ taste.
- Deploy retail promoters:
Your staff is efficient but is it delivering versus your revenue targets? If no, deploying in-store retail promoter makes sense. Retail promoters are professionally trained people that work to your advantage while staying in sync with your bottom line. They approach potentials, learn about customer needs, provide product presentations, and respond to customer queries.
Simply put, these professionals generate leads, entice buyers into investing in your brand, and drive up-selling and cross-selling to keep you profitable. Plus, they help create brand awareness and customer allegiance for consistent repeat and referral business. They deliver the kind of ROI to fully justify your decision to have them manning your retail locations.
- Focus on customer experience:
Buying need not be a boring transaction for the buyer but an experience to be cherished. Customer experience largely hinges on two aspects, entertainment and education. Consider creating waiting areas replete with games and recreational activities to keep customers entertained while they wait. Serving complimentary beverages is also a good idea.
Customers acknowledge brands that offer the right information about the product and related topics. For instance, if you operate a home appliance store, consider providing cooking tips or share some recipes with buyers. They’re likely to purchase cooking gadgets from you as an acknowledgement, thus, increasing your sales and overall profits.
