Did you know that according to research conducted by PWC more than 80% of shoppers are willing to spend more for great customer experience? Yes, that’s how highly customer shopping experience is valued. Aside from how the employees engage with the customers, checkout lines are also an important factor in how the shoppers perceive the store services. The mood of the store from the interior design to the music played can also impact how much a customer will be willing to spend.
With this and much more, it is important that stores continue finding ways to improve the customer shopping experience. That’s why in this post we will share the above points in details as well as add new ones to enable you to make your customers shopping experience memorable in a positive way.
1. Train Your Staff to Care
Unlike online stores, brick and mortar store requires staff to physically engage with customers. First of all, train them to be active listeners as well as good communicators. Aside from that, let them be better informed of the products they are selling to be able to answer the customers’ questions. That said it’s more likely the shopper has researched the products online and it will be embarrassing when your staff doesn’t know anything about the products.
Note that, since it is hard to memorize every single detail of the products, you should equip the staff with the latest technology. This will enable them to easily access any information concerning the products, customer purchase history, find the location of the product as well as real-time stock level. In the end, remember that happy staff leads to satisfied customers, therefore, ensure the staff is working in a friendly environment and feel appreciated.
2. Minimize the Checkout Time
Everyone’s in a hurry these days and it does not help when your customers wait in line for long. No matter how busy the store might be shoppers get frustrated when they stand for more than five minutes due to slow and outdated payment methods or just slow and tired cashiers. To avoid your customers leaving your store to a more hassle-free competition store you need to find ways to minimize the checkout time.
One of the solutions are investing a modern point of sale system which is both fast and simple to use which will enable the checkout to be more quickly and efficiently. If the store is busy especially in the holiday season or due to any promotional sales, you should equip the sales associates with iPad systems to cater to shoppers away from the traditional checkout point. Lastly, mobile payment is another way to minimize the line.
3. Make the Store Friendly for Co-Shoppers/Kids
It is so easy for retail stores to be concerned about the shoppers that they forget the other two types of people accompanying them. One of them is co-shoppers while others are the kids. When we talk about the co-shoppers we basically mean the husbands, wives, boyfriend, and girlfriends of the actual customers as well as other relatives or friends. Since the co-shoppers and kids can be a bit irritating to the actual customers especially if they are impatient, you need to consider how to change this situation.
Start by providing a relaxed and comfortable area for them to enable the actual customers to shop without any worry. For the adults, there are many ways to keep them occupied such as having a television on the area, provide various magazines as well as free WIFI. What you don’t know is that since most people own smartphones, the co-shoppers get to keep themselves busy surfing the internet that they forget how long the shoppers have been away. On the other hand, they can start checking out the in-store products and their prices thus deciding to get something for themselves too.
As for the kids, entertain them by providing them with a few boxes of crayons and some papers to color. Also, a train set or a couple of cars as well as dolls will also keep them occupied. TV is another way to keep older children from getting bored. Just remember, to make sure the parents feel at ease, have some friendly staff around the area to keep an eye on the kids until the parents are done shopping.
4. Host Events
There is nothing great than bringing customers together with the intention of socializing and having fun and hosting events in your store is one of them. Note this, in a recent survey, it was recorded that nearly 60% of consumers are interested in in-store events, especially where free sampling is provided. Even if you own a store that doesn’t sell edibles you still can partner with a related business willing to let the customers sample their foods.
Additionally, you can host a kid’s event especially if you own a kid store that sells toys, clothing’s or shoes. On that day you can host a face painting event or a reading session for the kids. Use these events to collect email addresses of the parents and guardians or share your social media pages with them and request them to follow you.
5. Engage with Customers
Most retailers think social media platforms are the only way to engage with customers. But truth be told, you need to extend your engagement with customers beyond that. You need to engage them with surveys as well as encourage ratings and reviews. If you receive some negative reviews don’t get offended but reach out to the customers and address the issue to avoid making the same mistake again.
When it comes to the atmosphere of the store, you can also engage with the customers by making your interior designs more welcoming, playing cool music as well as shifting the products to encourage discovery, just make sure when you do this, you have an attendant or a sign showing where you relocated the other product. Remember this; building a sense of excitement will surely change your customer experience for the better.
Conclusion
We hope you now understand how a customer in-store experience is important and will use the above points to improve your store for the better. Invest in your customers and by the end of the day you will have happy loyal customers who won’t hesitate to spread the word of your great store to their relatives and friends.