When you’re looking at the prospects of improving your store, then it’s important to get to know all of the metrics that matter. It’s not the sales alone you should be looking at, but other important factors such as: how long do they spend in the store? The more time a person spends in your store, the more likely they are to make a purchase, whether it’s because your products have more time to appeal to them or because they get a sense of sunk cost and want to make sure their time has some value.
Either way, getting them to spend longer in the store almost always works out in your favor, so here are a few ways that you can do that.
Ensure the interiors wow them
If you, like many retailers, focus only on the exterior appearance of the store, you might get the curb appeal you want, but your customers might be just as easily driven away by the drab interior. Instead, you should consider working with a fit-out team like Shea Design that can help you create a well-designed store, oozing your brand and a sense of quality from every inch of the space. The goal is to make the store feel like a living representation of the brand, almost like stepping into a catalog. This way, it can have something of a spellbinding effect on your customers.
Make better use of your products, too
It’s not just the interior decor that can wow your customers and attracts them into exploring further, but the way that you use the products themselves. Visual merchandising is a practice that relies on the effective placement of products. You can use them in the front windows as well as in both formal displays and more casual places of visual prominence throughout the store, highlighting and bringing attention to the most aesthetically attractive and visually interesting products, which could help customers better realize the other products around them as well.
Use more dynamic displays
Great decor and visual merchandising can make a big difference, there’s no denying that. However, one thing about them is that they are all static. Nowadays, digital technology offers a whole host of advantages, including the ability to create dynamic and moving displays. With services like business TV by Loop.tv, you can have screens display either your own branded content or licensed content that best fits your brand. Not only can they distract a wandering customer, catching their attention on your store, but they can help improve the branding of the space tremendously, too.
Appeal to their senses
The visual appeal alone of your store isn’t going to create a wholly immersive experience. You also want to create the right atmosphere for retaining your team by appealing to other senses, like the sense of sound and smell. Smell, in particular, can enhance the environment in the store in ways that the others can’t, with aroma diffusers like One Green Solution making it easier to lull customers into a slower pace with a relaxing lavender scent or to better engage them with their surroundings with sweeter, more citrusy flavors. There are all kinds of smells you can match to your store.
Get connected with them
Another way that technology can improve your business is by connecting with your customer’s devices, be it through Bluetooth or through an app that they download in advance. This technology is being used for location-based notifications as well as personalized advertising that can bring their attention to deals and promotions that are in their area. This way, you can benefit from a combination of both convenience and urgency, targeting them with limited-time deals on products that are most likely to appeal to them based on their shopping history.
Connect with your team, too
Above all else, the standards of customer service in your store will do more than anything else to determine how long your customers stay and whether they return. Training a team of polite and congenial staff is a good start, but it’s their morale that is going to matter the most at the end of the day. Managers and employers that truly take into consideration the needs of the team and know when to give some leeway or to provide additional perks, like a break room, are more likely to have a team that is in good enough spirits to be more personable and customer-focused.
Short of locking the doors (don’t do that), the tips above are some of the most effective measures to encourage customers to spend longer in your stores.
