Store Wars: 3 Ways To Gain An Edge On Your Retail Competition
As a retail store owner, you are probably always looking for new ways to gain an edge on your competition. Here are three effective ways to do just that:
Create an Exclusive Club Membership
Creating and offering an exclusive club membership option to your customers is an excellent way to keep them coming back and to attract new customers to your door as time goes on. Your club membership will reward those who shop at your retail store often and encourage those who don't shop often to make more purchases. Structure your club membership program in a way that benefits both you and the customer.
You can offer your members a discount on their bill once a month, which will help ensure that you're getting your customers in the door on a regular basis. Or offer customers a free item after making a certain amount of purchases, which will guarantee you a profit before rewarding your customers.
Design membership cards about the size of business cards, and have a few hundred of them printed out so your employees can offer them to customers when they check out. If you're offering free items after a set amount of purchases, have your checkers punch a hole in the membership card every time a purchase is made. Once enough holes have been punched in the card, the customer is eligible for their free item and can exchange their old membership card for a new one.
If you're offering a monthly or quarterly discount, provide your customers with a new membership card each month, making sure the cards specify the month they are good for—you'll have to print out new cards every month. Your customers can trade their cards in for their discount at any time during the month their cards are good for and then pick a new card up at the beginning of the next month.
Seriously Consider Customer Feedback
It can be overwhelming just to maintain all the business practices you already have in place, but if you ignore customer feedback, you take the risk of losing your customers to competitors. It's not only important to offer your customers the opportunity to leave your store feedback, but it's crucial that you take the time to absorb the feedback and seriously consider implementing it in some way.
If your customers want access to more sales, start hosting sidewalk sales that feature the previous month's overstock. If customers complain about the lighting or temperature, add more light fixtures or ceiling fans. If people want to get through the lines quicker, invest in new technology that will speed up the checkout process. Every piece of feedback you address or implement will only improve your customer relations and help keep you ahead of the competition.
Invest in Drone Delivery
Drone delivery is the way of the future. Many companies have already committed to incorporating drones into their delivery processes, and more are sure to follow in the coming years. Investing in drone delivery services now is one of the most effective ways to gain an edge on your competition.
When a customer needs an item for a party or an outfit for a formal engagement but doesn't have time to shop in person, they can order what they need, and one of your drones could potentially deliver their package right to their front door in a matter of just a couple of hours. Drone delivery will allow you to reduce your human delivery workforce needs and to optimize your delivery accuracy overall.
Drones can avoid traffic and security gates too, which means that you can lower the amount of time it takes for a package to get from your warehouse or storefront to your a customer's front door. And you're sure to impress customers with the convenience through technology that you offer them. Now is the time to consider investing in drone production and delivery.
To learn more about the services drones can provide, contact a company like Helinet.