E-Commerce’s Influence On The Retail Shopping Experience
Most retailers find that selling to their existing customers is much easier than finding new customers to sell to. Research has indicated that most retailers have anywhere between a 60% to 70% chance of their existing customers purchasing from them again, compared to a 5% to 20% chance of a new customer purchasing from them for the first time. With such an immense difference between these likelihoods, you’d think that retailers would reconsider their marketing efforts as they’re primarily driven to attracting new customers.
For retail organizations hoping to improve dynamic revenue growth, focusing on strategies targeting existing customers would be far more effective. The challenge for businesses has become how to balance satisfying both their existing customers and differentiate themselves enough to attract new customers. The infographic coupled alongside this post is meant to help achieve that balance. Businesses will have to start by finding the most effective way to integrate both their online and in-store selling strategies to provide the most optimal shopping experience for their customers. Proper integration allows organizations the ability to use selling tactics such as cross-selling and upselling to improve revenue growth.
One thing the infographic emphasizes is how important omnichannel marketing is to achieving both this strategy and finding any success in the retail industry today. A well-established digital presence can be the deciding factor between bringing new customers into physical retail locations that would otherwise never had interacted with a business.
An omnichannel strategy’s strength is predicated on how long customers spend in retail locations. On average, most customers spend about 15 minutes to an hour in physical retail locations. More often than naught, they enter a store knowing exactly what they’re looking for and as once they purchase it they leave. A strong enough social media presence means that the customer never stops interacting with this business despite leaving their physical location. Text message offerings and different coupon codes sent via e-mail are the perfect ways to drag these customers back into the store.
Alternatively, these customers could find their way to a businesses’ online webstore. With a sophisticated enough system, the level of personalization that can be offered online exceeds anything possible in store. Product recommendations can be suggested based on previous purchases and wish lists all while providing customers a simple shopping experience at their fingertips.
The customers who are drawn into stores rather than purchasing online can also be met with digital techniques brought into the store. Retail businesses frequently use digital signage or displays to direct customers into products or supply critical information regarding specific products in-store. Digital techniques can ensure a customer remains engaged while in-store.
Integrating these techniques into your businesses’ operating can be difficult, but they don’t have to be. For more information on a simple integration, be sure to check out the infographic coupled alongside this post. Courtesy of IDL Displays.
