The rise of e-commerce has seen a notable downfall in retail store businesses. People tend to buy the majority of their stuff online now. The trends like showrooming are becoming more and more famous as people generally visit a retail shop now only to compare the prices. But why is this happening at all? The simple answer is because of the perks and facilities online websites provide, including omnipayments, replace or refund access, company guarantee, etc. As a matter of fact, these e-commerce sites are constantly cutting regular customers of brick and mortar stores by huge margins, making it even more difficult for the retail industry to survive out there. If you are one of such business’ owners, then you should read this article on how to retain your existing customers in brick and mortar retail. We will tell you what you should do and what you shouldn’t. Just go through the listicle to find out about customer retention and help your business get a solid customer base.
Customer Feedback
Having customer feedback is very important for any business as it shows the real mirror of the type of services you are providing to your customers. Considering feedback and working on them helps you understand the mistakes you’re making in your business and helps you understand the customer’s point of view as well. So, these are some points that you should take into consideration in regards to having to retain your existing customers:
- Start taking customer feedback
- Read the feedback in real-time to resolve your mistakes as soon as possible.
- Never ask a customer to give your better ratings, tell them to be honest.
- Work on your mistakes so it should never happen again.
- Try to be anonymous while telling your staff about the complaints.
- Encourage your staff for good feedback too.
- Buy POS systems with a better feedback system.
Consider Customer Experience
Giving your customer a good shopping experience is a must for any business it is a basic necessity of any customer to have a happy and safe environment of shopping and it’s your task to provide the same. Following are some of the best ways you can retain your existing customers:
- Put the needs of customers before yours.
- Never let a customer leave unhappy, let alone furious from your store.
- Customize their experience on the basis of previous purchases
- Start investing in the safety of your customers as well, they should feel safe while shopping in your shelter.
- Give customers the freedom to express their views towards the store and products
- Try to give personalized experience on the basis of their choices
- Train your staff to be more humble and polite
Promises and Fulfilment
Making impossible promises or underachieving any of your brand’s words might cost you a large number of customers. Making a good brand or store reputation starts from fulfilling your promises only. There are many instances in history where big brand chains failed to hold on to their customers because of some unfulfilled wishes of customers. So, check out these points and find out which of these major aspects you are missing:
- Never promise something impossible to a customer
- Always remember you and your business are the same entity so never speak of something you can’t fulfill.
- Allow customers to replace or return faulty products.
- Never make false claims about particular brands just for the sake of profit and promotion.
- Always think of your customer’s profit first.
- Help your customers get what they want, not what you think they want.
Advertising
False advertising is also one of the major reasons for retail stores to lose their customers. Advertisements with faces that are not associated with your brand could potentially land you in great trouble, both legally as well as financially. People visit retail stores on the basis of trust and reputation of the merchant but there are various activities that could break that trust hence not to be able to retain your existing customers. Some of them being:
- Never try to associate your retail store with any famous brands.
- Try to avoid illegal activities
- Stay away from falsely advertising your store or a particular brand.
- Never promise anything to your customers
- Try to build a safer environment for your shoppers.
Give and Take Respect
According to a survey, there is always an 80% chance that a customer who just bought something from the store, will come back at some point. One can only slim those chances by behaving inappropriately with their customers. Giving respect to them might turn out to be a very good deal as people usually prefer to shop from stores with helping and polite staff. Take these points in notice while dealing with customers and dealing with customers as well as training your staff for the same:
- Have a gentle attitude towards your customer
- Never judge or discriminate against a customer on the basis of looks, clothes, color or anything racial.
- Try to help the customer get the best deal
- Tell them about the on-going offers and upcoming offers to keep them interested.
- Give them assurance by supporting their claims about faulty products, hence retain your existing customers.
- Never argue with a potential customer as it spreads the wrong word about your business.
- Keep a record of customer’s birthdays and anniversary to give them freebies on special occasions.
Adequate Payment Acceptance
One of the biggest reasons for people to leave their favorite stores and choose e-commerce instead is the availability of cash. As the world is being digitized day by day, people are preferring other modes of payment over carrying cash around. So, retail stores must remain up-to-date with the market in terms of payment acceptance as well. Check the following points regarding payment and billing in your store to keep your customers happy and fulfilled:
- Use POS systems for accepting different kinds of payment methods ranging from cards to wallets.
- Choose a provider that provides you with frequent updates so that you should cover all payment methods in the market.
- Keep a proper track of customer’s buying history
- Use billing features to keep track of your expenses and start giving regular user discounts.
- Start reward and loyalty programs for your loyal customers.
- Keep in mind that not all customers belong to the elite category, so try to have different versions of the same product in your store.
So, How to Retain Your Existing Customers
There are various other factors that play a major part in the downfall of retail stores, but these are some of the main reasons for a brick and mortar retail store for losing their customers. If you are reading this article, then you probably are going with the same experience yourself. So, don’t waste any more time and retain your existing customers right now. Find out which of the above-mentioned problems are still persisting in your store and solve them with immediate effect.
The retail sector is on the brink of a new revolution so try not to stay behind in the race of elites. Opt-in for new technologies like POS and Billing System right now.
