Tired window displays, blaring music, rude assistants – the art of putting punters off from entering your store isn’t rocket science. But as retailers compete against the convenience of online shopping – never mind the bright lights of the rest of the high street – a little more care is needed to encourage passers by to take a look inside.
These days time-crunched shoppers need all the incentive you can give them to enter your store – so just what is it that sets your shop front apart from the rest? The good news is, if you want to increase footfall there are some simple changes you can put in place to make your store more appealing. Here are our tips for clocking up more walk-ins:
Work on your window displays
An enticing window display is not optional if you want to increase walk-ins – it’s obligatory. Few businesses can rely on their name alone to pull people in, so entrepreneurs need to get creative with their displays and make the most of the space available.
David Trumper, manager of the London-based Jane Asher Party Cakes, says his store has the “luxury of a large window”, but makes sure the space gets “deliberate and frequent attention” from passers by.
“This year marks the 25th anniversary of the business, and in that time we’ve noticed less people drop in to a bricks-and-mortar shop if they can purchase things online, so the trick is to make sure the shop looks great and the experience is second to none,” says Trumper.
Admittedly, he says, his subject matter lends itself to lovely visual displays, but his team always strikes a balance between “demonstrating what stunning professional cakes we produce, and encouraging custom from those amateur bakers who want to pick up a few icing tools or baking accessories and who we wouldn’t want to intimidate”.
Window displays should be changed regularly, but getting the balance right is important. Jill Pinner is chairman of Fizz, an experiential agency that helps businesses and suppliers to sell their products at a store or event. “[Window displays] must always be fresh, always be current. They should be changed regularly but left long enough for people to see it on a Monday and come back the following weekend,” she says.
Create a unique experience
Entrepreneurs should be creative in the methods they use to encourage people to come in off the streets, says Pinner. Using the same strategy over and over again is no good if it’s not working.
“Look at the store and see whether it appeals or not,” says Pinner. “Try having one person in the store to help people try things, or someone giving out samples. Give your customer an experience when they come in and make sure your staff know what they are talking about.”
Having people in the store to talk to your customers is important, says Pinner, as “people buy from people” despite the technical innovations at their fingertips.
If footfall is flagging, think about trying a new approach. Pinner recommends posting a small advert in the local paper – “it makes people enquire,” she says. “A lot of people go with what they have used forever.”
Leverage social media
Although your main concern may be with making an immediate difference to your footfall, don’t neglect online strategies to help you achieve this goal. Building up your brand online can be important for reaping offline rewards, as today savvy customers can pull up information about your brand at the click of a button.
“The link between online and offline is crucial,” says Andy Mallinson, UK managing director of Stackla, a social content marketing platform. “Brands that think they are very different places are in danger of missing the point. The clicks-and-mortar versus bricks-and-mortar is a crucial balance a brand has to make.”
Mallinson suggests small business owners think of social media as a conversation, rather than purely plugging their brand: “It’s just technology that allows you to have that in a way that perhaps broadcasts it a little bit louder,” he says.
When planning your posts, try to include content that is valuable to your customer. “Rather than saying ‘here is the latest product’, it’s saying ‘what is it you like about it?’” Mallinson suggests.
Online competitions can be a good way of encouraging people to pay a visit to your store. Encourage people to take pictures with products and post them online, and turn it into a competition requiring votes – this will it “drive eye balls back onto your brand’s website” and into your store, says Mallinson.
Atmosphere
Part of the trick to increasing the number of walk-ins is not putting people off from entering in the first place. Loud music and low lighting may be suitable for some brands, but businesses should make sure they really understand their customer before they employ these methods.
Peter O’Toole, CEO of Retail Merchandising Services (RMS), says: “Understanding your customer is number one priority. Everyone seems to lose that part of it.”
Business owners should consider their customer when planning store layout, he says. “Most people are right handed so they automatically look to the left hand side, so you put products there. Yellow is the number one eye-catching colour to the human eye, so that’s why promotions are yellow so you cannot miss them.”
Even the major supermarkets are guilty of poor research into their customers’ habits, says O’Toole, as they often lay out their stores based on margin, while customers just want to “come in, get what they need, and leave”.
Accessibility is a big factor in increasing footfall, says O’Toole. If a customer can’t find products easily, it will put them off from shopping at all. “People get frustrated and say ‘I will get it online’.”
Business owners can use music to increase walk-ins, but with caution. “Music does play a part, but it’s about recognising your customer at the right time of day and having the right mood of music that suits them. Getting the senses right is really important,” says O’Toole.
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