// Marketing
Successful Digital Marketing Strategies for Retail Store
// Marketing
The world can be divided into two types of people: those who like to buy something, and those who hate to shop. To which of them would you not attribute yourself, it is necessary to realize that we all must do this from time to time.
Therefore, in our world from all sides we come across messages trying to convince us to buy a particular product in a particular store. This is what makes marketing for retailers complicated as hell. They often fight for attention in order to get a client who clicks the Buy button on their website or comes to the store and gets a bank card.
If you are a retailer and eager to pick up every customer, how will you attract him? Old strategies, such as a good location, distributing flyers and advertising on TV are no longer so effective. You need to create ideas for digital marketing.
While the multichannel approach contains different roles that perform different functions to achieve the same goal, a universal method optimizes the marketing process. All elements of a marketing strategy do the same job to achieve a common goal. This improves integration and ensures constant interaction with the client all his way from acquaintance with the brand to purchase and formation of loyalty.
In practice, this approach encourages retailers to map the customer’s paths, identifying common ground that may be relevant to sales and missed opportunities.
The first thing you need to do to improve digital marketing is to move from a multi-channel approach to a universal one. There should be no discrepancies between promotion channels. Each message must provide a unified message and identical standards.
After implementing a universal approach to marketing, you need to become the "guru" of your data. Between websites, social networks and physical points of sale, you always have a lot of data at your disposal. But often they are scattered and useless.
For example, do you always know the clear moments when a particular person talked online about your store, signed up for the newsletter, and then bought a product? Probably not. Many sellers miss some of this data without giving it due weight.
But the ability to identify all these points of contact with the brand and track every action can help create personalized messages and direct marketing strategies.
What is needed for this?
Many brands are losing ground due to the fact that they do not devote enough time to their sites. Gradually they give way to stores like Asos or Boohoo, which are full-fledged online stores.
The main reason for changing business trends in this industry is the lack of time for the consumer. It’s much easier for him to go to the site in the evening and make a purchase, than to shift his schedules and go to the physical store.
The benefits of retail store websites are obvious. Many companies understand them and create their own web pages. But launching a site is not enough. You need to deal with it, as if it were a physical store.
In the real world, the buyer will look at cleanliness and accuracy, lighting and smell. In virtual, it evaluates usability, design and download speed. The launch of the site will be a successful element of the marketing strategy only if you constantly analyze the actions of customers and give feedback in the form of optimization of functionality.
Another obvious marketing channel is social networks. The concept of sales through such platforms is one of the best marketing ideas for almost any industry. Retailers should pay particular attention to such a strategy, since in this case this is the best way to interact with the customer.
A social network is not just an additional tool for providing goods. Today it is an opportunity to analyze consumer behavior. Here, users talk about their doubts and fears, negative and positive experiences, wishes, personal requirements.
Retailers are required to make the social network one of the core values in their marketing strategy. Thanks to it, you can manage a conversation with a consumer and gain trust. And without buyer's confidence, purchases definitely will not be held.
Signs and digital displays on the streets cannot be called digital marketing. But their formation today should be based on data that can be collected via the Internet.
Think about the demographics of your customers and ask yourself: “How to convey a message to several age groups and different sexes?” Or “If a man comes to the store, what does he want and how can we help with this?”
If you have a message based on a product that is usually bought by women, for example, consider how you can adapt it to other demographic indicators. Each display and sign should be liked by everyone who enters the store. Setting these elements will allow you to manage the entire target audience, and not just one client.
Using data such as gender, age, financial status, interests, the software displays the most suitable advertisement for the client. Using data collected about the buying habits of similar customers, the software provides relevant messages that stimulate positive buying behavior.
Smartphones and their development is not just an improvement in our lives, but also an opportunity to promote the brand. But it will go far from creating mobile sites or applications. After all, the benefits of mobile traffic have long become clear and every businessman is developing it.
But not everyone thinks about tracking those very smartphones (everything is within the limits). Localized marketing is a way to distribute content through specific consumers, at the right time and in the right place, with very personalized notifications.
This approach involves the use of Wi-Fi connections, RFID, Bluetooth and other radio waves transmitted by the smartphone. Through them, you can target a potential customer who is at a particular moment near your store.
How it works?
Beacons. This technology consists in creating a connection between the customer’s device and the beacon, which is located in the store itself and contains a certain message. To implement the method, the following is necessary:
Another way of advertising, which is used very rarely today, but increases the demand for goods. Almost every modern smartphone is already equipped with NFC chips and the ability to read a QR code without downloading software. This is a great opportunity to send a message to a potential consumer.
Localized marketing provides an unprecedented impact and understanding of customer behavior. So, with the help of beacons, you can track the movements in the store to know which products are most interested in a particular customer. Using NFC and a QR code, you can give not only an advertising message, but also informative information for a client.
One way or another, localized marketing is a step towards the client himself. You seem to say to him: “What you need is right around the corner”.
Artificial intelligence technologies are gradually being adopted in all areas, including retail. In this case, one of the most common ways is to launch a bot on a site or in a mobile application.
AI bots are used to solve simple queries (find some product, help with payment, compare prices and so on). Thus, the user no longer needs to switch between the pages of the site in order to achieve a result. It is enough for him to enter a request in the bot and wait a few seconds.
The advantage of AI is that it is not limited to a simple helper bot. While the client is looking for answers, your software collects information about it and makes the client’s path more personalized in the future.
Artificial intelligence is an improvement in user experience. Are there any marketing moves that are better than those that increase the quality of customer interaction?
This method is known as BOPIS (Buy online - pick up in store). The name of the concept speaks for itself: the buyer makes purchases through your website, and takes the goods directly to the store. This is one way to implement a comprehensive marketing approach.
According to research, 90% of buyers want to shop online, but pick up the goods in the store itself. 83% of retailers say that today, about 20% of online sales are exactly purchases using the BOPIS method.
This method provides convenience and speed of purchase for the client. After ordering online, it is usually necessary to wait for delivery, which is not always acceptable. Sometimes a product is needed in the evening, but at the same time, there is no way to visit the store to personally choose something.
Thus, the client opens your site, quickly selects the product he liked and pays for it. And instead of waiting for delivery, he comes to the store and picks up the goods in person. The possibility of receiving the product on the day of purchase is an obvious benefit for the customer.
Another advantage for the buyer is on-site verification of the goods. If he does not like something or, for example, does not fit the size, he can immediately change the product. No re-shipments and shipping charges.
The increase in online orders. As the customer receives “immediate satisfaction,” his desire to make an online order increases. So, without the opportunity to pick up the goods on the same day, consumers very often look at the goods, but do not make a purchase because of the long delivery times or its high cost. But as soon as the client understands that his additional costs will stop on paying for public transport, and the goods can be picked up in an hour, the likelihood of ordering increases.
Physical store traffic. Very often, physical stores look half empty. Having formed a hype, you can inspire the trust of most buyers, as well as attract a new audience. Yes, BOPIS customers will mostly be at the checkout. But it will still generate a lot of traffic in the store itself. In addition, a large queue will prompt the client to see what other products are on the shelves.
Inventory accuracy. As a customer buys a product through the site, your software receives an instant message about a change in the quantity of the product. At the retailer, such data should always be at the highest level to ensure audience awareness.
Wrong inventory is disastrous for retailers. If the buyer immediately finds out about the lack of goods, then he adds it to the list of desired. If he receives such information at the moment when the goods are needed "right now", the client goes to your competitor. It is highly likely that after a deal with another store, the buyer will look for new products there. Since BOPIS will help to improve the quality of inventory, the store will be able to serve its customers much better.
The key to successful digital marketing in the retail sector is the integration of different tools and approaches, as well as their full integration.
To succeed, focus on the tools you need to ensure a consistent and reliable customer experience across all channels and platforms. Also, make sure you sync your offers online and in the physical store.
You should also use simple but powerful strategies, such as local SEO, website maintenance and social networks, to maximize sales.
If you offer to buy online and pick up at the store, make sure that this whole process is clearly worked out and that no problems will arise for the client. At the same time, do not forget to develop a unique corporate packaging. This always has an extra impact.
Lastly, make sure that you have allocated your budget correctly and track the return on these investments. Only in this way you can understand which approaches are working and which need to be changed.
