There’s a lot of talk about ‘Amazon’ making its way down under and disturbing the retail landscape as we know it. As the threat of the global phenomenon towers over local retailers, its entrance also presents opportunity.
It’s a time to define your brand’s point of difference and show your customers exactly what your business is about. Catering to the needs of your local customers and personalising their shopping experience is paramount to increasing sales and creating lasting relationships with your brand within the local environs.
Curating your range
One of Amazon’s huge perks is its ability to stock almost anything and everything in its online store. Yet sifting through the mountains of products online takes time and virtual energy, complicating and delaying purchasing decisions, and often leading to abandoned carts.
- Simplifying your product offering both instore and online relieves your customers from being overwhelmed, and enhances their shopping experience.
- Make the most of online real estate by ensuring browsing and purchasing of products is streamlined and efficient. Consider visible shopping carts, optional account registration, and instant calculations of taxes and shipping costs to smooth the purchasing path.
Likewise, give customers the best experience possible while browsing in your physical store.
- Curate the range of products on display to directly meet the needs of your local clientele, while knowing that the full range is available through your order management system. With a single view of stock across all channels, stock not physically located instore can be ordered for the customer from another store or the warehouse, and available instore for collecting or delivered to their home address.
- Shop-able screens and endless aisle also give customers access to shop your entire inventory, while your physical store carries a curated range.
Check out some of our other ideas to make the instore experience smooth and memorable.
Location, location, location
While Amazon’s reach takes it into the homes and businesses of its customers, its physical presence is still lacking.
- Take advantage of the location of your physical stores and bring a sense of community to your brand. Entice customers with relevant specials, promotions and events which bring customers to your store and enable them to enjoy the full retail experience.
- Customise promotions to your location; what might suit one area may not suit another due to a store’s physical size, customer demographics, or the natural environment where it is situated. Experiment with promotions, and track results through analytics to assess the success of a promotional event.
- Determine the unique aspects of your location and celebrate the differences which set it apart.
To make the most of your brand and enhance its point of difference, contact us here for some more suggestions.
