3 Tips | How To Attract New Retail Customers

There are many ways to attract new retail customers. Whether you are a high street retailer or a destination retailer, there are a few simple things you can do to help you attract new customers. These 3 quick-read tips are designed to be applicable to a range of different retail types.

Humans become accustomed to things quickly, very quickly. For example, a bad smell can be very overwhelming at first, but after a few minutes you won’t even be able to pick up on it. Displays are similar. If nothing changes for a few weeks, people no longer notice it. This is particularly applicable to your window displays or, if you are set back from the road, your signage.

Ideally a window display should be changed every 2 weeks. When displays aren’t changed around they become stale and customers stop noticing them. A shop’s window is one of the most enduring marketing tools a shop has. It is relatively in-expensive to keep the merchandise and window dressing props relevant, and it is constantly on show.

To prevent customers from no longer noticing your shop, it is important to not only change the window displays regularly, but also to create bold and attractive displays. These types of displays should be tidy and have a good focus on your products. After all, they are the advertisement for your shop. You wouldn’t accept a scratched billboard, don’t accept a below par window display.

Social media is here to stay, and although it may not be the highest converting of your sales methods, it can help you to drive footfall. Social can help you attract customer, but only if you use it correctly. Different social platforms can be thought of as having different ‘personalities’. These personalities dictate the types of content that should be posted.

The Social Personalities:

LinkedIn is you in a suit at work (professional).

Facebook is you with your friends (cup of tea, chilling).

Twitter is you networking at a party (walking the line between having fun and coming across correctly).

Instagram is you getting arty.

Pinterest is your mood board. You should fill it with things you like, as well as things that you want to show off.

Retailers can do well on several of these platforms, depending on the goods that are sold. For the vast majority, Facebook and Twitter are going to be the key players. If you’re high fashion or design related, Pinterest and Instagram are also going to do a lot to help you.

Great images are the key to the majority of platforms. Plain text posts don’t tend to attract as much attention on any of the platforms. Memes and inspiring images are particularly engaging but you must use them wisely! A great idea is to use a letter board or a light box to help direct people towards where you want to be contacted online.

If you’re doing it really smartly, you can even enlist bloggers and ambassadors. This can be great news for your SEO and also enable you to attract attention. If you can give a trial product to a high profile blogger or social authority (think someone on Twitter with 20K+ or Facebook 15K+), and get them posting about it and your shop… you could be pulling people in in no time. This of course needs to be done carefully; if your target market is teenagers, then that is the age of blogger you want. If your target is pregnant mothers, then you need a blog about being pregnant!

Hosting an event can be a great way to boost your footfall. Your events and your social accounts should enjoy some symbiosis.

Choose your event wisely. For example, you get a personal stylist to give a talk or a local chef to show off some recipes using your food. You can promote these events to your customers at the till and ask them to invite your friends. If you are collaborating with someone from outside of your business (e.g. the chef), you should also ask them to promote the day.

In addition, social is a key weapon for you here. You should not only be promoting on social with posts, but also asking people to retweet something for their free entry or to click attending on a Facebook event (make sure they like your page too). This allows you to grow your network. When someone clicks attending, all their friends can see that they are going. The average number of Facebook friends is 338. So when someone clicks attending, the event is shared with all of those friends. As long as you are asking them to interact with your page in the appropriate ways, you are building an audience you can invite to the next event.

Events help you to create a buzz and a sense of urgency. If you plan them carefully and execute your marketing around them carefully, you can do well.

Essentially, the way you present your business, both online and offline, can have a great effect on your business. These changes can be simple and can really help you to attract new retail customers.