Speed and convenience are driving the retail store landscape. The global marketplace needs to adapt to the consumer trends resulting from Covid-19. The future of the retail store needs to embrace these 6 facets of placing the customer first.
1. Online shopping
Retail environments need to adapt to online stores by offering comprehensive digital marketplaces. Your retail website needs to have the capacity to offer online shopping options. Mom and pop shops are vital, but to stand the test of time, retail shops need to embrace and adapt to technology-forward structures. What’s more, branding your business goes hand-in-hand with online shopping. Using platforms like social media to advertise and market products aids in online shopping, putting your retail store ahead of the curb.
2. Digital pricing
Retail stores still need to exist. Embracing technology is essential and solutions like digital price tags have a wide variety of advantages for both the retailer and customer. Retail staff can easily scan them for inventory and reshelving stock purposes. Customers can scan them for promos and additional product information. What’s more is the benefit of enabling the discoverability of products through apps and even virtual reality. Digital pricing is the wave of the future that your retail store needs to embrace.
3. Flexible staffing hours
We know that the 9-5 is a thing of the past, and with it, the relics of 3 square meals a day are fading too. Just as one person might be an early bird while another is a night owl; the average lives of consumers shop on journeys in their spare time. Offering earlier opening hours and later closing hours can be effective when implemented correctly. You don’t have to be open for business 24/7 but offering extended hours on some work days while closed on others can offer a change of pace and be more accessible for customers on their shopping journeys.
4. Payment instalment options
With predictions of online sales said to continue to rise, offering fast, secure payment methods are important. The retail stores need to offer an array of payment methods for ease and convenience of customers’ transactions. The future of the retail stores need to go one step further and offer payment instalments, even for smaller purchases. There are benefits to customers and retailers. For example, that sweatshirt you sell may cost a customer $58 overall but offering a payment installation of two payments of $30 might be more accessible to their budget and ups your profit by $2. Another example: Maybe you’re a boutique florist and sell upscale planted botanicals for $100. Three easy payments of $35 puts an extra $5 in accounts. Having payment instalments will help future-proof your retail store.
5. Return of the returns
With a plan in place, you can get ahead of the wave of online sales. Returns are going to happen whether you like it or not. If you double-down on online sales, you need to have policies and procedures to follow for returns. Without proper planning, you can find your business start to crumble by losing expenses on products not moving after a return or see an increase in delivery fees from returns. Future-proof your retail store by determining clear return policies.
6. Stand for something
Generations come and go. It is inevitable for the millennial and gen Z folks to take the main demographic of shopping. The prediction of the demise of brand loyalty may be true, but what consumers value most are brands that stand for something. Whether it’s climate change or standing against sexism, challenging a social injustice puts you ahead of the curb for the future. Take, for example, #2 with digital price tags. This is a great angle to embrace wasteless practices in retail environments. Find your niche and draw your support to your business image in order to future-proof your retail store.
