The year 2020 was an incredibly interesting year for a number of reasons, most of which were not exactly positive. As the pandemic swept across the country, people everywhere had to learn to adjust to life without having the usual access to everyday items and staying inside their own homes. With these adjustments, one of the largest changes seen was the fact that people started doing most of their shopping online.
Many people still predominantly use the internet in order to do their shopping even though the vaccine is well and truly rolled out and restrictions have been dropped. That being said, there are also many people who enjoy shopping in person at their favorite stores. The high street experience has changed, though, because people are now more aware than ever that they have access to everything online. As such, a physical store needs to stand out to attract customers these days.
There are a number of different ways to make your physical store stand out, some of which are discussed in more detail below. So if you are interested in capitalizing on foot traffic and making sure that as many people as possible enter your store, then be sure to keep reading.
Improve the Overall Exterior
The exterior is one of the first things people see when they walk by your store; therefore, you need to ensure that you are doing everything within your power to make the exterior look fantastic and enticing. There are a few different ways that you are able to do this, which include but aren’t limited to the following:
Fresh Paint
Why not give your store a fresh lick of paint? You can choose a color that really makes your exterior stand out amongst the crowd. Not to mention, a fresh lick of paint will make it a lot clearer and look newer, too, which will make people a lot more inclined to step inside your store. Make sure that you pick a color that complements what your store sells as well. For instance, if you sell plants, then green is an excellent choice.
Repair Damaged Concrete
The concrete in and around your building is very important – both from a safety point of view and with how your building looks as a whole. If there are many cracks visible, the building doesn’t look safe or welcoming, meaning people will feel a lot less inclined to step inside.
You will need to get this problem fixed if you want your store to look good and attract customers to come in. Plus, you will be improving the structural integrity of your building by repairing and patching up the concrete as well. Make sure that you reach out to an experienced specialist that offers concrete services – this job isn’t something that just anyone can do, and your building’s safety and look both depend on a good job well done.
Get Some Plants
No matter what your business offers, greenery and color are always very attractive to customers. Having some plants indoors and outdoors can really boost business and brighten up your store, as everything seems fresh and warm, meaning people will be more inclined to come inside. If the stores around you don’t have any plants, then this is an excellent way to make sure that you stand out amongst your competition and are properly capitalizing on passing foot traffic.
Clear Out Your Clutter
Moving onto the inside of your building now, it is important that you clear out all of the clutter that might be filling up your shop. There are a lot of retailers who, these days, are looking to reduce the size of their shops and the inventory that they offer. If you’re one of them, decluttering your shop can help ensure your space is effectively utilized as much as possible. Plus, even if you’re not looking to downsize, clearing out clutter will help your business run more smoothly and be far less stressful to manage – a tidy workspace improves productivity and reduces stress, after all.
Removing clutter will also have an impact on the way that your customers feel the minute they step inside. If they find it hard to move around or do not feel as though they are welcome – given that it doesn’t look appealing and contains chaos and mess – this can negatively impact a customer’s mindset and even make them leave the store in some cases. Make sure the shop floor is clear and properly organized – and, as a result, looks incredibly welcoming for your customers.
Create a Space that Can Be Used for Experiences
As has been said above, many people these days prefer to use the internet for all of their shopping needs rather than going out into the town to do their shopping in person. This means that when they do go to shops to look for different items, they will do so if that shop can offer them something that they wouldn’t have been able to get elsewhere – like on the internet.
The clearest and most obvious example of this is an experience. If you lay out a section in your store specifically for customer experiences, this will be a huge selling point and something that will draw more people in. What you do will vary depending on your industry, but good examples are demonstrations of products, food tasting, free samples, and lessons and presentations on how and why you make whatever it is you sell.
Customers can’t always get these memorable experiences when shopping online, so you truly can capitalize on the novelty factor and uniqueness of customer experiences when looking to entice people to your physical premises.
Conclusion
Given that there are a lot more people who use the internet for online shopping these days, if you have a physical store and prefer having a shop that people can actually go into, you need to make sure you are doing everything in your power to get shoppers to go in there.
There are a number of different ways that you can do this, but some of the most effective are laid out in more detail above. For instance, you should improve the exterior, offer customer experiences and make sure your store is clean and welcoming by getting rid of clutter.