3 Tips on how Retailers can Save Their Physical Stores

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Thursday, March 19, 2020

Oversized stores are designed to interrupt and place obstacles in front of shoppers to get them to buy more stuff instead of planning around convenience and helping shoppers accomplish their objectives

Fremont, CA: The traffic in brick and mortar stores is slowly declining, and online traffic is growing at a lightening pace. Consumers' needs and want for convenience are constantly changing, and stores are not keeping up with it. It is not the store layout change or the implementation of technologies but the need for a brand to stand out or one that is genius and authentic to its brand values, rather than just selling.

Here are three ways for retailers to save their stores from losing ground:

Define the Brand

With the growing influence of millennials, a retailer's brand value proposition will need to stand for something real and meaningful and not just promote consumerism or solve a lifestyle need. Many retailers have a philanthropy arm and give generously to the communities they serve, and this has to be central to the brand.

Meaningful Presence in Digital Spaces

Consumers discover and engage with brands online first and not through stores. Retailer's brand values need to be authentically and genuinely conveyed to drive engagement strategy for social spaces. By sharing meaningful events in the lives of the people, the brand helps and demonstrates how it is making the world a better place. To be let into consumers' lives depends on whether they like what the brand is doing. And if they do, they will do it in a far more brand-loyal way instead of luring them with a promotion.

Expand Store's Value Proposition

Retailers with a strong value proposition should offer self-evident services to enable that value proposition. Consumers who have great experiences in stores would want to bring pieces of that experience home with them, and that is how services drive what retailers want to sell.

Stores need to expand into community engagement and also unlock digital spaces and let them have their brand-related online personalities. Stores that value the enthusiasm and creativity of local store employees in sharing what the brand means to them and how they help deliver the business's brand promise will also add to the store's benefits.