Retail marketing is arguably one of the simplest and less complex trading models around. Its simplicity makes it among the most preferred business models to adopt. However, in these trying times for retail, now more than ever, a solid retail strategy is needed to not only survive but thrive. Three key pillars are:
It’s pretty much an easy process. However, there’s a lot that is involved to ensure that everything goes according to the plan and that you enjoy its benefits.
You see, as easy as retail marketing may sound, it also requires proper planning and execution for it to succeed in any environment. This is primarily because you are most likely to face stiff competition from other similar retail businesses.
In short, you need a solid retail marketing strategy up your sleeve to remain competitive in any business environment. While at it, also make sure you are up to speed with the retail marketing trends that will grow your business.
A strategy, just like in any other business venture, ensures that, among other things, you target the right audience, with the right products and at the right price points. Getting all these factors right from the get-go is crucial to the success of your retail business.
To put this into perspective, let’s go right ahead and look at some of the compelling reasons as to why a retail marketing strategy is a must-have today.
As mentioned earlier, competition is rife in the retail sector. With every retail business scrambling for the same target audience, being able to differentiate one retailer from another is extremely important.
And it’s not just to differentiate by name. It’s also about the value-added and about the customer experience that will help customers set you apart from the rest.
This is a crucial factor when it comes to making sure your customers keep coming back. So, what are some of the things you can do to make sure that your customers know the difference between you and your competition?
Well, you can probably start by making sure you have an attractive and catchy branding, take advantage of price drops to attract more customers, offer discounts and premium offers as well as strategic product placement that entices purchases.
Most of the time, customers walk into the store to purchase a couple of items that they need and then walk out. This is a good thing because they have purchased something from you.
But is that really enough? Is there a chance they could have maybe picked one or two other items in the process? Check out how one retailer is thriving today using this strategy.
Having a well-thought-out retail marketing strategy in place will help you to motivate your customers to buy a bit more every time they come into your store. Things like a strategic store design or cheerful and helpful store attendants make the customers comfortable, at ease, and less in a hurry to leave.
So, they will most likely spend more time looking around and in most case even decide to pick a few more items that were not necessarily on their shopping list. It’s all in the experience.
Networking and loyalty are probably two of the most important factors in business. In order to succeed in business, you definitely need to network. Networking helps you to gain valuable insights about your industry and, in turn, use such information to formulate your growth strategy or adjust the existing one accordingly.
Loyalty is also equally important. A good retail marketing strategy will help you to create customer loyalty, which is extremely crucial to the success and growth of your retail business.
By ensuring that you provide your customers with products that can solve their day-to-day pain points, you will be in a better position to build customer loyalty as well as attract new customers to your business.
Competition is always good because it keeps you on your toes. Your retail marketing strategy should be able to help you know what your competition is doing at any one given time.
For instance, are they running a promotion or sale? So, what countermeasures do you have in place that will ensure that your customer base doesn’t all flock there and deny you sales? Are you going to use retail promotion optimization strategies to offer targeted discounts, promotions, and personalized experiences or implement other countermeasures?
This is just an example of why having a retail marketing strategy is crucial for your business. Being able to mitigate situations that might otherwise negatively affect your sales. Your strategy will have a list of tricks you can quickly deploy in an effort to cushion your business from sticky situations.
Even with the above reasons, having a stand-alone retail marketing strategy can only get you a few steps ahead of the competition.
So, to make sure you remain ahead, you also need to build your strategy on a solid foundation that pretty much ensures that nothing falls through the cracks and that all your retail marketing efforts are in line with your immediate and future needs.
Integration is one critical component that will ensure that your retail marketing strategy delivers as expected. Since you probably have several business and marketing software solutions in place, having these professionally integrated not only helps you make the most of the data collected but also gives your business a leg up on what needs to be done now and in the future to grow your business and also enhance your customer experience.
Whether you are a brick and mortar-based retailer or an eCommerce store, an integration solution like SyncApps Mailchimp for NetSuite or Volusion to Constant Contact will boost your retail marketing strategy by enabling you to see what your prospective customers, existing clients, and leads are buying as part of your email marketing.
Brick and Mortar and eCommerce retailers face their equal share of competition. But with a proper strategy in place, backed by the right integration solution, marketing goals can be reached.
So, in order for you to grow your retail business, make sure that your strategy is customer experience-oriented. You also need buy-in from your team so that they can, in turn, execute it well and be able to stay on top of things at all times.
