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If you told somebody that you wanted to start a brick and mortar store, they would probably tell you that you’re crazy. In the age of online shopping, you’re never going to make it because the high street is dying out completely and everybody just buys everything from Amazon instead. But is that really true? In some cases, stores struggle to stay open from online competition but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to make a traditional retail business work. There are still a lot of people that prefer to shop in person rather than online because of the experience that they’re getting so it is possible to beat the e-commerce companies. These are some of the best ways to make a brick and mortar store competitive in the age of online shopping.
Quick Service
The convenience of online shopping is one of the major benefits so you’ve got to focus on quick service if you’re going to compete. If you’ve got massive queues, people are going to be put off. That means you need to make sure that you’re hiring enough staff to manage customer numbers efficiently. You also need to put a bit of investment into credit card processing because that’s the main form of payment that people use. If each transaction is taking ages, it will slow the whole thing down and people will get fed up with queueing. If you make people wait too long, they might even decide against the purchase and leave the store.
Great Customer Service
A face to face interaction is something that online stores can’t offer, so you need to play to your strengths and put a lot of effort into your customer service. Some people prefer to go into a store and just ask an employee to help them find things. If you’ve got good staff with excellent customer services skills and good product knowledge, you’re offering an experience that can’t be matched by online shopping companies. It’s also important that you don’t go overboard with customer service because some people want to browse on their own and they don’t like to be pressured. If they’re swarmed by staff members as soon as they enter the store, that’s going to put them off. You should make sure that you’ve got customer service staff on hand if people need help but you keep a respectable distance until they ask for assistance.
Keep Up With Ecommerce Trends
The world of ecommerce is always changing and adapting. It’s important that you do the same so you can find a way to match or offer alternatives to any new developments. If you can’t do this, you won’t be able to stay relevant. That’s why it’s so important that you keep up with e-commerce trends and check the news on a regular basis. There are some things like drone deliveries etc. that you won’t be able to match but a lot of the innovations that e-commerce companies are using can be adapted to a traditional retail store.
It’s not impossible for retail stores to compete with online shopping companies as long as you follow these tips.
This is a contributed post.
