How To Improve Customer Experience In Retail Stores

The face of retail is constantly evolving. Brick and mortar retailers are consistently upping their game in order to satisfy customer experience in retail.

The face of retail is constantly evolving. Brick and mortar retailers are consistently upping their game in order to satisfy and impress their customers. And yet, many high street shops are losing their customers to the convenience of online retail.

Today’s customer is savvy, knows how to shop around, and is often looking for something specific in their shopping experiences to keep them coming back. This is why it is vital that retail stores focus on how to improve their service in order to improve the customer experience in retail. But how can this be achieved?

Find your wow factor

To stand out in today’s retail landscape, stores need to have a wow factor. For many brands, that might be via new retail technology to enhance the customer experience in retail, while for others it’s working to offer an elevated level of personalized customer service.

Wow, factors can spread quickly by word of mouth from one shopper to another and can be an effective way to attract new customers into your store. Offering a technology solution that solves a problem or eliminates a friction point for a shopper is a powerful way to generate publicity and generate an increase in return rate for shoppers.

Personalize the experience

Today’s shoppers expect an experience when they shop in-store. Most people are not satisfied with being treated as a number when they take their customs to a retail shop. As such, stores should find ways to offer a level of personalization to their shoppers.

There are numerous ways to provide a personal touch for your customers; ways to customize products are very popular, but the personalized digital style or fitting guides can also be crowd-pleasers. Likewise, serving personalized offers to brick and mortar shoppers based on their previous shopping history and habits is a very effective way to drive engagement and sales, and technology like MishiPay facilitates these data insights. In addition, aligning this information with data from customers shopping online can be hugely helpful in meeting their needs in-store, creating a true omnichannel experience for consumers.

Invest in your team

In many instances, the staff makes or breaks the customer experience in retail or shoppers. Next-level advice, strong knowledge of products and services as well as a pleasant demeanor are just a few ways staff can improve customer experience in retail setting.

By offering employees development and training opportunities to not only further their careers but also enhance the customer experience in retail, the benefit of these investments is twofold: you’re giving your employees the skills to perform their role better and offering your customers the best service possible when they visit your store.

Offer worthwhile in-store rewards

Customer rewards are a fantastic way to incentivize loyal customers as well as draw in new ones. Loyalty programs and rewards are nothing new, but currently, we are seeing examples of shoppers being bombarded with emails about current offers because they’ve signed up to a mailing list. This doesn’t qualify as a valuable rewards program for customers and in many cases, can push them away.

Instead, reward programs should be simple, straightforward, and relevant without spamming customers. Whether it’s a simple points app, exclusive product offers, or invitations to exclusive events and launches, retailers should really consider what they can offer loyal shoppers that will excite and retain them, and potentially reward them for bringing friends to the brand, too. Customers should feel that loyalty schemes are tailored to suit them, giving them value so they feel that they are really getting something unique from choosing to shop with the brand.

Perfect your store’s design

Store design and layout can also play a large role in either positively or negatively affecting customer experience in retail. Beyond the basics like ensuring that products are well displayed and can be easily located by shoppers, there are many other ways to elevate your store’s design. In-depth research into color and music psychology can help you to choose how to positively affect customer moods and spending habits. Likewise, finding innovative ways to make every square foot of retail space drive store performance will improve store profitability and simultaneously create a more engaging, interesting space for consumers. What’s more, it will increase their desire to keep coming back.