Online shopping just isn’t for everyone for good reasons. Sometimes you want to try before you buy or just enjoy the actions of walking around stores and falling in love with items in real life. Pictures can be deceiving, and it’s common for shoppers to be stung a few times too many, which means coming into the store is a must.
But some conveniences come with online shopping that you could use and transform your in-store experience, but knowing how to apply them in places where some struggle. Here are some tips that in-person stores could take inspiration from to transform and apply to encourage more footfall.
Convenience Finding Products
While online, they have search bars, collections and other refinements so you can find existing products or a style of product more easily. However, in a store, you either need to find a member of staff or wander around a shop trying to find where all the collections are.
I wonder if they mapped out stores more efficiently, they would make shopping easier and more convenient. I understand that within fashion, they can mix up their styles to display an outfit to encourage more purchases. However, this can still be the case if it is still easily findable.
There is potential to create an online system in-store that the customer can type in the product, and it will show where the product is. This could look like each rail is numbered; say you’ve asked for a white maxi dress, it will show you the options and what number rail they are placed on. This means you can head right to the numbers and find the item you’ve been looking for.
This is just one way of making products easier to find while maintaining the current mixed structure to show full and potential outfits for customers to buy alongside the product they are looking for.
Alternatively, they could do what other brands famously do; they could keep jeans all in one section, pyjamas all in another and so forth. This makes it much easier, instead of wandering around a shop looking for all of the jeans.
Why Would a Customer Appreciate This?
It’s common for brands to move stock around frequently, and I understand that, but it can be an inconvenience to customers who are returning to find a product and could lead to missing out on a sale. Having a service in place that can help narrow down shopping for the in-and-out shopping is a great way to encourage in-store purchases and potentially reduce returns, which is the bane of online retailers. It’s clearly bringing online convenience to life.
Scan As You Go
Quick and effective shopping, like the famous food retailer Tesco, has been implemented in its extra stores over the last few years. Online shopping is known for its quickness of clicking ‘add to cart’ and ‘pay now’ buttons. Tesco is a great example of a business that has implemented a similar online feature, which allows shoppers to scan the product and pack it away to then pay simply and leave without the hassle of the checkout process.
Vast Selection
The best thing about online shopping is that you have hundreds and even thousands of choices to choose from at one retailer. With in-store experiences, you are limited to what you can fit in the space, which means you are likely to miss out on in-store sales for items that customers are looking for. You could offer a service similar to Argos, where you can provide same-day pickup with specific items, such as larger pieces, to save space in the store.
Overall, it’s hard to compromise or bring this online feature in-store. The only solution is to offer the customer to order online with you to bag the sale while they are there.
Easy Navigation
Online shopping has everything placed in a section where it is easy to find, which needs to be reflected in an in-store format. A good example of this would be the format that IKEA has created. It ensures that customers get to see every single product and not miss out on anything; it’s convenient, easy to follow and offers a really seamless experience. While some people prefer the notion of popping in and out, for the overall customer experience, it encourages more sales through exposing customers to all of your products.
In classic human nature, you grab stuff that you know you don’t need but want, so whether it’s new plates just because of home decor, it’s a great way, like online shopping, to encourage more items to be added to baskets without a chance of abandoning checkout.
With shops like Primark and other retailers, they include a windy queue which is stacked with little products to encourage purchases; whether it’s bobbles, lip glosses or anything in between, this is extremely similar, if not the same, as when online shopping during checkout, when some potential ‘add-ons’ will pop up as a ‘don’t miss out on’ which encourages increasing order values.
This is not only a great opportunity to boost sales, but it’s also a very convenient way to ensure your customers aren’t forgetting some weekly essentials or additions that they actually came online or in store for, which is something we have all been guilty of when you see a bunch of new products you must have. Overall, it’s best for both parties in both scenarios.
Why Do Customers Expect Online Convenience In Store
Positive Experience
You want both scenarios of shopping to be a positive experience, and if that means ensuring the in-store is well-lit and has friendly staff or ensuring your website loads quickly. While you can have really enjoyable experiences at places, such as shopping centres in Leeds like Victoria Leeds, where they offer facilities alongside shopping, including restaurants, play areas and games for adults. Online shopping is great for the purpose of shopping, but it doesn’t offer a whole day of activities.
Easy Checkout
You want to make payment a seamless and easy experience, whether it’s self-checkout or in person, with members of staff available to help. If you are met with stress or inconvenience with your in-store journey, you are likely to revert to online shopping.
While online shopping is convenient, the physical store still offers the benefit of instant gratification. Customers want to combine this with online efficiency. They expect services like mobile payment or self-checkout to eliminate lines, mirroring the speed of an online checkout.
Access To Information
Online customers can easily check real-time inventory. You can do this in areas such as IKEA, compare prices instantly, and read thousands of reviews and detailed product specifications. While we have created a suggestion to keep up with online experiences, it’s not a widely available in-store experience. They expect store associates and in-store technology (like digital displays or apps) to provide this same level of immediate, accurate information.
Convenience Is A Must
Online shopping offers unparalleled convenience: 24/7 access, shopping from home, easy price comparison, and one-click purchasing. Customers now benchmark all shopping experiences against the easiest one, which is often their favourite online retailer. They want the in-store experience to be just as efficient and flexible.
About the Author
After completing a University degree in Journalism, Darcy Fowler has dedicated a lot of time to learning about the dynamic world of ecommerce; working in multiple sectors while continuing to broaden her knowledge. Darcy is determined to provide interesting and insightful content with the hope of inspiring others.