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Keeping Your Bricks and Mortar Store Relevant in the Digital Age
By: SmallBizClub
In order to succeed in the digital age, the traditional bricks and mortar store needs to make changes that enable them to move with the times.
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It goes without saying that in the last few years, online has taken a firm hold of the retail market, but with the right technology, the traditional bricks and mortar store can gain a competitive edge over their pure-play rivals. Traditional stores have a lot to offer over those that are purely online. By embracing the multi-channel retail solutions available, you can keep your bricks and mortar store relevant in the digital age. Here we take a look at a few of the ways you can do this:
- By utilizing your knowledge and experience
The chances are that if you own or run a physical store you will have knowledge and experience that your online competitors won’t have. Being hands on with a product and seeing it every day really can help. By implementing this knowledge and experience into your digital strategy you will be gaining a real competitive edge. Ways in which you could do this include writing regular blog posts that showcase your expertise, sharing your knowledge via social media and by creating hands-on product guides that are featured on your website. - Offering click and collect
If you have a website and a physical store and you haven’t already embraced click and collect, you really should. By combining your website and your bricks and mortar store your customers will be given the best of both worlds. Offering the facility to purchase items on your website at any time of the day and then collect them whenever they desire gives your customers the ultimate in convenience. With click and collect, no longer will your customers have to pay out for delivery and wait days for their items to arrive. - Offering mobile payment
Another idea is to begin offering mobile payments. Services like PayPal are now offering their customers the ability to pay for goods using their smartphone. Using the PayPal app like a wallet, this service allows customers to pay for things without having to carry around cash and cards. Implementing it into your business would give your customers the ultimate in convenience. - Embracing the online environment within your store
Why not consider giving your customers access to your website within your store? By installing a terminal that is locked to your website, you can encourage your customers to purchase anything not available in-store from you rather than one of your competitors. Doing this will also enable you to offer a wider range of products and accessories than you can display in store. - Through the use of e-tags
By using a simple QR code printed on the label of your products you can provide your customer with a wealth of information. Upon scanning the QR code with a smartphone, you will be able to direct customers to additional information about the product, previous customer reviews and a facility which will enable them to share the item via social media. Beyond this you could direct customers to accessories for the product, alternative colors etc.
Author: Dean Ronnie is an expert in the field of multi-channel retail and is an advocate of emerging technologies and their use within a retail environment. Dean recommends Prima Solutions, providers of specialist multi-channel retail solutions.
Published: May 2, 2014
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