Each day, more and more reports about big-box retailers shutting down due to the rise of e-commerce are resonating among various media platforms. One of the latest examples is the Sears and Kmart case wherein, lately, they have announced that they are closing 20 stores.
There’s a freshly revealed report from retail think tank Fung Global Retail & Technology that conceals an estimate of pervasive shutting down of stores. The study shows that approximately 400 stores between only four (4) chains will leave over $2.5 billion in sales up for grabs and $1.6 billion of such sales will be only in apparel.
Basically, well-known online retailers such as Amazon, Target, and Walmart would have their heads up on this matter—giving so much effort to dominate the market share and create a good and considerable revenue. However, there’s still hope and a good opportunity for the small business retailers. They could still grab up some of the floating revenue with various strategic marketing and active technology implementation.
To gain and retain customers who are actually not finding convenience on brick-and-mortar big-box retailer to complete a purchase anymore, here are three steps small businesses can follow to be competitive enough amid the current situation:
Customer’s Smartphones are their Breakfast, lunch and dinner
In this drastically changing modern world, smartphones are really vital for an individual. Thus, you might want to consider junking the idea of filling out tedious paperwork for various loyalty programs that actually contradicts to the fast paced life of your consumers.
To compete equally, or perhaps, get a one step ahead or your competitor, you might want to maximize your resources and invest for a smartphone app. Through such, you can maintain your customers’ loyalty to your brand without much effort. In this regard, Business Insider had release a report on mobile wallets saying that through merging a mobile wallet and a loyalty program, the sales are most likely to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 68%.
If then, customers have to bring their punch cards—always—to avail or personalize their rewards, mobile apps can work on it with so much convenience on both parties. Essentially, this is one of the things that customers consider in coming back—a good in-store experience and the convenience that they are always after and looking for. On the other hand, it can bring a good impact on the side of the retailer in a sense that most of the time, mobile orders decreases in-store lines of waiting customers that would reduce staffing crunches and paper waste from physical receipts.
The technology is really accessible now and even small businesses can indulge in such. Meaning, they don’t have to just let the huge and well-known retailers catch-all the customers, but they could also have them and create a name.
Capture New Customer’s Hearts and Never Let them Go
A good course of sales, discounts, and deal offers is—by all means—a good marketing scheme that’s in favor of the consumers. However, giving out a financing plan for expensive purchases can also be an important tool to keep your customers.
Financing deals is a working mechanism of retaining new customers and convince them to push through with big-ticket purchases. In accordance to a report released by MMR Research, there are nearly two-thirds of previous users of store financing come back and finance at least one additional purchase of $500 or more and 33% do so three (3) to five (5) more times. In retrospect, there is a considerable situation that small businesses were not capable of offering those kinds of offers due to inadequate time and resources to keep the financing program moving. But, again, a hope arises for the small businesses. There is this new POS financing technology that allows retailers—with limited means—to get partnerships that let them introduce these programs.
Anytime, Anywhere is a Marketplace
When the technology is strategically utilized—most especially when combined with financing plans—then net tremendous results for small retailers would probably be materialized. Forrester Consulting discovered through a study into the impact of retail financing that a 15% increase in the usual order value when financing was presented, and an 18% overall sales increase when e-commerce websites exhibited “six months to pay” banners. Moreover, a comScore survey of shoppers who actually are utilizing POS financing for online procurements shows that 30% of the consumers spend more than that of their purchase limit before completing a purchase when offered with financing opportunities.
Thus, companies do make an effort to make the retailers and consumers conduct transactions from virtually anytime, anywhere and let the small retailers optimize their sites with fresh offers and tools. Take, for example, Square lets the small retailers reduce to bare bones on the conventional, complex methods of meting out credit card dealings.
Also, freshly revealed technologies allow small retailers to shudder walls from some structural advantages that big-box retailers normally acquire. Well, when the time comes that the small retailers learn to take control on those technologies—incorporating it with the nature of a small business—then, perhaps, they could possibly play a good game within the retailing industry with sustainable marketing schemes and produce reliable revenue.