Getting more people in store is a constant struggle for many companies. Likewise, keeping loyal customers in a retail business can be difficult. The truth is, the more people visit your store, the more sales you will have. It becomes a simple numbers game.
Foot Traffic in Retail
The number of people coming inside your store is what foot traffic refers to when it comes to retail. Many businesses monitor foot traffic figures through counters or digital cameras. The amount of foot traffic your store gets largely depends on its location.
Keep reading to learn more about getting loyal customers and how to increase foot traffic in a business.
Understanding Customer Behavior
To get and keep loyal customers in your retail business, you need to understand their behavior. What problems do they have that led them to shop for specific products? This information can be used to develop your marketing strategies.
Does Foot Traffic Affect Sales?
Many companies are starting to question how the decline in foot traffic affects sales at malls across the country. The fact is, there is a direct relationship between the two. The growth of online commerce has led to a decrease in brick-and-mortar sales because fewer people are entering the stores, greatly lowering foot traffic.
Factors Affecting Foot Traffic
How to increase foot traffic in a business? Here are some ideas to help you increase the amount of foot traffic your business sees each day.
Location: Importance of a Strategic and High-Traffic Location
There is a reason for the saying that location is everything. These days, choosing the perfect location for your store is even more important. Everyone can shop anywhere with a smartphone. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, your location and storefront are critical.
Seasonal Variations and Their Impact
The weather will indeed affect how many people you get through your store on any given day. Weather changes based on where your store is located and some areas are affected more negatively than other areas. For example, Seattle sees a 27% decrease in the amount of foot traffic their stores receive on snowy days. Atlanta has noted a 10% reduction in foot traffic on days it rains heavily.
Your type of business will affect how the weather changes your foot traffic. For instance, fewer people will be inclined to have their dogs groomed when the weather is unpleasant. Every business gets negatively affected by cold, rainy days, but footwear, clothing, and beauty stores will see a 5% increase in foot traffic on rainy days due to people seeking indoor activities.
If you want more foot traffic when there is bad weather, there are two factors to consider: Offer something online stores can’t and give your customers a reason to purchase the item now.
Store Layout and Design
If your business is designed in a warm and welcoming way with a comfortable layout, you are more likely to see people walk through your store regularly. Additionally, you need to keep it clean and have quality curb appeal.
Window displays are also a great way of enticing new customers to come through your doors.
Marketing and Promotional Strategies
You will come up against endless ideas for marketing your business and learning how to attract customers to your store. The ones that bring the most people through your doors end up being the most effective.
Whether your marketing strategies for how to increase foot traffic in a business involve hosting seminars, gift giving, discount giving, or hosting a sale at one specific location, you need to have a plan. The marketing efforts you put in will show how many people come into your store on a daily and weekly basis.
Competitor Activity and Nearby Attractions
Other factors that affect foot traffic include what your competitors are doing and what nearby attractions there are. You may see an increase in foot traffic when a neighboring business is running a special or when there is a local attraction happening near you.
Likewise, you can see a decrease in foot traffic if the coffee shop next door closes or if the zoo down the street goes out of business.
30 Ways to Improve Foot Traffic in a Business
Having a decrease in foot traffic affects your sales negatively. You need to keep a ready supply of fresh ideas to bring in more foot traffic to your store.
Wondering how to increase sales in retail? Consider the following ideas to attract more customers, make more money, and grow your business.
- Create appealing signage: As you explore ideas on how to increase foot traffic in a retail store, you’ll find that using appealing signage is one of the easiest. Use attractive, visible signage that stands out to passersby, showcasing offers or unique selling propositions.
- Create and use local SEO Optimization: Ensure your business appears in local online searches by optimizing keywords. Make sure to create a Google My Business listing and sign up for directories as well.
- Set up a sandwich board: You can usually get these cheap-for as little as $20-and they are an effective way of telling passersby about your store’s offers and encouraging them to come into your store.
- Host a guest speaker or celebrity at your business. If you have a bookstore, hosting an author for book signings is the perfect way to get more people through the door. This foot traffic will increase book sales as well.
- Social media engagement: Post content regularly on your social media profiles. Run targeted ads and get your clients to engage with your posts. Offer promotions on social media platforms to attract local audiences.
- Host events or workshops for your industry: Organize events, workshops, or demonstrations related to your products and services. This will draw in potential customers.
- Work with influencers to have your business promoted: Send out samples for influencers to showcase on their pages and invite them into your business while offering discounts.
- Collaborate with nearby businesses: Another excellent way of increasing foot traffic is to do some cross-promotions with complementary local businesses. This expands your reach and attracts shared customers.
- Create photo opportunities in your business to get more people through the doors: Whether it is a photo booth for pets at your pet store or a cute backdrop in the reading nook of your bookstore, a photo opportunity is a must in the age of social media.
- Offer in-store exclusives: Provide discounts, promotions, or products exclusive to in-store visitors, encouraging them to visit physically. Offering a coffee bar with snacks in a bookstore is one method. Another is providing dog treats to customers who bring their pets into your pet store.
- Create enticing window and floor displays to draw new customers in: Create engaging window displays and showcase your most interesting and unique products. You can also add holiday-themed decorations to your windows and look at retail chalkboard sign ideas.
- Make use of seasonal displays in your business: Stock up on gift items for holidays and costume items for Halloween.
- Create and maintain top-notch customer service: Take the time to train your staff to consistently provide high-quality customer service. This will go a long way towards increasing customer loyalty.
- Create a loyalty program: Reward frequent customers with loyalty points, discounts, or special offers to incentivize return visits. This will keep your regulars coming back for more.
- Email marketing campaigns: Send targeted emails with exclusive in-store deals or updates about new products to encourage customers to come into your store.
- Implement click-and-collect services: Allow customers to buy online and pick up in-store. This merges the convenience of online shopping with the in-store experience.
- Draw new customers in with coupons and in-store sales: Make sure you promote these sales heavily through text and email marketing to create excitement among your customers.
- Use geo-targeted ads: Target potential customers in the vicinity of your store through location-based advertising.
- Engage in community events: Get your business out there to participate in local community events, sponsorships, or charities. This increases your goodwill and visibility.
- Create a referral program: Provide incentives to your existing customers for when they refer friends or family. Make sure to reward new and existing customers and your business will grow more quickly.
- Improve the customer experience: Ensure your staff are helpful and knowledgeable. Create a warm environment and offer exceptional customer service.
- Utilize data analytics: Analyze foot traffic patterns, customer behavior, and sales data to make informed decisions and tailor strategies for better results.
- Offer limited sales: Draw new customers in by offering rewards, punch cards, and other discounts for a limited time. This is a fantastic way to get new faces through your doors and increase foot traffic.
- Encourage more customers to purchase gift cards: Gift cards are an excellent way for customers to support the business and share it with their friends and family.
- Offer free phone charging stations in your store: This is an effective way to offer goodwill to your clients. Make sure to promote this unique perk on your social media pages.
- Set up an entertainment area for kids: This can be particularly helpful for businesses catering to parents. Set up a small table, some toys, and coloring books, and make sure the area is secured by a staff member to help keep little ones occupied as their parents shop.
- Create a comfortable seating area: With a comfortable seating area, customers can take a quick break when they get tired and go right back to browsing your products or shopping.
- Embrace the latest technology: You can also draw more customers into your store through large touchscreens, interactive displays, and social media walls.
- Join local associations: Partnering up with local associations also exposes your business to a wider target audience, which encourages more people to come into your store.
- Extend your store hours: Consider staying open until late evenings, especially during the weekend, to accommodate more customers.
Understanding and Analyzing Foot Traffic Data
Once you’ve learned how to drive traffic to your store, it’s time to start analyzing foot traffic data. When you are looking at foot traffic data, you are looking at the movement of people in and out of a place. Foot traffic numbers usually come from counting and in-store sensors, cameras, interviews, or mobile device data. This data can then be used for other estimations and to understand more about your client base.
Foot traffic data is used by business owners, retail professionals, and real estate agents for making important decisions.
Importance of Data Collection and Analysis
When a business has stakes in the offline world, analytics are a critical part of business decisions. Foot traffic shows behavior that tells you about your customers. Data collection is important because it gives insight into the business and allows for the limit of risk. It also allows business owners to identify opportunities for growth and act on these.
Tools and Technologies for Tracking Foot Traffic
There are a few things you need to take into consideration when gathering data on foot traffic for locations. Your Beacons, GPS, Wi-Fi, and user motion need to be considered when considering the accuracy of your information. Cameras are an excellent tool for counting the number of people coming through the doors and exiting the property. With cameras, you have the opportunity for facial recognition, demographic details, and other info while thermal sensors only provide numbers.
Thermal sensors also work well for determining the amount of foot traffic a business is getting.
Interpreting Data to Make Informed Business Decisions
Once the data is collected and analyzed, it is used in the decision-making process. You should collect data to inform site selection. Knowing how people move in and out of a business can help you get a better idea of how successful it will be.
For a better business strategy, you need to know your target customers and the details about where they live and how to reach them. Your foot traffic data can help with these insights. These plans can be grounded in statistics based on human activity rather than just hypothetical predictions.
You should also perform investment research based on foot traffic data. Your mobility data will give you an idea of current and future business performance, allowing you to make better-informed investments.
Case Studies Illustrating Successful Foot Traffic Analysis Implementation
Retailers will track their competitors, measure their marketing, and make informed decisions. When you have a finance company, your foot traffic data can help you incorporate new models and visitation. It can also help you identify opportunities. With a hospitality business, analyzing foot traffic data will help you learn from competitors and attract higher-value clients.
