The Top 10 Ways to Market a Retail Store
You can have the best merchandise but if it’s not marketed right then no one will know about it. While digital marketing often seems like your only option there are a number of other ways to market your store. Many of the best retailers disguise their marketing efforts in the form of loss leaders (products priced at a heavy discount to get your attention). Or they will teach a really fun class to get you in the door. If you are you are looking for more ways to market your store then consider these ten strategies.
1. Try radio and print. Sometimes the best action is the one that most people aren’t doing because there’s less competition for your customer’s attention. Menswear direct to consumer brand UNTUCKit realized this when it first tried to figure out how to acquire customers.
In the early days of the brand the company tried the traditional step of hiring a PR agency to gain exposure. But after going down that route it decided to take the unconventional approach of firing its PR agency. If felt that the PR was not giving the brand the exposure it needed. Instead UNTUCKit placed ads on sports radio and in print airline magazines. While these are not the kinds of marketing moves that everyone is talking about these vehicles often have more captive audiences than a fast moving social media feed.
You can try the conventional but if it’s not working why not take an unconventional approach? Taking the less travelled route may have less competition with better exposure. The exposure can also come at a cheaper price. UNTUCKit found that for approximately $350 it could reach 200,000 potential consumers using radio ads.
Speaking about this approach, UNTUCKit CEO Aaron Sanandres said: "I think that the biggest lesson is to be curious, right, think about the different, maybe nonconventional ways, that you can get your message to the right audience, whoever that audience is for your particular business." "As long as you can measure it."
2. Pound the pavement. To drum up interest in Brooklinen, a bedding company, when the founders were starting out they didn’t sit back and take a passive approach or invest in a lot of expensive PR. Instead they got into a rented van and drove around New York City dropping off samples of their bedsheets to 60 bloggers and other people in the media industry. They included a handwritten note with each package of bedsheets explaining that they are a husband and wife team and how they wanted to change the bedding industry. “It was well-received, and we made a quarter million dollars in the first month,” said Booklinen co-founder Rich Fulop. “Our Kickstarter backers were very happy about that and made lots of referrals for us. Then we started growing our social presence and email marketing.”
3. Sell food. Have you ever gone to IKEA and stopped in the food court to have a quick meal? If you have then you are among the many people who have helped IKEA to become the world’s sixth largest food chain. Along the way IKEA has sold millions of pieces of furniture often from the very customers that were just stopping in to have a plate of Swedish meatballs.
The beauty of selling food or grocery items is that the category drives frequent visits. You have to eat, you don’t have to buy a discretionary item. You may not have room for a food court in your store but having a juice bar or coffee shop might be beneficial.
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4. Carve out space in your store for a complimentary retailer. If you are struggling to make your sales quotas or just want to reach the next level, partnering with another brand is often beneficial. Having a store within your store to feature products from another retailer is a classic play retailers use to increase traffic and sales. There are many retailers pursuing this strategy right now. Sephora has announced a partnership with Kohl’s which will see 850 Sephora shops inside of Kohl’s stores by 2023. Ulta Beauty has a deal with Target to open 800 mini Ulta Beauty stores within Target stores over the next few years.
Nearly a decade ago when Best Buy was trying to turn its business around one of the things it did that was quite effective was to allow Apple, starting in 2013, to set up store in store selling areas within Best Buy locations becoming one of the first retailers Apple partnered with. After that Samsung, Sony and Microsoft followed.
It’s hard to increase sales if you don’t have enough traffic in your store and while you might not be able to partner with a big name there are likely opportunities to partner with local brands even if it’s just for a limited time. You can charge a commission for the use of the space and you will also benefit from additional customers that become aware of your brand in the process.
5. Invest in a unique experience that is only available offline. When Warby Parker opened its 50th store in Melrose California in 2017 it invested in what was the brand’s greatest store experience at that time. The store was outfitted with a green room where customers could record 15 second videos while trying on Warby Parker glasses.
Since the retailer literally had a green room in the store customers could change the backdrop in their videos to their liking. Backdrops ranged from: outer space to a shark-filled aquarium to a big pepperoni pizza to a palm tree-lined boulevard. Once the videos were created customers could easily share videos with others or keep them for themselves. The close distance between the store and Hollywood was the inspiration for the fun customer experience.
6. Launch a bring a friend & get a discount promotion. Try offering a promotion where to receive a discount a customer must bring a paying friend with them. This is a great way to introduce your store to new customers. Pala Spa, located in California, had a promotion called “Friends Who Spa Together, Stay Together”. “Bring a friend and you both receive 20% off any spa treatment more than 50 minutes.” A promotion like this is an easy way to increase your foot traffic.
7. Offer an in-store only promotion. On all of your digital channels as well as in-store promote an offer that can only be redeemed in-store. Canadian drug store, Shoppers Drugmart, had a one day only friends and family event where on a coupon it said: “show this coupon in-store to receive 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise.” This is a great way to use your digital channels in addition to your stores to drive foot traffic.
8. Sell a loss leader. Loss leaders are one of the oldest tricks in the book. Costco for example, sells commonly purchased items like rotisserie chicken or hotdogs at low prices to get you in the door. Costco’s hotdog combo is actually the same price it was in 1985. Speaking about this Bob Nelson, Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Investor Relations at Costco said: Costco generates “very little money” on the combo deal, but “we get so much more mileage out of it than we would by raising the price to $1.60 and making a few more million dollars.” Because shoppers believe they are getting an uncommon deal they are more likely to spend more.
9. Put on events or teach classes. Despite operating in the age of Amazon, many independent bookstores who have survived did so by putting on events targeted at the local community. Some independent bookstores have as many as 500 events per year. These events include author discussions and book signings, speed dating, trivia nights, happy hours, craft writing discussions, calligraphy writing workshops and story time for kids. While many of these events were put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic watch for their return once the pandemic dies down.
While brands like Nike and Adidas have built their brands through big name endorsements, think Serena Williams or Michael Jordan for Nike, lululemon has largely marketed its brand via word of mouth. It does this through its free events but also through relationships with brand ambassadors.
Brand ambassadors are essentially influencers such as local yoga instructors. These ambassadors teach yoga classes for free on lululemon’s behalf and the free classes draw in existing and new customers. In exchange for teaching classes ambassadors get perks like free clothing. These classes are often taught in lululemon stores making it easier to convert the people attending the classes into paying customers.
10. Invest in digital marketing. Last but not least is digital marketing. We all get bombarded by ads from brands trying to get our attention. Advertising on Google or through social media has helped now popular brands like Casper to become household names. Where do your customers spend their time? Are they on Instagram all the time or have they moved over to TikTok? To determine which channel is the best fit for your target customer will take some testing but digital marketing can be an effective way to drive traffic to your retail store if your ads are compelling.
But as the cost to advertise on platforms like Facebook or Instagram continues to increase over time it’s always a good idea to make sure you are continuing to build your email list as that’s an asset you own. Having other marketing ideas like the ones on this list are also important to have in your back pocket in case your digital marketing efforts become too expensive.