Brick-and-mortar stores need a personal touch

Get your staff interested in capturing data on every customer. Shoppers are looking for the human connection and an experience when they purchase something.

Today, unsurprisingly, a total lack of demand exists for a rotten customer experience. No revelation learned in this statement.

Similarly those who believed 'build it and they will come' as a marketing strategy are more than likely to fail in a mature retail environment. Certainly, no competitive advantage with this strategy.

Training retail salespeople is a cost. As a retail bricks-and-mortar shop owner, surely you have determined by now that training is an investment in your business. Perhaps ask yourself, what happens to my retail business if I do not invest in my people?

The 4G network has taken over the role of WiFi on your customer's mobile phone. As a retailer of either bricks-and-mortar stores or the guru retailer of online sales, both formats must embrace new trends as quickly as possible. Quickly adopting these changes in the retail environment is the only way forward or expect to lose market share and move backwards.

A few months ago, a brick-and-mortar retailer who was located in the most prestigious shopping centre in Dubai called me. The unhappy tone in her conversation with me was eye-opening. Many industry colleagues believed that if you could open a shop in this retail environment, your future was surely paved in gold.

Languishing sales
The shop was beautiful, the product mix amazing and her clientele were wealthy. But she could not keep them coming back. Her sales were languishing and unsold seasonal stock was building up to uncomfortable levels.

I asked her questions such as - how frequently do your best customers come back, is your customer base contacted regularly on their mobile phone, where are they from, what product is your best seller, what product is your least successful seller, how is your following on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, how large is your database, how often do you send text messages to your best customers, how many do you connect with on WhatsApp, how current is your website and what type of point of sale (PoS) system are you using?

A long pause ensued in our conversation. She was at a loss to answer any of these questions. Keeping ahead of her suppliers' commitments, her significant rent, merchandising her stock and catching up on the latest fashion trends was all she was able to handle.

Her five staff were not well trained. The customer relationship management aspect of her business was appalling.

The following were a few of the suggested top priorities to initiate over the next eight weeks to begin turning things around.

Immediately track all sales and gather information possible about every customer. At a minimum, their e-mail address, phone number and their name. What products did they like?

Determine what is the top selling product in your store. What is the least successful product sold?

Determine what the margins are for each product. Are they in line with competition? Search both online competition and local bricks-and-mortar competition.

Sales training
Invest in your staff for the very best sales training. Get the staff interested in capturing data on every customer. Shoppers are looking for the human connection, rapport, a relationship and an experience when they purchase something. Train your salespeople to deliver on an experience which gets people talking positively about your business.

Hire a talented local social media guru to begin working the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, texting, e-mail programmes promoting the shop, the brands and you.

Install near-field beacons in your display windows to flash information (Bluetooth) to anyone passing the shop about what is on offer. When you have very substantial foot traffic past your shop daily, reach out or capture them in some way.

Hire a specialist to suggest the top three best point of sale (PoS) systems available. What are the capabilities these PoS systems have today and what is planned in the future.

Hire a specialist to update the website. Understand who looks at your website, how often and what they are looking at. Look to the masters of website development such as the Mr Porter website or other best-in-class websites.

The future for bricks-and-mortar retailers has never looked brighter. Providing a pleasantly memorable experience during the sales transaction will go a long way towards securing a place for you as a successful retailer. At the very least, it will surely keep your customers coming back for more.

The writer is chief executive of Middle East Council of Shopping Centres. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policies.