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Is there anyone out there who actually enjoys waiting in checkout lines at the store? Retailers across the nation are always searching for ways to become better and faster than their competitors. The main reason people tend to steer towards online shopping is because it is more convenient for them. Likewise, the main reason people continue to go to brick and mortar stores is to have the item they want in their hand immediately.
Retailers can increase in-store sales by maintaining a good rising strategy, connecting with customers, and keeping the shopping experience convenient. There are a number of factors that affect a retailer’s bottom line and setting the right prices is number one. Pricing strategies for smaller companies will be different from larger chain stores such as Wall-Mart or Target. Once a retailer has decided on their objectives, about. Com references a few possible pricing strategies to follow. Cost-Plus Pricing is taking the cost of your materials, plus production costs, plus your fixed costs to get your total cost per unit.
From there, you decide what mark-up argental you want. Another is Target-Return Pricing where you are trying to reach a certain return on your investment, or ROI. Typically the most profitable, if you get it right, is Value-Based Pricing. This pricing is commonly used on products that will save you money in the long run on things such as energy costs (Allen, 2014). An article on puzzle. Com (2012) discusses how Wall-Mart keeps their prices so low by purchasing materials in bulk from vendors and by having long-term contracts in place.
Wall-Mart also tries to reduce its marketing costs by distributing its advertising sots over a wider output range. “Targeting the mass market with tried and tested products has always been Wall-Mart’s strategy’ (Kale, 2012). A few well known effective strategies include constant commercials on certain features, such as layaway, ad matching guarantees and price comparisons on some products. Advertisement, and/or price matching is growing popularity as more people use their cell phones to shop. In today’s society, the options available for retailers to connect to consumers increases by the hour.
In order to thrive, stores have to keep up with advertising on tedium, such as social media & creating APS. Connecting through advertisements on social media sites, such as Faceable or Twitter, has become as important as getting the right face to endorse your product. July 2014 statistics show that 1. 3 million people are active Faceable users. There was a 22% increase in users from 2012 to 2013 (statistician. Com, 2014) and the amount continues to grow this year. Advertisements, such as the example on Exhibit A, appear on users Faceable walls and keep them up to date on current sale and clearance items.
This tactic not only peps the retailer connected to customers, but it puts items in front of them that may not have originally been on their shopping lists. As a consumer, some people may enjoy the advertisement if the retailer offers something for free with a purchase or does something to make shopping fun. For example, a mass mailing (yes, people still use regular mail) of an advertisement with a scratch off circle hiding your possible savings amount, makes shopping somewhat of a game. If customers are not allowed to scratch off the circle until they are in the store then they will come to the store to hop rather than doing it online.
Shoppers are excited to scratch off the ticket like it’s the lottery and the anticipation of the unknown savings amount brings them into the store to find out. However, the term ‘online shopping no longer necessarily means you are at home on the computer. Statistics also show that nearly half of the active Faceable users use their mobile device to access their accounts (statistician. Com, 2014). Retailers need to become aware of the importance of mobile devices and how to utilize them. In an article from ecclesiastically. Com (Morrow, 2014), it states ore than 1. 2 billion people now access the internet from mobile devices.
Research shows that 77 percent of smartened users that search for a product ultimately go to a physical store for purchase. Most retailers have price match guarantees to help keep customers in the store, but a great option for retailers might be to create a price match guarantee App. Let’s say you are standing in front off Brand X laptop and you want to know if it is the best price. Open an App on your phone, scan the barded and it will search the internet for the best price on that model laptop. If the price the App finds is cheaper than the listed price in front of you, show it to the cashier and they will match the price.
This will help retailers make a sale rather watching the customer walk out the door to another store or make their purchase online. Most customers are going to choose to purchase the item in store and receive it instantly if they can do so while getting the best price available. Without that connection, a customer that is not in a huge hurry will Just make their purchase online. Wall-Mart recently reported customer complaints of too many out of stock items ND empty shelves. The simple task of refilling empty shelves alone could bring back $3 billion in sales to retailers like Wall-Mart (Banjo, 2014).
Laying the foundation of constantly having items in stock will bring customers back on a repeat basis due to availability and ease of their experience. The convenience of already having competitive prices rather than having to price match everything will also keep customers in the store. A way that many stores, including Wall-Mart, maintain their Value-Based pricing strategy is to have their own store brand items. Creating store rand’s gives people the option to buy food that tastes similar without paying for the cost of the famous brand name.
In the current economic times, more people are turning to this option in an effort to cut corners on grocery shopping costs. Along with wider selection and better prices, saving time is one of the main reasons why customers choose to shop online and in the comfort of their own homes. As reported by The Wall Street Journal (2014), Wall-Mart Just announced their “checkout promise” where they promise to staff each of its cash registers from the day after Thanksgiving wrought the days Just before Christmas during peak shopping times.
They hope this will resolve the recent rash of complaints against Wall-Mart for not having enough checkout lanes open and thus improve the convenience of shopping in one of their brick and mortar stores during this year’s holiday season. If technology continues to take us to new levels, maybe cashiers will eventually become obsolete and replaced by machines for speed and convenience as well. Each retailer has their own set of objectives, but ultimately they all want you to walk into their stores to shop.
Maintaining constant competitive prices and staying connected with customers through advertising and mobile APS will keep shoppers coming back. Convenience may be the biggest factor that can set a retailer’s store above the rest. The speed of checkout lanes, or lack there of, may be the worst part of everyone’s shopping experience. That is the last thing customers remember from their shopping experience. Faster checkouts may be the golden key to reeling customers back into stores. What if we could Just push our cart through a machine that scanned every item in our buggy?