The customer has changed in response to pandemic measures. Brick and mortar retailers have to choose their path moving forward and learn new capabilities during Recovery. We share a few growth marketing ideas for retailers to try.
As Recovery takes place, and the economy opens, you might find that the customer you used to know, no longer wants the “usual” from you anymore.
Due to stay-at-home measures during the Circuit Breaker, customer spending shifted almost immediately to online platforms and channels. Customers became informed and savvy about searching, discovering and shopping online, whether through browser or mobile application. Online marketplaces aggressively educated their users with notifications, discounts and incentives.
Post Circuit Breaker, guidelines shared by the Government have been put in place to ensure health and safety are priorities even as businesses reopen. Retailers are asked to handle crowd and queue management. Trying and sampling of products are discouraged. This has created both operational and customer-related challenged.
Unsurprisingly, your customer has changed due to the various measures enacted to protect our healthcare system in response to the pandemic.
Retailers that recognise this fact and seek to adapt will out-compete their peers.
There is no point in looking back and hedging, hopeful for a return to the ‘old normal’. The customer has changed, and either you learn to sell to them in the new environment or consider closing shop.
Coupled with an expected tough economy, retailers might find getting customers to make purchases will become even harder.
The Circuit Breaker has trained customers to develop digital, convenient and low-touch preferences when it comes to buying things. We can expect this behaviour to continue even after the pandemic ends. Retailers that use Recovery to innovate for experiences throughout the customer journey will gain an advantage compared to their peers.
Here are some growth marketing ideas to consider during the Recovery period.
1. Do some research
Your customer has changed, and your job is to find out what that change means for your business.
Do some research – in the form of a poll, survey or focus group – and ask them about their shopping practices during the Circuit Breaker.
Speak to them about what worked, and what did not, and how they expect their favourite brands to sell to them ongoing.
Use the insights and perspective gained to set up at least 2 – 3 hypotheses regarding your products, the shopping experience and fulfilment.
2. You can’t go digital, if you aren’t online yet.
If you have not already done so, set up your digital shopfront.
You will minimally need a website that is optimised for viewing on mobile phones, to be indexed on Google, as well as both shopping cart and digital payments functionality. These functionalities are easily secured through service providers such as Shopify.
Consider activating your social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Break down communication barriers with tools that encourage interactivity such as chatbots and chat programmes (for example, Whatsapp for Business).
Start creating and pushing out simple content such as write-ups on blogs, pictures and videos, that customers can find and use to evaluate what you are selling.
3. Digital selling is all about being discoverable online.
Going online is not the moment to adopt a ‘if I build it, customers will come’ mindset. Assume that the online marketplace is crowded, and your business must stand out somehow.
The ‘somehow’ usually begins with digital advertising on platforms such as Google, and social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.
Set up experiments from a product perspective. Offer online exclusives that are not available instore or create product bundles themed by topics such as birthdays, or festival celebrations.
Include value-added services such as free delivery, or additional warranty, or replacement fees that your hypothesis from earlier research shows is important to your customer.
Make sure the experiments are working by setting up clear, specific and measurable indicators for success or failure. These can range from interest to purchases. It is best practice to measure 1 indicator per experiment instead of stacking on too many variables.
When you discover a successful product SKU or a good customer funnel, make it permanent and incorporate it into your digital shop and set of procedures.
Here are some helpful resources from digital service providers to consider:
Digital payments for retail - Adyen
Chatbots - Facebook
Digital advertising - Google Ads
Email marketing - Mailchimp
Digital shopfront and payments - Shopify
Build a website – Wix
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Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash
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