Grocery store owners should remember that success with retaining customers comes from more than just offering a good selection of products. Good groceries at good prices will attract customers, but a good customer experience will keep them coming back. Making periodic updates to your store can show you care for your customers and create a sense of newness and excitement for them during the shopping experience. If you want to make some updates, consider starting with these areas.
1. Retail Experience
The easier and more comfortable it is for customers to walk through your store, the less will get in the way of them buying your goods and returning later for more. Consider periodic walkthroughs of your store from a customer perspective to see what you can improve. For example, if your carts have squeaky, jammed or downright broken wheels, consider investing in heavy duty casters to give consumers a better experience. Most of the time, customers have a cart with them from the moment they enter your store until they leave: making your carts convenient to use is one small way to improve their experience.
2. Appearance
Before your customers are even in the store, they’ll notice how it looks. The appearance of your store can influence if customers even decide to shop there, never mind whether they choose to come back. Make sure the paint and finish on the inside and outside of your store are periodically refreshed, ensure your signage is well lit and fix cracks or chips in your sidewalk, curb and parking lot.
3. Product Location
If you’re already satisfied with where your products are, consider displaying them differently. Investing in bigger, more open shelving units can present goods more attractively and give your store a distinctly different feel without having to move a thing. If you do want to move items around, you might want to start by mapping out your current layout and marking things like the general flow of foot traffic and where people tend to congregate. With this information in mind, you’ll better know where your changes will be the most effective.
Once you’ve reeled in customers with good products at good prices, you should focus on how you’re going to keep them coming back. Occasional updates to your store keep it feeling fresh and interesting for returning customers, and a good customer experience may guarantee people will patronize your store for years to come.