High-street hacks: How to increase sales in your retail outlet

If the media are to be believed, the high-street isn’t in a great place at the moment. In fact, you don’t even need to read the newspapers – a quick stroll down your local high-street will probably tell you the story in its fullest form.

Bearing this in mind, it’s absolutely crucial to put together a strong in-store strategy as you bid to take on tough trading periods whilst a lot of businesses move to an online strategy to keep afloat. This is what we are going to cover today, as we mull over some quick wins when it comes to your retail business.

Distract your shoppers whenever possible

The thought of distracting customers sounds utterly ridiculous, and surely a quick method to turn them off from buying, right?

Studies have actually shown it can have the opposite effect. They have found that if a customer becomes distracted, or interrupted, during their buying journey, they actually become less price sensitive.

From an average order perspective, this can be like a goldmine. Some stores will be able to achieve this by asking their staff to interact more, while others might turn to a provider like Cenareo who can offer digital signage solutions to disrupt the journey.

Getting over the paradox of choice

If we were to sum this next point up in one sentence, it would simply be that less is sometimes more.

Having all of the colours and styles of a particular product on show might seem like a logical approach, but that’s until you research the paradox of choice.

If you give too much choice, customers are less likely to buy. This has been confirmed by umpteen studies about the human brain.

As such, cut things back and if you are worried about not offering enough options, hold some stock in the back in case customers ask.

Play on your customers senses

Believe it or not, you can play on your customers senses in the form of music and even smells.

The former is what most stores tap into, with background music regarded as a key psychological high-street weapon. If you play jazz or classical music for example, your store can be seen as being classier than those which might play a different type.

In relation to scent, there have been some really interesting studies with this. One focused around an electronics company seeing an almost 25% boost in sales of ovens after dousing their store in an apple pie scent!

Be shrewd with your positioning of cheaper and popular items

This final point is probably one of the oldest tricks in the book. Product placement can help you considerably when it comes to boosting sales, and the easiest tip of all is to place your cheap and popular items near the cashier.

It has been found that once a customer has pledged to buy one item, they are more likely to buy others. By placing the common products near their end-point, you can help to facilitate this journey and ultimately, increase your profits.