..And How You Can Implement Them.

When in 2013, Marc Andreessen, the technology investor, who co-founded Netscape Navigator famously said that software was eating retail, retail management sat up, and for good reason. Andreessen understands the web, and is a serial investor in an array of successful technology companies including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Airbnb, it made good business

sense to pay attention to his pronouncements. He accurately analyzed the challenges brick-and-mortar retail enterprises face. They include heavy investment in the fixed assets like retail physical stores, and other operating assets and in inventory carrying costs, among others. His pronouncement sparked a firestorm of debate both in support of his position and in a plausible argument against his prediction. Pundits on the side of the retail existential debate argued that a world without physical brick-and-mortar stores was implausible. Others readily pointed to the rapid growth of e-commerce, with Amazon as a trailblazer, the demise of brick-and-mortar retail travel agencies, the extinction of retail giants like Blockbuster. Both sides of the great debate have merits in their respective positions.

Technology is daily impacting every aspect of our lives, and in retail shopping, the way we buy has continued to change. On our desktop computers, laptops, or armed with our smartphones, we can now easily browse, order, and pay for products and have the products delivered to our doorsteps. Nevertheless, retail brick-and-mortar stores are here to stay as they have their advantages. To revive and prosper, however, retail brick-and-mortar store must re-format its business model. It must be much more customer-centric than ever before. Mass customization, coupled with enhanced customer experience are the keys that will unlock a much more vibrant future for retail brick-and-mortar stores. To this end, the fundamentals of the business must change and adapt to a world where customer loyalty is fickle at best and almost non-existent in many cases.

The following are the ten fundamentals that brick-and-mortar retail management must address:

1. Be Consistent Both Online and Offline

Retail customers now have many shopping options both online and offline. This can pose real challenges to retail brick-and-mortar stores’ management. In addition to the proliferation of shopping options for your customers, their expectations have also changed. Your customers can order online and collect at your store. They can equally order online with the option of home delivery. Your task is to make their experience seamlessly convenient. They expect both their online and offline experiences to be the same or very similar. A customer who orders online but is not satisfied with her order, either because the color or the size do not meet her expectations, expects a hassle-free return policy if she opts to return the purchased item to your physical store. Complications may arise if your return policy for online purchases is different from that of your in-store purchases. This could be further complicated if loyalty programs and or if you run a sales’ promotions when the order was placed and such a program had expired when your customer visits, requesting a refund. This is where seamless integration of your IT program for both online and offline can either enhance or inhibit your customer experience. Your data storage for both online and offline transactions must be seamlessly integrated so that same data and policy application do not pose undue stress for your customer. In this regard, retail store management must endeavour to procure IT solutions from the same vendor or from vendors whose programming algorithm are compatible.

2. Stocking the Right Merchandise

As an independent retailer, you must be careful and not imitate retail chain management inventory and stock management strategy. You may stock a deep and narrow, or shallow and wide range of products. You may continue to experiment with both until you find the best-fit that meets the needs of your customers. You may use spreadsheet data analytics to study and understand the most frequently purchased items in your store and their respective contribution margins so that you can stock more of them.

In selecting your vendors, be as strategic as possible. Strong and popular brands may be used to attract customers to your retail brick-and-mortar store, where you display these pricey products next to generic but quality brands. For price-sensitive customers, strong, popular and higher priced products can be used as an anchor to attract them to your store, where you avail them with your much less pricey options that perform the same function or serve the same purpose. You must aim to stock as many assortments of products as possible. However, do not stock just for the sake of stocking. Pay attention to your much more fast-moving products and stock more of them.

Be watchful of fads. Their useful life may be short, tying down your cash and decreasing the profitability of your store. Develop a strong relationship with your core vendors so that you may obtain favorable price concessions from them. A strong vendor relationship can assure you of stock availability when you need re-stocking, and possible credit line for some of your purchases, and favorable return policy.

Pricing is important but this is only a component of your total customer experience. Avoid stocking and selling just for the sake of stock turnover if said stock has very little or no margins. Customer acceptance trumps your personal preference for certain products.

Consistently compare vendor product pricing. It is not advisable to patronize a vendor just because you like him. As a good buyer, you must know which products sell more and which products are your customers' favorites. Know the products your customers value most and stock these items more.

3. Understand the Needs of Your Customers

Understanding the needs of your customers is a fundamental fact of business success. View the services you provide from the viewpoint of those you desire to serve. By understanding their needs, you will know how to tailor your offerings to meet those needs. And this knowledge will help drive more traffic to your retail store.

As a business, you will need a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP must be based on what you know about your customers, what you further need to know about them, why they buy from you, who they currently or concurrently buy from. Deep knowledge of your competitors is vital as this is a key in positioning your retail brick-and-mortar store as a brand, distinct from the competition, and providing customer experience superior to what your competitors offer. When properly crafted, your USP is what will help transit your retail outlet from a commoditized retail business to a brand.

It is worth repeating that knowledge of your customers and your competitors is vital to the success of your retail store as a brand. Know who they are, why they buy, and what they buy most. Understand the demographics and the psychographics of your target customers and tailor your needs to meet the uniqueness of your customers. It is no longer sufficient to use generic demographic data like age, geography, education to tailor your offerings. Optimize your retail store’s website to generate customer data. Understand the concept of content marketing and use it to craft online messages that resonate with your customers and website visitors. Use tools like Google Analytics to drill down on your customer persona. Effectively and constantly use the acquisition tab on your Google Analytics. Find out which social media sites interest your customers. Know what is peculiar about the sites they visit. Use Google Webmaster tools to collate the main keywords your customers use. These keywords could be used to segment your customers. Then apply this knowledge in addressing the needs of your customers. Be conscious always that a deeper understanding of your customers is key to engaging them, meeting their needs, and tailoring and improving your offerings to meet their needs.

4. Use In-store Technology to Improve Your Customer Engagement Strategy

As a retail brick-and-mortar retailer, you must appreciate the power of technology in enhancing customer engagement at and with your store(s). Customers in today’s business environment have a vast array of buying options, and social media in a powerful tool for engaging your shoppers. For instance, Facebook advertising has the power to extend your store’s reach beyond its physical location. And its use is relatively cheap compared to other media like TV and radio ads. Social media in general and Facebook, in particular, is your retail store engagement friend. your goal in using social media as a medium for engagement is to physically get your customers into your store for purchase. Many research findings confirm that when customers are attracted to a store for a particular purchase, they often end up buying more than their original intention.

Using the customer loyalty program is another great way of enhancing your customer engagement strategy. Avoid using a loyalty program just for the sake of it. The benefits must be obvious to your customers. Test the loyalty program you want to use to be sure it’s to the mutual benefit of both you and your opt-in customers. As a retail brick-and-mortar store, your loyalty program must be designed to capture customer data, especially the email addresses of customers who opt-in to your program. Procure POS systems with the in-built capability to seamlessly integrate the email addresses of your opt-in loyalty program customers with email marketing software like MailChimp. This will give you the capacity to segment your customers based on their buying behavior. Then use personalized email messaging tactics to tailor your relationship with your customers, letting each segment know when you have offers that are in sync with their taste preferences.

5. Have an Effective and Engaging Social Media Strategy

You will need to craft an effective and engaging social media strategy that will help you stay connected with your audience. Various social media platforms have a unique core purpose. Understanding what and how each platform can be used to drive customers to both your online and physical store(s) is important. Tailor your messages in accord with the value of each platform. Here are some key platforms and what they can do for you:

Twitter: Good for news, tips, trending events, witty post, the how-to-do stuff.

Facebook: Good for entertaining articles, emotionally engaging post, valuable information, eliciting curiosity and interest, Call-to-Action (CTA), “Like”’ “Share.”

Instagram: Use this platform as part of your store’s visual merchandising promotion strategy. Instagram is a medium for visuals. Create shareable visuals of your products, storefront and in-store storytelling.

LinkedIn: The audience who subscribe to this platform are mostly professionals. Your content style must be a bit formal and professional.

Pinterest: The emphasis on this platform is the creative expression in visuals. Your store layout can be professionally displayed on this platform.