5 Tips to Help Retailers Bring Back High Street Shopping

The downturn of the high street has been in the news a lot recently with the loss and downsizing of high street giants such as Toys R Us, House of Fraser and Maplins – to the industry, this is no secret or surprise.

This downturn has been attributed to a number of different reasons, including squeezed incomes and the rise of online retailers but what, if anything, can high street retailers do to overcome this?

When it comes to surviving the downturn, ultimately it comes down to two things – encouraging customers back in store and then increasing the amount they spend.

Here are our 5 tips to beat the downturn and bring back high street shopping

1). Improve the basics of in-store experience

Poor instore experience can put customers off and often the basics of in-store experience can be forgotten. By going back to basics, such as using signage and guidance effectively and creating a clearly marked queue layout, you can avoid customer confusion and frustration and create a stress-free environment, helping to increase its appeal.

2). Create an inclusive environment

3 in 4 disabled customers have left a store due to a bad experience and with the purple pound, or the spending power of disabled shopper’s, being worth 249bn it is a huge loss to any business. Tensator’s Universal Base offers the lowest profile base on the market as standard with an edge that is only a few millimetres in height. The bevelled edge allows wheelchair users and pushchairs to roll over the base, improving accessibility for all.

3). Think outside the box

With the increase in competition on the high street, thinking outside the box and evolving your customer’s shopping experience could encourage people back into the store. Waitrose offer their customers a free tea and coffee and were recently voted Britains favourite supermarket. In 2017, Topshop turned their shop window into an interactive pool scene, inviting customers to ride a virtual water slide! Statistically, the longer someone stays in a store the more they will spend so if you think outside the box at ways to encourage people back into your store you could be improving your profits.

4). If you can’t beat them, join them 

We all know that online shopping is on the rise, it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere but you can make it work for you by offering click and collect to your customers. By offering a click and collect service you will be encouraging shoppers back into the store to collect their item – increase the opportunity to upsell which will increase your profits.

5). Use your queue to increase your average unit of sale

Once you have a customer through the door, attractive merchandising can draw attention to items they didn’t realise they wanted and then once they are in the queue there is an opportunity to turn that waiting time into extended shopping time with an In Queue Merchandising (IQM) system . Offering additional products at the point of sale is one of the simplest, most instant and predictable techniques for increasing your average unit of sale. Tensator provide IQM systems that can be adapted to suit any size and requirement.

With roots dating back to the 1800s, we have been privileged enough to work closely with a huge range of retail customers. Through our work we have gained a wealth of experience, helping businesses to improve customer experience and increase sales and efficiency, leading to an increase in revenue. If you would like to discuss your requirements with us and find out how our solutions can benefit your business please click on the link to request a callback and one of our retail queue management specialists will be in contact.

Alternatively to view our solutions to help bring back high street shopping, please download our retail brochure.