Ideally as a merchant you belong to an organization — like a chamber, local merchant’s association or Main Street group — that helps bring customers in by running shop local campaigns throughout the year. Those types of programs help, so do the contests and incentives they usually run in conjunction with them. Hopefully your community also has a form of local currency or a gift certificate program to encourage buying from local merchants.
All of those things are great and can create a bulk of your traffic, but there are also a few things you can do for yourself that will get more customers through the door.
Examine Your Front Window
If you are in an area that gets foot traffic, like a Main Street shopping district, your window display is an open invitation to get to know you or keep on walking. Is it too cluttered? Can you tell what you sell from it? Is it inviting to your ideal customer? Does it target them enough, displaying things that will catch their attention? Sometimes a quick rotation of items and adjustment of placement can increase foot traffic enormously.
Use Some Creativity
While your town may have limitations on signage, there are some creative things you can do to bring people in. For instance, a florist could scatter a few petals on the sidewalk leading up to the door. A baker could place pies on a window sill to “cool.” Think about your business and what would lead people to you and then figure out a creative way to make that happen.
Make the Sidewalk the Entrance to Your Store
Many shop owners see their store entrance as their front door, but if you bring some of your products out onto the sidewalk, and use that as the entrance of your store, you’ll have more people browsing what you sell. Also, make it easy for them. Don’t just leave the products out there and place it on the shoppers to come in and buy. Make sure you have a friendly, but not pushy, sales associate to help outside to make the buying process as easy as possible.
What tricks have you used to bring more people in to your store? Leave your suggestions in the comments so other merchants can benefit.
