How Brick and Mortar Retail Can Play To Its Strengths

“How can we compete against e-commerce?”

That’s the question I hear most often from traditional retailers. As a frequent speaker on the subject of marketing and selling to women, the subject comes up in most of the conferences I attend. And while there are many strategies in play, I often see retailers overlooking their most obvious opportunity: to make their stores such a great experience to visit that people will want to spend time their time and money in them.

Even if you’re a brick-and-mortar retailer with an e-commerce channel of distribution, don’t underestimate the power of connecting with your consumers within four walls. Lackluster service, poor merchandising and uninspiring physical environments are still too prevalent and represent just as a great a threat to traditional retail as anything else. And yet, happily, these are all elements completely within a retailer’s control.

If you’re in retail, or if you’re a manufacturer that relies on brick-and-mortar channels to distribute your products, consider this:

Friendly service is now critical. Every moment counts when consumers are trained to click on a better option if they feel unwelcome in your store. As a retailer, you can’t control the pace of technology, you can’t control the economy, but you can control how your customers are treated. As competition increases, great service can be your biggest differentiator. Yet it’s still happens too rarely.

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