Top 5 Mistakes Retail Businesses Should Avoid

Retail is a highly competitive industry where every mistake you make can cost you a lot of money. That's why today, we’ll take a look at the top 5 most common business mistakes, so you can learn and avoid them in the future.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

#1. Focusing on the customers that are ready to buy

Your target audience can be split into 5 groups:

• People that know about your products and are ready to purchase
• People that are open to purchasing but currently not looking for the product
• People that just don't think about and are neutral
• People that think they are not interested in such a product
• People that know for sure they are not interested in the product

The most common mistake is to focus on the first group only. However, this group is the smallest and has limited potential for generating revenue. Instead, you need to try to engage the rest of your target audience. The only exception is the last group because it is normally not worth trying to change someone's mind if they are sure they don’t need your product. You can address this group later when your business grows bigger and expand your audience further.

So how to reach out and engage this 67% of your target audience? It may sound slightly counterintuitive, but you need to shift your focus from selling your products to adding more value and improving the overall shopping experience. Make going to your store an exciting event without forcing anyone to buy the products. 

#2. Using only one sales channel

The retail industry is still heavily associated with offline stores. However, the past few years showed us the necessity and the power of e-commerce. And with the change of generations, this trend will only grow. Moreover, social media has a huge influence on customers' behavior.

Unfortunately, not so many retailers are using multiple channels to communicate and engage with their customers. If you want to reach as many potential customers as possible, you need to create a digital marketing strategy and work on your online presence:

• develop and optimize e-commerce website
• leverage social media
• gather product reviews and testimonials
• write and spread blog posts
• implement email newsletters, etc.

#3. Not connecting your online and offline stores

When talking about utilizing multiple channels in your marketing strategy, it’s important to mention that all of them should be connected in one system.

There are many ways how to connect your online and offline stores, by using technologies in the offline store, for example:

• Implement CRM or ERP systems to synchronize data about your products and customers in real time.
• Use AR and VR technologies to demonstrate your products in their full glory.
• Place in-store digital hardware like tablets or digital stands so your customers can interact with it and get engaged in the purchasing process.

#4. Forgetting about customers' needs

Retailers tend to focus on product features and benefits while completely forgetting about customers’ needs and pains. As a result, retail stores are often overloaded with different products and information, so your potential customers may feel overwhelmed and stressed.

Instead, you need to shift the focus back to customers' needs. What are they looking for when stepping into your store? What problem are they trying to solve? How can you help them solve these problems? Think about how you can reorganize your store to offer more personalized and valuable offers.

#5. Not perfecting customers service

Last but not least mistake business owners make forgetting to improve their customer service constantly.

Customers' shopping journey doesn’t end with a purchase. Post-shopping customer support and service play a huge role in your brand reputation and customer retention. One negative experience and one review can ruin years of work, and for new businesses, it’s even more critical.

So the best way to avoid this mistake is by constantly checking your customer service and seeing how it can be improved. You can even hire a mystery shopper to get more objective feedback on your employees' work.

Retail is more than just a place to “buy stuff”

As you can see, modern customers want to see retail shops as more than just a place to buy something. Adding value to your message and prioritizing customers' needs will help you improve sales and avoid many business mistakes.