By Sienna Walker

The more time a customer spends in your store, the fuller their shopping basket gets. We’ve all seen this logic in action.

We’re waiting in line to buy something and end up making impulse purchases from the shelves by the checkout. Your partner runs off to get something in the supermarket and you end up sticking three more items into your trolley. Even though everything on your list was already crossed off.

Keeping customers in your store for longer means more sales and bigger profits. But how can you keep them browsing?

We live in an age where bricks and mortar stores are competing with online retailers. This is a challenge but also an opportunity for traditional stores.

By providing the things a web browser can’t, traditional retailers can develop the edge in attracting customers and keeping them in their stores for longer. Here’s how:

Provide exceptional service

The team in your store can make a huge difference to a customer’s shopping experience. When hiring employees you need to consider their education and experience, but also assess their sensitivity to other people.

Some customers don’t want a full-on sales pitch. Others love to feel they’re being attended to. Great shop assistants recognise the moods and personalities of their customers and adapt accordingly.

A personal touch and knowledgeable advice is something you don’t always get when shopping online. So make sure your staff have the motivation and the training to deliver exceptional service. This way you can not only beat your online competition, but also keep your customers in your shop longer.

Offer free Wi-Fi

Keep customers connected even when they’re shopping in person. Provide a high speed connection that allows customers to browse the web as they’re browsing your store. There are benefits for you as well as for them.

By providing free Wi-Fi for your customers, you help them to research your products. They can find the reviews and the product videos that will convince them to make a purchase, much in the same way they would when shopping online.

In addition, when you’re providing a free Wi-Fi network, you can direct customers to a webpage of your choosing. This page can highlight any offers you currently have in store or your newest product line. It’s a great way to direct customers to products they might have otherwise missed.

Improve store layout

We tend to walk to the right when we first enter a store. As a result, it is a smart idea to make a good first impression with eye-catching displays and high impact products in this area. Consider including seasonal or trending items here too.

Make it easy for your customers to navigate your store. Don’t make displays too overwhelming. Or the layout too confusing.

At the same time put in displays that encourage your shoppers to slow down and look around. This could be a display of cheaper items, perfect for an impulse purchase. Or a carefully curated rack of items on sale (including a sign encouraging customers to “get one before they’re gone”).

How a customer makes their way through your store has a huge impact on the time they spend there; consider layout carefully and make adjustments where necessary.

Offer more than just products

When you have a bricks and mortar location, you can provide an experience for your customers as well as a transaction.

Brands like Tiffany & Co. and Virgin Holidays have big budgets and have gone all-out to attract customers into their stores. But you can find cheap ways to create an exciting customer experience too.

Some retailers are giving over some of their shop floor to create an in-house coffee shop. It’s a space where customers can sit, relax and grab a drink. But it’s also another space to display products. And a way to add ambience to your store.

If providing food and drink seems a little ambitious, why not design and advertise workshops? You could demonstrate one of your products in action.

If you’re a craft shop, show customers how they can use your products to create greetings cards. Or if you sell garden equipment, plan a how-to session for this season’s garden jobs.

Employ these methods to increase the time customers spend in your store. The longer they linger, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

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Sienna Walker is an avid business blogger and a self-improvement fan. She enjoys learning about new and unique ways of establishing a successful and profitable business, and is often found online, sharing her knowledge with other entrepreneurs. If you wish to, feel free to reach out to Sienna @SiennaWalkerS and say “hi” to her.