Lessons learned from opening a brick-and-mortar retail store may apply to online merchants, providing insights about promoting products, driving sales, and engaging shoppers.
On November 9 through 11, 2017, I helped open a new brick-and-mortar retail store. The grand opening event took just three days, but it was the culmination of many months of planning and preparation. Its success reminded me of some important retail marketing lessons that apply not just to physical stores but to ecommerce, too.
What follows are four marketing observations from this grand opening event for a retail chain’s 14th physical store.
1. Some Products Don’t Sell Themselves
One of the often-cited advantages of brick-and-mortar retailing is that shoppers can handle the products and feel the material. But during the grand opening, I was reminded that sometimes seeing a product in person isn’t enough to sell it. In fact, ecommerce merchants may have an opportunity when it comes to selling relatively complex products.
Here is an example. At the front of the new store there was a display of winter boots. These boots featured the Vibram Arctic Grip sole, which is a new, engineered sole that sticks to wet, slippery ice.
I had an opportunity to try the Arctic Grip sole at a trade show in August. The Vibram folks had a large block of ice, which I walked on with the Arctic Grip sole strapped to the bottom of my Nike SD shoes. The experience was incredible. The Arctic Grip sole, which is available on several brands of shoes, was amazing.
In the store, however, winter boots equipped with these high-end, sticky soles just looked expensive. I heard a shopper ask her companion, “Why do these boots cost so much?” I interrupted them, showed a video from when I tried the Arctic Grip — it was still on my mobile — and they bought a pair. What had seemed expensive a moment earlier was suddenly worth every penny.
The difference had not been seeing…
