The first step towards making your nursery a more successful business than it already is starts with marketing. But even when you have done all of advertising, and you know that your customers know are well aware of your existence and what it is that you are selling, you need to make sure that when they are in your nursery, they are spending.
Customers, no matter where they are shopping, are constantly on the hunt for the best possible shopping experience. They don’t just want to spend, they want to enjoy the time that they spend in your shop, especially since your shop is filled with so many exquisite plants and ideas for creating the most beautiful gardens.
It was once believed that simply because your customers spend more time in your shop, they will spend more too, because only those who take their time browsing your items are really interested in what you have to offer.
But in reality, that is really not the case. You can just as easily keep customers in your shop by making it difficult to navigate and by using various other means, but that could end up having the opposite effect on what it is that you are trying to achieve.
What you need to do is implement a number of techniques which have been proven to work in increasing both the dwell time as well as the in-store spending of each customer who walks into your nursery, and this is how you can do just that.
Train your retail staff
Have you ever walked into a retail store, looking for assistance, and instead of having informed retail staff help you out, you’re met with blank stares or worse, staff who walk away?
If you have, you already know that this kind of experience alone can prevent you from supporting the shop, because who’d want to spend lots of money in a place than clearly doesn’t appreciate their customers?
When your aim is to get your customers to spend more in store, you need to start the process by training your staff. Your staff need to be helpful and in the know about your various products and where they can be found in your shop. And not only should your staff be helpful, but they should also be positive and friendly, so that customers feeling truly welcomed into the space.
Have some creature comforts
A corner set aside for tea or coffee, a couple of comfortable chairs, and perhaps a place to buy a snack are just a few of the comforts that you can offer to your customers. Nurseries are a great place to have a café and when you have something like this in your shop, you can be sure that customers are not only going to spend more but they will certainly hang around a little longer than they might have otherwise.
You could also have a children’s play spot where the little ones can have some fun while your customers browse through the selection of products that you have available.
Offer technology
Wi-Fi. Need we say more? We’ve become so reliant on technology and it has become so common place in the public space, that if you don’t offer Wi-Fi, you might just be missing out on a key opportunity to keep customers in your shop that little bit longer so that they can spend more than they perhaps otherwise would have.
Rethink floor layout
In a previous blog we covered all that you need to know about floor layout and now we are going to hammer home just how important it is to have a layout that will support customer decision making and increase the amount of money that customers spend in store.
Floor layout is not complicated and it is something that you can quite easily change up and benefit from. Layouts have the power to influence those impulsive buys and it can also help your customers to find the products that they have initially come to buy. So have a look at what you already have and then see where you can tweak it. The most popular layouts include the grid, the loop and the free flow.
Free flowing layouts are common in nurseries as it will allow you to group products together. So for instance, you can have all of your herbs in one spot so that they are easy to find and while your customers are looking for the one herb, they might notice the other herbs nearby and impulsively buy a few of the others as well.
Giveaways
Sometimes, when a customer gets something for free, they will feel obliged to support the nursery that little bit further by spending more in store. As a nursery owner, you are likely to have a few plants hanging around that you can afford to give away for free. This doesn’t have to be an everyday thing, but the occasional freebie is more powerful than you think.
Offer free delivery
Within reason of course!
Although delivery fees are generally not all that much, especially when compared to the amount that people are spending, it can sometimes make customers limit the amount they are willing to spend.
It could be free delivery of those bigger plants that you have in store, or it could be a free delivery service offered as a part of an online buy. Regardless of how you plan it, giving your customers free delivery could have them buying more simply because they don’t have to worry about the extra fee.
Host an event
Again, in a nursery you have one of the most beautiful settings and as such you have the perfect place to host events. And these events don’t have to be related to your products. You could partner up with local artists or yoga groups and then host their events in a part of your nursery space. This will not only encourage people to come to your nursery and spend some time there, but it will also encourage first time visitors.
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