Retail marketing has gradually evolved over the past few years. If you look at where it is today, you can almost see a pattern. Nowadays, most retailers rely on event and digital marketing strategies. Despite the number of other marketing strategies to choose from, retailers are keener on hiring event staff and working with a digital marketing agency to help their business.
That said, we created this brief guide to refresh your memory on what actually retail marketing is and why retailers prefer and opt for these marketing campaigns.
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What is retail marketing?
At its core, retail marketing is simply the process in which retailers promote their products to generate more sales.
Retailers are the ones who purchase goods in bulk and then sell them in smaller quantities, whereas marketing is simply the process of getting people interested in your products. Combining both of these terms just makes the marketing process more tailored and specific to only retailers.
But it is worth noting that the process of promoting products and generating sales is always changing. Today, there are now lots of nuances that retailers have to take into account when it comes to marketing their products.
So you cannot simply open up a retail store, print a few collaterals or buy TV ads, and then call it a day. Since customers’ behavior and perception are constantly changing, your marketing efforts need to adapt as well. That said, you now have to put in more effort to successfully turn all your leads (or potential customers) into buying customers.
Major Retail Types
As mentioned before, retail marketing is simply a retailer’s way of promoting a product. With that, you have to keep in mind that retailers have different business models. And for every business model, some marketing strategies are better than others.
Having said that, here are the top two major types of retail.
Store-Based
It goes without saying that when we say retail, we often think of outlets, department stores, groceries, or any type of store-based business.
Store-based is any type of retail that has a physical store facilitating the transaction between the seller and the customer. Keep in mind that physical store is not only limited to big retailers, store-based also includes retailers with an only small store or even those little kiosks you often see at the mall or station.
Knowing what store-based stores are, retailers or marketers like you probably already have an idea of what marketing strategies you can use.
To give you an example, let us say that you are a store-based business. There are a lot of ways to generate interest and increase foot traffic to your store. For one, you can organize a marketing event and invite people around the area to come to visit. If you are in the industry long enough, you can even add more brands to your store to provide variety and make people want to come to your store more often.
Non-Store Based
For business owners, non-stored-based is a convenient and economical way to sell their products. Given that they have no physical store to manage, they no longer have to hire employees, pay rent, and acquire a lot of business permits just to get the physical store up and running.
However, since non-store-based retailers have no face-to-face contact with their customers, it would require a lot of convincing before they can even acquire buying customers.
Remember that your customers cannot observe your products closely. Given that you have no physical store to showcase your products, your potential customer cannot physically review the product and decide on the spot whether to buy it or not. They need more convincing than the average customers who often visit physical stores. So bearing all of these in mind, you have to level up your brand awareness, marketing, and PR campaign just to convince them to buy your products.
Since most non-store-based retailers are selling their products online, one of the best and most popular retail marketing strategies is SEO campaign. The aim behind this marketing strategy is to simply increase organic traffic to your website and make the audience more curious about your store. Once you successfully achieve both of these, then it would be much easier to turn potential customers into buying customers.
Different Types of Marketing for Retailers
According to a news report, online stores or non-stored-based retailers sees an increase of almost 15% in their sales just last month. So it is only natural for retailers to keep up with the times and choose events and digital campaigns over other types of marketing.
But still, always keep in mind that some marketing strategies are better than others. So now that you know the two major types of retail, it is time to start brainstorming with your team and find the marketing strategy that best fits your retail store.
Affiliate Marketing
This type of marketing is one of those that you often hear but have no clue what it really is about. Simply put, affiliate marketing is when you pay other people/agencies to promote your products. It is a performance-based strategy and the retailers only pay the affiliate for the customers they bring in.
Those who are new in the industry, especially those who are non-store-based, often resort to this type of strategy because they have no solid reputation yet and they are still starting to build a name for themselves and their brand. Not a lot of people know about their store so they rely on other people/agencies’ popularity to generate leads.
Traditional Marketing
Think of collaterals and paid ads. This type of marketing is already around even before the internet. Many retailers, especially those who own a physical store, simply market their products around their community by printing collaterals such as brochures, posters, flyers, tarpaulins, standees, and so on. As for those who have a much bigger budget allocation for marketing, they use paid ads in the newspaper, billboards, radios, and televisions.
Nowadays, retailers often pair their traditional marketing methods with a much more advanced and latest method such as digital marketing.
Digital Marketing
Recall that we used SEO campaigns as an example earlier. There are several methods to successfully launch a digital marketing campaign and one of which is using SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
Other examples of a digital marketing campaign are social media campaigns, email marketing, influencer campaign, pay-per-click advertising, native content, and so on. Non-store-based retailers can often get away with just digital campaigns. Given that they have no physical store, doing a traditional campaign is sometimes just useless or a waste of resources.
Event Marketing
This type of marketing works well with both stored-based and non-store-based retailers.
It is beneficial for store-based retailers because it provides them an opportunity to generate more foot traffic to their stores. The most popular amongst store-based owners are in-store demos. Rather than hire and spend more resources on another venue, retailers just hold the event at the exact location of their physical store.
As for non-store-based retailers, events are a way to establish trust and bridge the gap between the products and their consumers. Given that customers need to get to know the product first before buying, events are then a great way for them to review and look at the products up-close.
To pull off any type of event, one of the best ways is to get help from the experts or hire event staff to help you organize everything. Doing this helps ensure that your event would hit off smoothly and would be a success.
Interactive Marketing
A trigger-based marketing strategy helps solidifies the relationship between the customer and the brand. Oftentimes, interactive marketing is often paired with other marketing campaigns such as events, launch parties, social media campaigns, and so on.
The best thing about this type of marketing is that you would be able to have a dialogue or some form of connection with your customers. This makes your products more worth it from a buyers’ perspective.
An example of interactive marketing is holding a launch party in your store and getting the opinion of the attendees for the catering ideas. This might not seem like a big deal, but including your potential customers in the decision would make the event more enjoyable. On top of that, it also shows that you value their opinions and suggestions. And these are often the attributes that repeat or loyal customers look for.
Apart from surveys and suggestions, other types of interactive marketing also include contests, giveaways, and personalized offers.
Factors to Consider
Now that you are equipped with all the basic knowledge and marketing strategy on retail, you can now start making your ultimate retail marketing strategy.
To make this easier for you, we have created a checklist or factors that you should definitely look out for.
Where will you sell the product?
Will it be store-based or non-store-based? Location is an important factor to consider when it comes to formulating the perfect marketing strategy. This would give you a starting point or idea of who your target demographics can be.
Do you have a clear enough understanding of your target customers?
Retail marketing is all about pandering to a group of people who have higher conversion rates. This simply means that you should know who your target market is so that you can turn them into buying customers.
Where do your products fit in the landscape?
Remember that retail marketing is all about motivating potential customers to choose your products over your competitors. So if you know who your competitors are as well as your position in the market, then it would be much easier to create a marketing plan that would make you stand out.
How will consumers trust you?
Trust is now a crucial factor when it comes to selling products nowadays. As a retailer, it is up to you to figure out a way how you can make your brand look more approachable and trustworthy for your demographic.
What will be your customers’ key takeaways?
Are your products solving their problem or is it simply something dispensable? Most marketers would tell you that every product should solve a consumers’ problem. But in reality, that is not always the case. Some products are functional while other consumers simply buy them for their happiness factor. Once you know which one applies to your products, then you would be able to come up with a more realistic, workable, and achievable marketing plan.
That is why you need to establish clear demographics on who your potential customers are. This way, no matter if your products are functional or not, you can still maximize and get the most out of your marketing campaign because you were able to target the right demographic.
Retail Marketing Terminologies
Finding the best resources online for retail marketing is not that easy. Since there is no single formula for a successful retail marketing strategy, a lot of information tends to get mixed up.
So to help you avoid confusion, here are the frequently asked terminologies in relation to retail marketing.
Retail Marketing Mix
It is the 4Ps marketing mix framework which is (1) product, (2) price, (3) promotion, and (4) place when applied in retail.
Brand Equity
The marketing effect that accrues to your product due to its brand name, which would not be achieved vice-versa or if the product does not have your brand name.
Retail Brand Activation
Bridging the gap and creating a link between your brand and the customers.
Merchandise Margin
It is the retailers’ profitability after its variable cost.
Omnichannel Retail Strategy
According to this study, this strategy is a new retail trend that consolidates all customers’ touchpoints into one holistic experience.
Start Planning
To keep afloat and remain in the retail industry for a long time, you need to keep abreast of the latest marketing strategies as well.
Because at the end of the day, there is no secret formula when it comes to retail marketing. Every retailer is different and some strategies are better than others.
So start looking for the best strategy for your retail store and start planning your campaign with your team now!
