Shop Talk: 4 Tips for Driving Catalog Sales From Brick-and-Mortar Shoppers
Q: "I would love to get some advice on increasing catalog orders from retail store customers. We are a tourist-driven business and we want them to order again once they get home from vacation." — Chris Hatcher, marketing director, Savannah's Candy Kitchen
A: If you're looking to drive catalog orders post-retail, here are a few quick tips:
1. Use a bounceback. Similar to how online retailers often include promotional materials in shipments of products — e.g., Amazon.com including a discount offer on a flyer with products ordered or a catalog retailer including a copy of its print catalog in its product shipment with an offer for "returning customers" — always have your staff put a catalog or some other marketing collateral into the bag your customers take away with them.
2. Opt them in. Have an iPad (or multiple iPads) in prominent locations around your store(s) so shoppers can opt in to receiving either emails or catalogs (or both) from you. Or simply have your store associates and sales clerks ask shoppers if they'd like to give you their email address to receive messages from you — maybe you can sweeten the deal by sending them special discounts and offers. The goal here is to never let a customer or prospect leave your store without having them agree to receive further communications from you.
3. Use QR codes. In addition to their cool novelty factor, QR codes provide a convenient and easy way for consumers to access your company's promotions, resources and other information via their smartphones. That's probably why more and more smartphone users are now experimenting with them. Try using QR codes for email opt-in campaigns. Keep in mind that smartphone users scanning your QR codes are likely on the go, so asking for much more than a name and an email address may backfire.
Another option is to connect your QR codes to relevant and valuable content. Whether it's a discount coupon, entry to a contest or an incentive to subscribe to your email newsletter, provide something useful and exciting for consumers who take the time and effort to scan your QR codes. I especially love using QR codes to drive traffic to a Facebook page. Having your customers follow you via social media is a key to repeat sales! The more channels a customer interacts with you in, the more likely they are to buy again, thus increasing customer lifetime value.
4. Keep your social sites top of mind. Beyond QR codes, make sure you prominently display via visual collateral your social media sites in your stores. Have your retail staff trained to tell in-store shoppers why they need to follow your brand on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Part of the in-store sales wrap-up should be for your staff to set up the next sale.
Jim Gilbert is the founder and CEO of multidiscipline direct marketing agency Gilbert Direct Marketing. Jim can be reached at jimdirect@aol.com.
- Companies:
- Amazon.com
- People:
- Chris Hatcher
- Jim Gilbert
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
