What the retail industry can learn from other stores
The retail industry is packed with challenges, from attracting new customers to meeting regulatory requirements. It isn’t the only industry that faces these challenges, however, and, in the same way, there’s much we can learn from commerce, there’s also much that the retail industry can learn from other sectors.
Hospitality
Hospitality is another industry that tends to welcome technological innovation. It also creates unique, customized experiences. Online check-ins, for example, enable visitors to check in as they travel to a hotel, which means they don’t have to wait around in the hotel lobby and can head straight up to the room.
Hospitality venues have welcoming, warm environments. These are not only created by the décor and the ambiance of the venue itself but by the staff, the advertising, and every other element of the business. These environments make visitors more inclined to spend money because they want to stay inside the establishment.
Travel
The travel industry leans heavily on technology. It was one of the first industries to be involved in online price comparisons, and it was also one of the first to benefit from the use of VR in its advertising and sales. It’s a lot easier to sell the benefits of a destination if the customer can experience it firsthand, and that’s what VR effectively helped holiday companies do.
This immersive experience can be carried over into many other industries, including retail. Consider fashion store apps that let the user virtually try on clothes before they buy them. Retail stores can also benefit from multi-channel advertising, like travel does, using apps, online, phone, and physical stores.
Gambling
As well as its handling of large volumes of data and meeting stringent regulations, the gambling industry has a lot to teach about customer attraction and retention. Non-Gamstop casino sites offer a host of different bonuses to attract new players. They give away free spins or match first deposits. They also offer ongoing bonuses to keep players coming back. The retail industry has some experience with similar programs, with sales and offers used to get people in the door and customer loyalty programs offered as a means of keeping shoppers.
Another lesson retail can learn from gambling is its adoption of technologies. Many new online casinos, according to technology editor Kane Pepi, have adopted cryptocurrency payments because they’re fast and appealing to large sections of the sites’ customer bases.
Music And Entertainment
The music industry is all about creating memorable experiences. That’s why people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars or more to attend a festival or a gig when they can sit at home and download a song to their mobile phone or listen to it on smart speakers.
The music industry is also very good at upselling. Gig-goers spend money buying band t-shirts and other memorabilia to mark the occasion and to keep the items as mementos of their time. While it might sound difficult to achieve something similar with retail businesses, it is possible to create a memorable experience that shoppers will not only remember but also relay to their friends and family.
Health
The health industry deals with a lot of data. It has to create, maintain, and securely store records. It also has to innovate while meeting regulations and ensuring that users are not only happy but healthy.
Retail businesses have some similar requirements. Retail depends on the use of data for marketing, advertising, and stock and supply management. And retail companies that innovate are those that are most likely to survive and thrive.
Construction
The construction industry typically operates on tight margins. Companies need to find ways to get jobs done efficiently and effectively but without overspending. Timescale is also important, with jobs that run over potentially costing companies millions. Retail needs to consider timing, certainly in deployment.
Buying trends move quickly, and if a retail outlet only jumps on a trend after it has run its natural course, it won’t reap the rewards. Retail businesses need to operate on strict budgets and find ways to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of the services or products they offer, which is very similar to construction.
Education
Education concentrates on identifying and developing the strengths in individuals, as well as teaching people. Both of these can be beneficial in the retail industry, effectively finding leaders among staff and then giving them the knowledge and tools they need to be able to develop.
Retail is also about teaching potential customers: identifying pain points and teaching people how certain products can assist in combating those pain points.
Marketing
The ability to measure performance, identify and act on trends, and the ability to be analytical are all crucial in marketing, which is also another industry that deals with significant volumes of data daily. And, of course, there are large elements of retail that are marketing, not just similar to marketing.
A retail business can’t rely solely on word of mouth or passing foot traffic. It will have to proactively make efforts to draw in new customers if it wants to succeed.
Finance
Finance requires efficiency and reliability, and the whole industry has to evolve quickly, in line with the changes around it. The emergence of cryptocurrency and blockchain, for example, has led to finance businesses having to adapt the way they deal with remittances.
Few people in the industry knew much about blockchain technology ten years ago, but, today, they are implementing new and unique ways to use it. Retail also has to move quickly, not only in identifying trends, but in using new ways to attract customers, sell products, and use data.
Conclusion
The retail industry relies heavily on data. It also deals with customer acquisition and retention, customer complaints, and many other elements of business that are experienced in other industries and sectors.
Retail businesses can learn a lot from industries like finance and even construction, as well as gambling and technology industries.
