LOOKING BEYOND YOUR IMMEDIATE AREA FOR CUSTOMERS

While, for sure, people in your immediate area are the people you are likely to see on the street and in front of your shop, your possible reach goes way beyond the immediate area. This is true now more than ever thanks to online. The challenge is that the impact of online is often underestimated by small business retailers. We think there is a similar, and related, underestimation of the shoppers who can be reached.

The people who are most valuable to your business are those who really want what you sell. Outside of the mass traffic of a major shopping mall you need to be doing more to reach people beyond those in your immediate vicinity. If you don’t do this you limit your business to what your immediate vicinity can deliver. Often, that is not a good business plan.

So, how do you do this, how do you look beyond your immediate area? It starts with you looking beyond rather than having no interest in this.

Here are other ideas for connecting with shoppers outside your immediate locale:

1. Leverage multiple business social media pages. As noted in other advice from us.
2. Create a broader audience for your business Facebook page. Consider locating this audience in the next town or city.
3. Transact online with the newsXpress websites, with your own website. Make sure you promote these.
4. Stock products that locals would not expect to see in your business.
5. Participate in local markets outside your area.
6. Consider an outpost in a shopping centre away from your business.
7. Host brand-focussed events / parties in your business to attract shoppers prepared to drive for an hour or two to participate. There are plenty of these people round, as our parties are showing.

Don’t be the lazy retailer who complains they only have a small population of people who shop in their store. While we understand it, we firmly believe that you can decide to not be this victim.

You determine who shops in your store based on your buying, marketing and management.

Our advice is that you make decisions that focus on attracting more people to your business from outside your immediate area.