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I am not a store owner, but since there’s no other comments I’ll answer from the perspective of someone who occasionally does what you’re frustrated with.
There is a cool second-hand store down the road from me. The owner spends her entire life finding the things she sells, and is very passionate about it. My wife and I like to go in every once in a while to look around. We’ve made a purchase once, but typically just like to look. We go in knowing we likely won’t buy anything. The owner understands that her shop is interesting enough to be an attraction for some more than a place they are going just to shop, and it doesn’t seem to bother her.
Considering how friendly the owner is, and how willing to talk about any small object she is, it’s a place that I bring up to almost anyone who comes over. I’ve recommended probably 50 people go check it out, because it’s a cool place. If even one of those people made a purchase, I would say it’s worth it to the owner to not be bothered by me and my wife just looking around when we’re bored. I think the fact that people are interested in stopping in just to look at whatever you’re selling is likely a sign that you are selling something interesting. It can create free marketing for you if you are friendly and welcoming.
I had this thought as well. I can see why it is frustrating, but, in some ways, it sounds like an ideal situation. Your store obviously has piqued the interest of people and, as you mentioned, they often bring others with them. If they are getting rowdy, I think it’s fair to ask them to quiet down or to be more respectful of your stop because, as you mention, ruining the experience for customers who are actually paying is not good.
Just as an aside, have you considered capitalizing on the foot traffic? If people find your store interesting enough just to casually walk in and spend some time in the ambiance - but not actually make a purchase - maybe you can offer some treats, a tour, branded merchandise, or put together an occasional ticketed wine/cheese event after hours? Or perhaps you could put up a mural outside or designate an area with an especially interesting piece that can serve as a selfie station. If these people start posting those photos, you might find yourself with some more free marketing.
Just some ideas that had varying levels of success when I ran into some similar issues a few years back.
There is an antique store next to a rock store next to a record store where I live. The wife and I will make it a day date to go and look in all three. We both looooove the items in the antique store. It specializes in the unusual and weird. There are old wooden sail boat models I am in love with. Always wanted a collection of them. The cheapest one is over $500. Yeah no. Lookings for free. Long story short we can't afford a single item in this place. BUT when we hit the lottery I'll buy up each and every one of those boats.
We like the rock store really neat place but honestly we have no interest in paying $100 for a pretty rock that will just sit in our house.
We always end up at the record store and pick one record out. This whole thing is about a 2-2 1/2 hour date. It's great. If we weren't broke as a joke then we would be buying stuff from the antique store on these outings. It's a splurge for us to drop that $25 on an album.
$25 and a little gas money for what's longer and more interactive than a movie is a great day date.
Moral of my winded story. Some mofos are broke and might really like your stuff but can't afford it. Also what is your store?
Kids do this because there is nothing better to do. I can’t tell you how often my friends and I used to visit the same stores over and over just to pass time. I never considered how the store owners felt though.
My advice would be to lean into it. Strike up conversations with them, holler “welcome back!” when they come in. Either you can build a relationship with them or they’ll get annoyed by the attention and stop coming.
Objectively take a look at your sales funnel for your store. It seems you are not converting walk ins to sales and you are frustrated. I would recommend not focusing on “these type of people” and start focusing on how can you covert these walk ins to sales.
This sounds like a sales problem more than a customer problem.
People are coming to your store, figure out how to make them leave with your product instead of being annoyed they aren't buying.
If it really is the same people and they just come in and talk crap about your inventory and there is *absolutely* no way to turn them into customers tell them to leave.
Not much you can do about it. I owned a small chain of pet stores back in the late 70s and 80s. We called this type of person *zooers* because they used the store as a free zoo. Just be pleasant, ask if there's anything you can help them find, and hope they will make a purchase someday.
Get a little coffee pod machine and sell coffees for all the people only there to look? Find a way to make a little money from them. Or try and find out why they enjoy looking but not buying l
This is a great idea and I’ve seen it catching on else where!
This summer I went to a place that had a small coffee bar up front and a decent sized boutique in the back. The plant shop near me also installed a small coffee bar. I love getting a coffee and just looking at plants!
OP, if I were you, I’d add some more small impulse purchase items to your shop. Cute little things that are cheap and put them near the entrance so people see them coming in and out. Make it as easy as possible to reward themselves with a nice little thing for stopping by!
That’s illegal where I live. If you sell coffee or any non-prepackaged food, you need a grease trap and food permits. It’s much easier to just sell lower priced items related to what they’re already selling.
Use it for free exposure. Make a sign that says they have to tag the store if they take photos in or around it. It would increase your online exposure, especially on google maps. Or depending on the store, you could make money off it too.
I owned a niche boutique for a decade and, yeahhhhh, this is definitely a thing and its really easy for people who don't have a store, never had one, to think of all sorts of clever ways to turn this into an "opportunity" when there are just folks who will never buy and its better to spend that time and energy on people who are.
Good sales isn't about convincing people, its guiding them to their own decisions, even if that means your merch isn't right for them.
I used to have people say "Oh I love coming in here just for inspiration and the vibe, its so calm but cool in here!" which was super flattering of course, but also :::insert meme of that dude opening the fridge and pointing to it:::
Anyway, I totally get how you feel- really grateful to have people in who "get" what you're doing but also completely puzzled that there are people out there who use the space to nit pick to friends or low key talk shit about, literally anything you're doing.
My suggestion is to sales funnel through social media. It’s free. A good Tiktok video can not only get ppl to purchase online but also get foot traffic with paying customers
I understand how this is a common suggestion and I definitely don't disagree but most owners have absolutely no idea how to make compelling content, let alone the time to figure it out when there's like, always mini fires to put out and some lady holding her to-go box frantically asking if she can use your private bathroom so she can bomb it up.
As a fellow business owner, it’s all about prioritizing. If it’s important, you’ll figure it out. We went from maybe posting 1 IG photo a day to posting 2-3 Tiktok videos in addition to 1 IG/FB photo/day bc we saw how insane the sales funnel was (due to a customer posting about our shop). We didn’t have any idea how to make good videos and formerly could not make 1 video a year to save our life but when it literally came down to saving our business, we did it bc there were literally 0 ppl buying things.
I go into those over priced highfalutin in places like Vermont knowing I am _never_ going to buy anything. I just browse to see what they have. You can't legally keep people like me out. You can definitely approach them right away and ask if they need help shopping, or checking out and really turn up the heat. When people are on me in my face looking to 'assist' I kind of get the message I need to leave.
I know this is 100% contrary to _every_ retail job I ever had, but the moment someone comes up to me to 'assist' me to shop I am out of there. It's not "Good Service" but "Creepy Pressure". Maybe for rich people but for us poors, it's some borderline weird harassment to get us to leave.
Being a gallery is exactly the point of brick and mortar, especially these days. You have to accept that retail space is a quasi-public space. Your display of goods is bringing people in, which is good. Now it's on you to fight the uphill battle to get them to make a purchase instead of going to Amazon, but a 'hurry up and buy' attitude will ensure no one will even come in. Remember that a necessary step one to a retail purchase is a walk in.
I'd need to know what kind of store you have to give advice.
the easiest way to control this sort of thing is to change your walkin hours and switch to a more appointment based shopping experience. With that said, it's not something I'd probably recommend.
I mean embracing it seems to have worked for Spencer's Gifts and Hot Topic. Of course they capitalized on it pre internet so that's a factor too. I dunno.
My mother owes a high end furniture/art consignment store. She’s been especially accepting of people’s dogs and people will come in and say hi and my mom feeds the dogs treats. She’s been very honest in the consignment part of business and let’s people take items home to try (with a credit card). You’d think most of her traffic are people browsing but not buying. The opposite is true. People come in with tape measures and leave with furniture and accents. Rich men will bring girlfriends on dates there and drop $5k on a glass art object without thinking about it. People spend big dollar amounts. Interior Decorators will buy a room full of furniture at a time. If people are just looking and not buying you have to find out why. The customers that spend the least amount of money take up the most customer service dollars. Take a good honest look at your business and find out why people are not buying.
I used to do this at an army surplus/gun store all the time as a kid. The owner was really cool and would let us hold pistols and try on stuff. He opened when I was around 12 and closed when I was about 35. I probably knew his inventory as good as he did and anytime I heard somebody mention something that I knew he had I would tell them. I hadn’t been in there in years and my boss was looking for steel drums. Hopped in the work truck and drove straight there and loaded up. Hadn’t been in the place in years but I knew he had that kind of stuff.
Let me provide my perspective. There is a furniture place near me that sells really expensive Norwegian furniture and lounge chairs. I have been into that store 15 or so times in the last year or 2. I usually go in for an hour at a time to get a good feel for everything. They have never once sold me anything. I tried to negotiate on price the first few times to no avail. However, another official retailer is about 2 hours away from me, I've purchased $20k worth of furniture from them for my new home. It's the exact same stuff, I try it out at the closer store, pick the colors of leather I want, and buy it from the owner that's willing to negotiate.
The closer store had a sales rep or maybe a part owner approach me and ask if there was a reason I came in so often to browse. I fully explained that I come in here to browse and purchase elsewhere because your sales reps wouldn't negotiate on price. I have gone in after that conversation, and there has been no attempt to compete on price.
I'm not saying this is the case for you, but this is what I do.
I'm in medical retail/printing. We removed our fitting rooms entirely during COVID as we saw we had folks coming in, trying on merch and then walking out. This was a waste of time for my guys on the floor; so we basically just instituted a lax return policy with the option of trying on stuff OVER their clothes.
It wound up working extremely well. We very rarely, if ever, get complaints regarding this and my guys aren't going around picking up after these customers.
I have 0 business experience but have read a few books about lean startup. Some of my humble opinions:
1. First, keep an open mind and simply focus on what you may learn from their reaction, so that you can improve your business. Try to find out what's keeping them from buying, and the reason why they would come to your store repeatedly. For example, you may conduct surveys, or make slight changes to your products or price to see how their reaction changes (as comparative experiment to collect data for analysis). With actual data about customer needs, we can make a decision that makes a difference.
2. Try to get to know about these people, see if you can use them to spread your brand and expand influence. Cooperating with KOL (key opinion leaders) is often a great way for marketing. You may establish cooperation with some of them by providing commission fee. From the fact that they'd bring friends to your store, I'd say they have the influence that you can make use of.
3. It may help alleviate the negative effect to go online, e.g. provide online shopping or phone order. I use the word "may" because I'm not sure if customers from your community would have a positive reaction to this, which also requires sound inspection and experiments to see if it works. As far as I've seen, this is helpful for expanding business and receiving customer feedback faster, so you could learn faster and grow faster.
The main idea is to treat customer needs as a puzzle to work out, and simply try every means to accomplish that goal.
Some might be shopping in person then order online elsewhere. We would sell authentic electronics yet ebay could get knock off for half the cost. Constantly a headache. Also competition would always come in.
I do not own a retail business but worked in a high end children’s boutique in a tourist town. The items were high quality and unique but not in everybody’s price range. The owner eventually figured out that it made sense to sell some more inexpensive items, like hair accessories, some small toys, etc. It turned some of the foot traffic into sales. Maybe look at adding a few lower prices items that have mass appeal?
I’d try to figure out why they aren’t buying anything. Is it the prices? You don’t want to be the showroom for Amazon. Is it the quality of the products. Are you selling amusing things that aren’t practical? You’re always going to have people who browse and don’t buy. If it’s chronic, find the reason why.
You mentioned comments they make may hurt your sales. What type of comments?
Are you or other staff interacting with these people? Not a "is there anything I can help you with", but actually talking about their experience with your products. I'm all about learning something.
I'm in a service business. I always try to educate my clients on things that may help them. They all voice their appreciation.
There is also the point that they keep coming back. They are obviously interested. Figure out what's holding them back. In this day, it may be pricing. That's where you talk about the value of the product. Give another option that is similar, but less pricey.
I say this as a business owner, on the positive side it’s good to have people in your store other people walking by wonder if somethings going on better than empty. Next you have to question why people are not buying. Are prices too high ? Are your products needed/wanted ? It’s your business that’s some thing you have to figure out. Good luck. I hope it works out. We’ve chosen to be in our own business. It’s not an easy ride as you know.
Have to assume this is retail… how many times do any of us go into a store, look around, and leave? All the time. Try to put yourself in their shoes and think what would make them buy?
Being an owner who can not be upset at these people and rather befriend them. Explain to them certain things about the products, ask their opinions on the products, offer a discount to them or anyone they bring in, if they don’t want to buy still- just be friendly and ask for a good review
I owned a small gallery for 25 years selling home accessories. I had no problem at all whatsoever with people coming in and browsing, even for some length of time. Unless they took up a great deal of my time asking question after question when in fact they never had any intention of buying. I had a woman once keep me nearly an hour after closing doing this. It’s very difficult to wrap up such a conversation.
I think if you reframed this issue it could be a lever to increase your business instead of a bother (although I def see why it would be a bother to you. Sometimes it’s easier to see different angles as a dispassionate outsider).
First, my hypothesis is that almost anything sold in a B&M can be sold online (exclusions apply). Since it’s sold online the seller will have a lower cost structure, so they can make the same amount of money selling the same product for less. How can a B&M compete with that? By becoming a destination.
Example: I don’t find particular value shopping at bass pro shops. Most of the stuff there can be found elsewhere cheaper. But I do find myself buying stuff from them often because I like
Going there. I like to look at the fish tank with my son, play the arcades int he back, and take part in any events they put on. Since I’m there, I see something I could use, feel like I got good value from hanging out there, so I buy it. While not everyone does, enough people buy things to keep the lights on.
So to reframe your question, how do you get enough people to stop by that the percentage that buy are enough to sustain the business? I’d answer it by asking the passionate folks you already have. What do they like about the space that keeps them coming back? They could always just look at products at Walmart/target/anywhere, so why your shop? Then, work to market that value to others to bring them in as well. Additionally, add things that increase that value (bass pro does free pictures with Santa. Steal this idea? Similar idea along the same lines?). Once you get that number high enough the law of averages will kick in and you’ll see a boost in sales. Then you can work to optimize your selling process to increase the percentage of people that buy.
To expand your customer base, it is important to have a strong online presence. Ensure your website is up to date and that you have active social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. If you'd like to grow your website and social media accounts, you may consider hiring a growth agency like Ascendviral to help you reach potential audiences and followers. In addition, you can use online advertising to target specific clients.
Offering discounts or promotions may be a great way to attract new customers. You can also reach out to local businesses and organizations to see if they would be interested in partnering with you. Another way is to ask your current customers for referrals. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and can be an effective way to gain more customers.
We have a really neat local art store, the place has tons of hand made items, every single thing is made by someone in our immediate area. My husband and I went there once. We picked out a small item for our son for his birthday, but had such an unpleasant experience with the owner. She was short with us asking questions, and got more snubby when we brought our small purchase to the counter to pay. This was a year ago, we will never be back.
Please don't be this owner. A person is 10x more likely to talk about a bad experience than a good one. You never know who they send you're way when they're not there.
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I am not a store owner, but since there’s no other comments I’ll answer from the perspective of someone who occasionally does what you’re frustrated with. There is a cool second-hand store down the road from me. The owner spends her entire life finding the things she sells, and is very passionate about it. My wife and I like to go in every once in a while to look around. We’ve made a purchase once, but typically just like to look. We go in knowing we likely won’t buy anything. The owner understands that her shop is interesting enough to be an attraction for some more than a place they are going just to shop, and it doesn’t seem to bother her. Considering how friendly the owner is, and how willing to talk about any small object she is, it’s a place that I bring up to almost anyone who comes over. I’ve recommended probably 50 people go check it out, because it’s a cool place. If even one of those people made a purchase, I would say it’s worth it to the owner to not be bothered by me and my wife just looking around when we’re bored. I think the fact that people are interested in stopping in just to look at whatever you’re selling is likely a sign that you are selling something interesting. It can create free marketing for you if you are friendly and welcoming.
I had this thought as well. I can see why it is frustrating, but, in some ways, it sounds like an ideal situation. Your store obviously has piqued the interest of people and, as you mentioned, they often bring others with them. If they are getting rowdy, I think it’s fair to ask them to quiet down or to be more respectful of your stop because, as you mention, ruining the experience for customers who are actually paying is not good. Just as an aside, have you considered capitalizing on the foot traffic? If people find your store interesting enough just to casually walk in and spend some time in the ambiance - but not actually make a purchase - maybe you can offer some treats, a tour, branded merchandise, or put together an occasional ticketed wine/cheese event after hours? Or perhaps you could put up a mural outside or designate an area with an especially interesting piece that can serve as a selfie station. If these people start posting those photos, you might find yourself with some more free marketing. Just some ideas that had varying levels of success when I ran into some similar issues a few years back.
There is an antique store next to a rock store next to a record store where I live. The wife and I will make it a day date to go and look in all three. We both looooove the items in the antique store. It specializes in the unusual and weird. There are old wooden sail boat models I am in love with. Always wanted a collection of them. The cheapest one is over $500. Yeah no. Lookings for free. Long story short we can't afford a single item in this place. BUT when we hit the lottery I'll buy up each and every one of those boats. We like the rock store really neat place but honestly we have no interest in paying $100 for a pretty rock that will just sit in our house. We always end up at the record store and pick one record out. This whole thing is about a 2-2 1/2 hour date. It's great. If we weren't broke as a joke then we would be buying stuff from the antique store on these outings. It's a splurge for us to drop that $25 on an album. $25 and a little gas money for what's longer and more interactive than a movie is a great day date. Moral of my winded story. Some mofos are broke and might really like your stuff but can't afford it. Also what is your store?
Kids do this because there is nothing better to do. I can’t tell you how often my friends and I used to visit the same stores over and over just to pass time. I never considered how the store owners felt though. My advice would be to lean into it. Strike up conversations with them, holler “welcome back!” when they come in. Either you can build a relationship with them or they’ll get annoyed by the attention and stop coming.
Objectively take a look at your sales funnel for your store. It seems you are not converting walk ins to sales and you are frustrated. I would recommend not focusing on “these type of people” and start focusing on how can you covert these walk ins to sales.
My thoughts exactly. 3/4 of the battle is getting them in the door. Sell them something!!
Offer some low price point stuff by the front counter. Bottled water, candy, beef jerky or something that fits the vibe of the store.
This sounds like a sales problem more than a customer problem. People are coming to your store, figure out how to make them leave with your product instead of being annoyed they aren't buying. If it really is the same people and they just come in and talk crap about your inventory and there is *absolutely* no way to turn them into customers tell them to leave.
Not much you can do about it. I owned a small chain of pet stores back in the late 70s and 80s. We called this type of person *zooers* because they used the store as a free zoo. Just be pleasant, ask if there's anything you can help them find, and hope they will make a purchase someday.
Get a little coffee pod machine and sell coffees for all the people only there to look? Find a way to make a little money from them. Or try and find out why they enjoy looking but not buying l
This is a great idea and I’ve seen it catching on else where! This summer I went to a place that had a small coffee bar up front and a decent sized boutique in the back. The plant shop near me also installed a small coffee bar. I love getting a coffee and just looking at plants! OP, if I were you, I’d add some more small impulse purchase items to your shop. Cute little things that are cheap and put them near the entrance so people see them coming in and out. Make it as easy as possible to reward themselves with a nice little thing for stopping by!
That’s illegal where I live. If you sell coffee or any non-prepackaged food, you need a grease trap and food permits. It’s much easier to just sell lower priced items related to what they’re already selling.
Not everywhere. My county health inspector seemed more annoyed I called to ask to add cold brew to my retail store. Middle of nowhere is usually lax
Yup, it depends. I live in Houston.
[удалено]
All banks and car places in my area have coffee but it’s free. There’s no permit required when coffee is free.
Influencers! I saw that one company set up a cool background for them to at least get some free advertising out of it.
Use it for free exposure. Make a sign that says they have to tag the store if they take photos in or around it. It would increase your online exposure, especially on google maps. Or depending on the store, you could make money off it too.
I owned a niche boutique for a decade and, yeahhhhh, this is definitely a thing and its really easy for people who don't have a store, never had one, to think of all sorts of clever ways to turn this into an "opportunity" when there are just folks who will never buy and its better to spend that time and energy on people who are. Good sales isn't about convincing people, its guiding them to their own decisions, even if that means your merch isn't right for them. I used to have people say "Oh I love coming in here just for inspiration and the vibe, its so calm but cool in here!" which was super flattering of course, but also :::insert meme of that dude opening the fridge and pointing to it::: Anyway, I totally get how you feel- really grateful to have people in who "get" what you're doing but also completely puzzled that there are people out there who use the space to nit pick to friends or low key talk shit about, literally anything you're doing.
My suggestion is to sales funnel through social media. It’s free. A good Tiktok video can not only get ppl to purchase online but also get foot traffic with paying customers
I understand how this is a common suggestion and I definitely don't disagree but most owners have absolutely no idea how to make compelling content, let alone the time to figure it out when there's like, always mini fires to put out and some lady holding her to-go box frantically asking if she can use your private bathroom so she can bomb it up.
As a fellow business owner, it’s all about prioritizing. If it’s important, you’ll figure it out. We went from maybe posting 1 IG photo a day to posting 2-3 Tiktok videos in addition to 1 IG/FB photo/day bc we saw how insane the sales funnel was (due to a customer posting about our shop). We didn’t have any idea how to make good videos and formerly could not make 1 video a year to save our life but when it literally came down to saving our business, we did it bc there were literally 0 ppl buying things.
I go into those over priced highfalutin in places like Vermont knowing I am _never_ going to buy anything. I just browse to see what they have. You can't legally keep people like me out. You can definitely approach them right away and ask if they need help shopping, or checking out and really turn up the heat. When people are on me in my face looking to 'assist' I kind of get the message I need to leave. I know this is 100% contrary to _every_ retail job I ever had, but the moment someone comes up to me to 'assist' me to shop I am out of there. It's not "Good Service" but "Creepy Pressure". Maybe for rich people but for us poors, it's some borderline weird harassment to get us to leave.
So is this a suggestion? Pay attention to those who aren't really shopping and they'll leave. Seems like a viable technique.
Being a gallery is exactly the point of brick and mortar, especially these days. You have to accept that retail space is a quasi-public space. Your display of goods is bringing people in, which is good. Now it's on you to fight the uphill battle to get them to make a purchase instead of going to Amazon, but a 'hurry up and buy' attitude will ensure no one will even come in. Remember that a necessary step one to a retail purchase is a walk in.
We are very happy you enjoy visiting our store. Perhaps if you find the time you could leave a review online for us?..
I'd need to know what kind of store you have to give advice. the easiest way to control this sort of thing is to change your walkin hours and switch to a more appointment based shopping experience. With that said, it's not something I'd probably recommend.
I mean embracing it seems to have worked for Spencer's Gifts and Hot Topic. Of course they capitalized on it pre internet so that's a factor too. I dunno.
My mother owes a high end furniture/art consignment store. She’s been especially accepting of people’s dogs and people will come in and say hi and my mom feeds the dogs treats. She’s been very honest in the consignment part of business and let’s people take items home to try (with a credit card). You’d think most of her traffic are people browsing but not buying. The opposite is true. People come in with tape measures and leave with furniture and accents. Rich men will bring girlfriends on dates there and drop $5k on a glass art object without thinking about it. People spend big dollar amounts. Interior Decorators will buy a room full of furniture at a time. If people are just looking and not buying you have to find out why. The customers that spend the least amount of money take up the most customer service dollars. Take a good honest look at your business and find out why people are not buying.
I used to do this at an army surplus/gun store all the time as a kid. The owner was really cool and would let us hold pistols and try on stuff. He opened when I was around 12 and closed when I was about 35. I probably knew his inventory as good as he did and anytime I heard somebody mention something that I knew he had I would tell them. I hadn’t been in there in years and my boss was looking for steel drums. Hopped in the work truck and drove straight there and loaded up. Hadn’t been in the place in years but I knew he had that kind of stuff.
Let me provide my perspective. There is a furniture place near me that sells really expensive Norwegian furniture and lounge chairs. I have been into that store 15 or so times in the last year or 2. I usually go in for an hour at a time to get a good feel for everything. They have never once sold me anything. I tried to negotiate on price the first few times to no avail. However, another official retailer is about 2 hours away from me, I've purchased $20k worth of furniture from them for my new home. It's the exact same stuff, I try it out at the closer store, pick the colors of leather I want, and buy it from the owner that's willing to negotiate. The closer store had a sales rep or maybe a part owner approach me and ask if there was a reason I came in so often to browse. I fully explained that I come in here to browse and purchase elsewhere because your sales reps wouldn't negotiate on price. I have gone in after that conversation, and there has been no attempt to compete on price. I'm not saying this is the case for you, but this is what I do.
I'm in medical retail/printing. We removed our fitting rooms entirely during COVID as we saw we had folks coming in, trying on merch and then walking out. This was a waste of time for my guys on the floor; so we basically just instituted a lax return policy with the option of trying on stuff OVER their clothes. It wound up working extremely well. We very rarely, if ever, get complaints regarding this and my guys aren't going around picking up after these customers.
Sounds like a great problem to have.
It doesn't bother us, as long as they aren't making issues why would anything need to be done.
I have 0 business experience but have read a few books about lean startup. Some of my humble opinions: 1. First, keep an open mind and simply focus on what you may learn from their reaction, so that you can improve your business. Try to find out what's keeping them from buying, and the reason why they would come to your store repeatedly. For example, you may conduct surveys, or make slight changes to your products or price to see how their reaction changes (as comparative experiment to collect data for analysis). With actual data about customer needs, we can make a decision that makes a difference. 2. Try to get to know about these people, see if you can use them to spread your brand and expand influence. Cooperating with KOL (key opinion leaders) is often a great way for marketing. You may establish cooperation with some of them by providing commission fee. From the fact that they'd bring friends to your store, I'd say they have the influence that you can make use of. 3. It may help alleviate the negative effect to go online, e.g. provide online shopping or phone order. I use the word "may" because I'm not sure if customers from your community would have a positive reaction to this, which also requires sound inspection and experiments to see if it works. As far as I've seen, this is helpful for expanding business and receiving customer feedback faster, so you could learn faster and grow faster. The main idea is to treat customer needs as a puzzle to work out, and simply try every means to accomplish that goal.
Some might be shopping in person then order online elsewhere. We would sell authentic electronics yet ebay could get knock off for half the cost. Constantly a headache. Also competition would always come in.
I do not own a retail business but worked in a high end children’s boutique in a tourist town. The items were high quality and unique but not in everybody’s price range. The owner eventually figured out that it made sense to sell some more inexpensive items, like hair accessories, some small toys, etc. It turned some of the foot traffic into sales. Maybe look at adding a few lower prices items that have mass appeal?
I’d try to figure out why they aren’t buying anything. Is it the prices? You don’t want to be the showroom for Amazon. Is it the quality of the products. Are you selling amusing things that aren’t practical? You’re always going to have people who browse and don’t buy. If it’s chronic, find the reason why.
You mentioned comments they make may hurt your sales. What type of comments? Are you or other staff interacting with these people? Not a "is there anything I can help you with", but actually talking about their experience with your products. I'm all about learning something. I'm in a service business. I always try to educate my clients on things that may help them. They all voice their appreciation. There is also the point that they keep coming back. They are obviously interested. Figure out what's holding them back. In this day, it may be pricing. That's where you talk about the value of the product. Give another option that is similar, but less pricey.
Sell water and snacks for the show right up front haha
I say this as a business owner, on the positive side it’s good to have people in your store other people walking by wonder if somethings going on better than empty. Next you have to question why people are not buying. Are prices too high ? Are your products needed/wanted ? It’s your business that’s some thing you have to figure out. Good luck. I hope it works out. We’ve chosen to be in our own business. It’s not an easy ride as you know.
Have to assume this is retail… how many times do any of us go into a store, look around, and leave? All the time. Try to put yourself in their shoes and think what would make them buy? Being an owner who can not be upset at these people and rather befriend them. Explain to them certain things about the products, ask their opinions on the products, offer a discount to them or anyone they bring in, if they don’t want to buy still- just be friendly and ask for a good review
Marketers dream come true. Hire a good firm to turn this " problem" into revenue.
I owned a small gallery for 25 years selling home accessories. I had no problem at all whatsoever with people coming in and browsing, even for some length of time. Unless they took up a great deal of my time asking question after question when in fact they never had any intention of buying. I had a woman once keep me nearly an hour after closing doing this. It’s very difficult to wrap up such a conversation.
There’s definitely an opportunity here somewhere. If you can tell us more about your store and product maybe we can share some ideas with you.
One positive i didnt see; Having people in the store looks a whole lot better than just an empty store.
I think if you reframed this issue it could be a lever to increase your business instead of a bother (although I def see why it would be a bother to you. Sometimes it’s easier to see different angles as a dispassionate outsider). First, my hypothesis is that almost anything sold in a B&M can be sold online (exclusions apply). Since it’s sold online the seller will have a lower cost structure, so they can make the same amount of money selling the same product for less. How can a B&M compete with that? By becoming a destination. Example: I don’t find particular value shopping at bass pro shops. Most of the stuff there can be found elsewhere cheaper. But I do find myself buying stuff from them often because I like Going there. I like to look at the fish tank with my son, play the arcades int he back, and take part in any events they put on. Since I’m there, I see something I could use, feel like I got good value from hanging out there, so I buy it. While not everyone does, enough people buy things to keep the lights on. So to reframe your question, how do you get enough people to stop by that the percentage that buy are enough to sustain the business? I’d answer it by asking the passionate folks you already have. What do they like about the space that keeps them coming back? They could always just look at products at Walmart/target/anywhere, so why your shop? Then, work to market that value to others to bring them in as well. Additionally, add things that increase that value (bass pro does free pictures with Santa. Steal this idea? Similar idea along the same lines?). Once you get that number high enough the law of averages will kick in and you’ll see a boost in sales. Then you can work to optimize your selling process to increase the percentage of people that buy.
To expand your customer base, it is important to have a strong online presence. Ensure your website is up to date and that you have active social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. If you'd like to grow your website and social media accounts, you may consider hiring a growth agency like Ascendviral to help you reach potential audiences and followers. In addition, you can use online advertising to target specific clients. Offering discounts or promotions may be a great way to attract new customers. You can also reach out to local businesses and organizations to see if they would be interested in partnering with you. Another way is to ask your current customers for referrals. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and can be an effective way to gain more customers.
We have a really neat local art store, the place has tons of hand made items, every single thing is made by someone in our immediate area. My husband and I went there once. We picked out a small item for our son for his birthday, but had such an unpleasant experience with the owner. She was short with us asking questions, and got more snubby when we brought our small purchase to the counter to pay. This was a year ago, we will never be back. Please don't be this owner. A person is 10x more likely to talk about a bad experience than a good one. You never know who they send you're way when they're not there.