In today’s business world, you can’t just sit back and expect customers to come to you. As much as people like to say “build it and they will come”, you are not Noah, and you are not building an arc. So instead, you are forced to have a different philosophy on how to get customers in the door. You must have a strategy. In particular, you need a retail marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy can dictate whether customers are coming through your doors and spending money or simply walking right on by. No matter what the case is, the mobile wallet will affect your retail marketing strategy.
Retail marketing strategies can be made very simple
While retail marketing strategies can be both big and small, we’re going to keep it simple. I can confidently say, that no matter what your retail marketing strategy is, whether it be the 4 P’s, 7 P’s, or just a bag of peas. It is going to boil down to a few simple objectives. Some of these objectives may be to; increase in-store traffic, increase customer loyalty, increase brand awareness, establish a connection with the target market, or maybe it is that you just want to sell a boat load (literally) of one single item. Either way, if you have a retail marketing strategy, and you have some objectives, the mobile wallet is going to affect you. Whether it helps or hurts you, is something for you to decide.
1- The mobile wallet will affect how you run promotions
Promotions usually play a huge role in a retail marketing strategy. They can help bring in new customers as well as keep current customers loyal. The most difficult part about running a promotion is getting it to work.
There are a couple of reasons why promotions don’t work. First, the customer never even hears about the promotion. Second, the customer forgets about the promotion. And third, the customer isn’t interested in the promotion. These three reasons are all affected by mobile wallet marketing campaigns.
A digital coupon or loyalty card can be distributed in many different ways. Email, sms, social media, and even a QR code at the physical retail location. This way, no customer misses the opportunity to use your promotion. Once the customer sees and accepts the promotion, they will have a hard time forgetting about it. Coupons placed in a mobile wallet, such as Apple’s Passbook or Google Wallet, can alert customers when the coupon is about to expire. So no more customers realizing the coupon is expired once they actually try to use it(this typically doesn’t make customers enjoy their shopping experience). And of course, not all customers will be interested in every promotion. But with real-time analytics, you can easily find out which promotions are resonating with your customers and which ones aren’t.
2- The mobile wallet gives your retail marketing strategy an on-going customer engagement channel
One of the hardest parts of marketing is actually being able to communicate with your customers. You may have the best product with the best promotion, but if none of your customers see it, then you might as well have created nothing at all.
The mobile wallet could make this marketing woe diminish. After running a mobile wallet marketing campaign, your customers will now have a coupon or loyalty card inside their phone. And as long as they keep it inside their phone(which 72% of customers do) you can communicate with them through push notifications. At anytime, you can update your offer, alerting them that they have received an updated coupon or loyalty card featuring a new offer. So you no longer have to hunt your customers down in order to get them to see your promotion.
You’re not alone. Many business owners hate having to spend money on marketing. And most wish they could spend nothing(hence the Noah’s ark mentality). Mobile wallet marketing campaigns can reduce the cost of a retail marketing strategy. If running a traditional paper coupon promotion. You need to pay someone to design the coupon, pay someone to print the coupon, and then you need to do this every time you want to offer a new promotion. Not only does it cost money to hire people to help you with this, it also takes your time away from other parts of the business. Digital coupons can be easily designed using the pass designer and cost less than printing coupons. That alone will affect a majority of businesses retail marketing strategy. Businesses can be made or lost on their ability to reduce costs. So this one is most business owners favorite.
Mobile wallet and your retail marketing strategy-Key takeaways
The mobile wallet is shaking things up for everyone. Business owners, marketers, credit card companies, and of course, consumers. But as a business owner, you always have to be looking ahead to see what could affect your business. Both in bad and good ways. The mobile wallet is going to provide a different style of marketing and a different level of connection with your customers. And it could develop into “adapt or die” technology. Lucky for you, it is still early and the mobile wallet can be a very friendly asset for your business if you so choose.
Bonus number 4- Beacon technology will enhance the customer experience and affect your in-store retail marketing strategy
Beacon technology allows for businesses to give customers information based on their location within a store. This may help customers find items, coupons, receive notifications when they are near your store, or even access a restaurant’s menu on their phone. Beacon technology has the ability to change consumer behavior. Check out this article to find all the benefits a Mobile Wallet gives to a customer and to a business.
