Does Your Digital Strategy Drive In-Store Sales?

At first thought, you might think consumers do the majority of their shopping online these days, but according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, that’s not yet the case.Things might change in the not-so-distant future, but according to a recent report from ICSC, an estimated 78% of purchases still take place in brick-and-mortar stores. Specifically, average consumers purchase products online 2.2 times per month while in-store purchases occur 7.5 times per month.However, just because consumers prefer the in-store experience, doesn’t mean you can’t use online marketing to drive in-store sales. Business News Daily recently outlined some ways to help businesses create a digital strategy to drive consumers to local stores:Give them a reason to leave the house: Incentivize shoppers to visit your business. You can do this in many different ways, such as offering the option to order online and pick up in the store, or issue coupons and sales that can only use in-store.Stay mobile: Optimize your company’s website for mobile use. Many shoppers conduct last-minute research on their smartphones to see where they can pick up what they need while they’re out and about.Rethink print ads: You can boost the value of print ads by spreading the content across digital channels. This way you can reach customers where they are gathering information and influence their decision-making.Unify your teams: Get all your marketing and sales efforts on the same page. A unified strategy makes it easier to create a fluid strategy and create the best customer experience possible.Coordinate offline and online: Plan for online content with similar teams and processes that are in place for delivering offline content. This enables a more coordinated strategy.Utilize analytics: Implement methods of tracking your digital marketing success. Rather than using metrics like impressions, you should focus your measurements on specific customer actions, which can help refine and target your strategy moving forward.Don’t go crazy: Although you might have a treasure trove of great digital campaigns you want to launch, you don't want to turn off customers by constantly bombarding them with personalized messaging.