We all have read the headlines by now: with the sudden growth of online shops, retail stores just may be on the brink of dying out – kind of like a retail apocalypse.

But first, let’s address the elephant in the room: stories about brick-and-mortar stores being defeated by online shops are greatly exaggerated.

Take a look at a statistic from 2015: the number of retail stores scheduled to open in 2016 since January had increased by 2.5% to 41,918 new locations.

Though this does little to nothing when put up against the growing popularity of online stores, it is still a pretty hopeful statistic – it shows that retail stores are still in the competition.

Here is how you can win said-competition with nothing but brick-and-mortar:
 

Fight fire with fire

When you can’t beat them, you have to join them – in this case, you may need to make the internet your ally.

That does not mean you have to surrender yourself to the internet wave. Instead, take a different route entirely: target different audiences through search engine optimisation – or SEO. SEO marketing strategies stand out because it doesn’t focus on just your online presence; it ensures that the content on your website has relevant keywords and localised information so that search engines from around the web lead eager customers right at your doorstep.

It’s important that your site features information about your store’s location specifically – that way, your website will rank higher in terms of searches, causing more mobile users to reel into your store, away from the average online store.

Improve customer experience

No matter how the times change, one fact will always remain the same: customers decide the success of your store. Therefore, take this initiative and revamp your customer experience. Invest intelligently – because as much as every customer likes good prices and quick transactions, they equally value a good indoor experience.

Apart from a comfortable ambience, give your customers the freedom of expression by asking them questions, getting their insight on new products and opinions on the latest launches. Keeping them involved creates a sense of communion within even the most humble stores, allowing you to garner their interest for the long-term. It also allows them to feel valued, thereby gaining a lot more trust in your store.

Upgrade your Marketing Strategies

Upgrade does not mean “spend more money”. It means “spend more time” – think of smart ways of combining traditional methods with the digital mode of marketing. A brick-and-mortar store has the advantage of being part of the physical and the digital world – so why not make the most of both?

Use different marketing channels to gain customer attraction: automated email campaigns, social media postings, lucky draws, events, anything works. The idea to convey is simple: reward your customers for choosing you. You can incorporate technology in the mix by investing in a modern point-of-sale (POS) system; a good POS software like Oscar offers a CRM System that lets you create customer profiles based on previous transactions. That way, you’ll target their preferences more accurately in the form of discounts, prizes, gift cards, and the like.

This kind of robust style of marketing has the potential of throwing off even the most up-to-date online stores, giving your brick-and-mortar store that much more benefit.

No doubt, retailers had suffered because of mass digitisation of all kinds of stores. But the way these brick-and-mortar stores have picked themselves up is quite interesting: by digitising their own methods, while simultaneously keeping their traditional flair intact.