5 Best New Sales Ideas to Beat COVID-19 Slow Down for Retailers

Post this pandemic, the entire retail market dynamics got change completely. Retailers are in a state of confusion as to how to react to an unexpected and difficult situation and come with new sales ideas to beat slow down.

The biggest problem is to get the required sales to achieve the expected ROI or cover the expenses in most of the cases.

Let’s discuss the following innovative and less tried sales ideas which any retailer can take with almost minimal cost and execute and escalate the sales numbers.

1. Sales to door concept

During these uncertain times, it is extremely difficult to get potential footfalls in your store. So it is time to take your services or product to your customer’s doorstep and make sales happen rather than waiting for it to happen to you.

How to Do it?

• You can try to sell your product through WhatsApp calls and video calling as sales ideas to beat slow down.
• You can deploy CRM software (capillary, salesforce, etc) to create a virtual store and customer mapping to make your store accessible for browsing to your customer while seating at home.
• You can I have SMS blast to take your product and services to the customer’s doorstep
• You can have an appointment-based calling where you can call customers and schedule their visiting appointments to Shop in-store at their convenient timings.

Advantages

• Gives a professional touch to your shopping efforts
• A very effective way of getting in touch with your loyal customer base.
• Safe and hygienic for your customers as they don’t have to physically present in store for the shop.

2. Affiliate Marketing one of the best sales ideas to beat slow down

one-off a Very cost-effective way of selling your product. It is a simple revenue-sharing model where you take the help of experienced affiliates and associates who can sell your product to their network and help you to take your services and product to the new customer base.

How to do it?

• The best idea of promoting your products, often through an associate network,
• Giving a commission and sharing profits if people/associates end up selling your product or services to their customers.
• You can design your margins basis the trade you are into and it can vary from 3% to 30%.
• Appoint associates preferably from your industry or trade.

Advantages

• Targeted & large reach in less time.
• Quick and quantified results.
• Less expensive as only margin and commissions need to be shared or given.
• New customer base creation
• Very effective when the target is a new or HNI client base.
• Value-based sales optimization – Margin saving

3. Social Media listings

These days one of the very inventive ways of selling your products is taking the help of social media accounts and it is kind of mandatory to have a social media page.

if you have a social media page with decent followers, then why not take advantage out of it and promote your products in these pages with complete features and try to sell it to your followers taking your products and services to the wider audience.

How to do it?

• Preferred social Media for commerce – Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest.
• Create Page and you can outsource to a social media management company.
• Here you have the help of advertisement or campaigns by the different social media platform
• Ads are on a chargeable basis but are very cost-effective, does not cost you more than a 1% to the total turnover expected.
• Keep posting daily here about your offerings

Advantages

• Quick, measurable, and precise results in terms of sales deals.
• Cost-effective mode of sales promotion among all.
• Wider reach in less time in terms of page views and client mind share.
• Chance to Connect with Millennials’ customer base which will have a larger buying lifecycle.

4. Atrium sales or Venue sales – Creative sales ideas to beat slow down

The idea of selling your merchandise through an open space. In this innovative practice of retail, you will have to opt for a specific area or space in any Premium Housing Society, IT company, or even malls to set up your small kiosk kind of space to sell your merchandise.

The frequency and importance of outdoor sales ideas have increased during this time of COVID-19.

Many fashion retailers and footwear retailers started opting for this option across the country.

Where they started selling to the customers directly instead of waiting for the customer to reach them they have now started reaching the customers.

Advantages

• Customer doesn’t have to travel to the shops and take that risk of being getting infected.
• A new and unique way of reaching to your clients
• New customer generation
• Add on sale and profits
• New Market initiative and development
• Edge over the competition

Things to keep remember before starting the venue or atrium sale

1. Credit card machine (GSM)
2. Electricity connection
3. Team of sales associate (at least 4-5)
4. Venue set up design with Knop, marketing banners, tables, moveable fixtures, chairs, etc.
5. Permission from the authorities 
6. Products brochures if required 
7. Small handy POS machine for billing or at least a manual original billing stationary
8. Digital Payment facilities – Very IMP these days
9. Staff uniform – Very imp to show the authenticity 

5. Loyalty Programs & Gift E-Vouchers

Very important for a retailer to understand the vitality of having loyalty programs.

In the coming time, customers won’t be just looking out to shop but to have a complete solution in terms of perceived value when they visit the store.

How to do it?

• You can design any of the model ash how you want to reward the loyal customers
• Have a skilled way to do it via card or e-card system to create a more authentic appeal.
• Have a special counter or timings, or discount to offer to the loyalists.
• Make sure you honor your commitments.

Advantages

• More positive word of mouth publicity
• Add on sale as the customer will try to complete the reward point deal.
• Fix and permanent customer base.
• Less churning of cliental base
• Helps in sales forecasting
• Improve store image and reputation
• Sales prepone by customers
• help in achieving the Retail KPIs.

Hope you have liked the article and ideas, Pl shares ahead to have a wider reach and read.

Thank you