Touch, Feel, and Spend

While e-commerce isn't going away, brick and mortar is still the Super Bowl of retail sales, brand awareness, and customer experience.  Sporting goods especially are a purchase that most shoppers will research extensively, and products like equipment and protective gear need to be held, tried on, and in some cases, demonstrated. One benefit is increased sales. Research from First Insight, a retail data and merchandising firm, shows 71 percent of respondents (72 percent of men; 70 percent of women) typically spend more than $50 when shopping in-store. In contrast, only 54 percent of respondents (59 percent of men; 49 percent of women) are spending more than $50 when shopping online.

These figures support the idea that with a properly stocked store and educated associates a shopper who may have come in for a baseball glove could be up-sold to go home with the glove, a cap, or any number of other products. Having a full inventory is vital, as is keeping related merchandise together on the sales floor. ThirdChannel research shows that stores with full displays sell 7.2% more per quarter than stores with displays that are not full.

It goes beyond just items like sporting goods. A parent coming into Target to purchase an upgraded booster seat (that they've well-researched) is likely to purchase a pair of shoes for growing feet, potentially a toy or learning resource, but may also grab a pair of noise cancelling headphones prominently on display as they head to the checkout lane. Two factors will assure that purchase - a well-stocked, attractive display and a readily available, knowledgeable person close-by to answer a couple questions before they hustle out to relieve the babysitter.

Simple, right? But many brands fail to allocate their trade dollars in this high-impact scenario, instead focusing on supply chain or online store sales. ThirdChannel brands know better and see increased sales by working with a platform that identifies store opportunities marrying that with passionate representatives who know not only how to answer questions, but to merchandise, demo, and up-sell customers.

Read one of our success stories to get ideas on how you can transform your in-store experience, too.