Retail conversion goes up when your associates change what they do in the first eight seconds after a customer walks in, not when you add traffic or another piece of technology. Most stores convert around 20 percent, which means 80 percent of the people who walked in today left with their wallets closed. The fastest lever is a team trained to welcome, engage, and close consistently. A five-point lift in conversion, on the same traffic, staff, and inventory, can be worth millions.
Why? Because you can do promotions and marketing gimmicks until the cows come home but if you haven't done all you can to convert those customers who are in your four walls - the only place you can truly affect your sales - from lookers to buyers, then you are like a poor marksman constantly missing the target.
Bigger retailers know that high conversion rates are their salvation and low conversion rates are the death knell of their operation. That's why so many obsess over big data and traffic counts because only you can change what you measure.
Read My Comprehensive Retail Sales Training Online page that answers all your questions here
Regardless of your size, retailers often lose sales by thinking it is all about the close of a sale.
That's a mistake.
You often lose retail sales because of what you bring to the table before you even open your mouth. Here are six 1-2 minute video vlogs telling you how to do it.
You can either click to watch on this page or on YouTube.
Here are six ways to change what your team brings to the floor, each in a one to two minute video.
1- Examine your attitude about selling
2 - Dress up
3 - Set a positive expectation
4 - Don't judge
5 - Sell something you hate
6 - Risk losing the sale with this one question
Common Questions About Retail Conversion
What is a good retail conversion rate?
It varies by category, but most stores convert around 20 to 30 percent of visitors. The number matters less than tracking it by store, day, hour, and associate, which most retailers never do. Use a visitor counter tied to your POS so you know your real ratio of lookers to buyers.
Why is my store's conversion rate low?
Usually because the floor is silent. Associates wait behind the counter, greet with "can I help you," or treat the customer as an interruption. Conversion is a selling problem, not a traffic or economy problem, and it starts with what your team brings to the floor before they open their mouths.
How do you increase conversion without adding traffic?
Train your associates to welcome every shopper, find something in common, and present products with features and benefits instead of pointing at a shelf. The six videos above cover the attitude and preparation side. The selling skills are trained, drilled, and coached until they hold up on a busy Saturday.
What is the fastest way to raise conversion rate?
Change what happens in the first eight seconds. A shopper decides almost immediately whether your store cares about them. A trained greeting that is not "can I help you" is the single fastest lever, because it costs nothing and applies to every person who walks in.
How much is a five-point conversion lift worth?
On a store doing 20,000 transactions at a 400 dollar average, moving conversion from 25 to 30 percent adds about four million dollars in revenue on the same payroll, square footage, and inventory. That is why conversion beats any marketing gimmick.
In Sum
Increasing the conversion rates of your lookers to buyers should be your focus as you train your retail employees.
You can hold contests, make sales charts, and use mystery shops, but all of those are after you've tracked conversion rates.
