What would make the in-store shopping experience better?

By Eddie Shleyner – Workplace Systems

Between April – July of 2014 and April – July of 2015, foot traffic in US retail stores dropped by an average of 11.25%.

That said, according to the 2016 Total Retail Survey, consumers still want to interact with products in-person before buying.

Consumers want to play scientist when it comes to their purchases — they want to hold merchandise; test it — and the best place to do that is in the store. Therefore, given the recorded decline in retail traffic last year, ensuring that in-store customers are happy is more important than ever.

That begs the question:

It’s no surprise that 40% of respondents said that deeply knowledgeable salespeople would improve their in-store experience because, ultimately, a consultative sale delivers incredible value to the shopper.

Value that doesn’t exist on Amazon or e-Bay or Alibaba.

Value that drives conversions.

Of course, it’s almost impossible to retain highly skilled and knowledgeable retail talent if employee engagement isn’t a priority.