Driving differentiation in retail can be a major factor in your business gaining loyal long term customers vs. customers that are easily swayed to move to your competitors, whether this is due to price, service or experience. Having a space that stands out and offers customers everything they’re looking for starts with investigating your brand. What makes you unique and one of a kind? How can this be translated throughout every touchpoint your brand has with its audience?

When designing the perfect space that sets you apart, Storepro delves deep into your brand to learn what makes it tick. This includes understanding your values and beliefs, audience, messaging and points of difference. That’s not to say that defining your brand differentiation is easy, but it is an essential step that set’s your business up to thrive in a competitive environment.

Differentiation in retail is possible through a personalised approach where retailers create unique experiences tailored to their individual customers. With a personalised experience that speaks to your customers’ interests and needs while representing your brand and what it stands for, you can develop points of differentiation that lead to long term customers.

So, where can you start on this journey to differentiation?

Meet (and exceed) expectations

It is no longer enough to research a segment of your market and offer a one size fits all communication format. Personalisation in retail now extends to the entire customer experience and with a saturated market of many brands doing the same thing, consumers expect a tailored and seamless experience wherever they shop, and if you can’t offer it, someone else will. With an idea already implanted in their mind on how their customer experience should play out, consumers are reaching for brands that stand out and make them feel like part of the story.

Not only do personalised experiences make a person feel more connected to a brand and retail store, with access to personalised touchpoints they are able to allocate their time and money according to their preferences, making it easier for consumers to conduct the research stage of their customer journey and find what they’re looking for quicker.

If your brand offers customers this through all of your touchpoints including online and in-store, why would they need to go anywhere else?

Engage and connect

Driving differentiation from your brand means setting yourself and your space apart from your competitors. As experts in the industry we know that shopping centres are no longer a place to simply purchase goods, they are now a hub for creating unique experiences that engage customers and form connections between brand and consumer.

Consumers are visiting retail stores to gain experiences outside of the house, proving that now more than ever retailers need to be engaging and actively connecting with their customers and audience in order to get visitors through their doors.

People respond to human emotion and genuine communication, fostering this value when building unique experiences within your retail pace will have customers remembering you in a positive light while associating your brand with authenticity and genuineness.

Explore your options

Personalisation can be embedded into many different areas of your retail business, enhancing the customer experience and setting you apart from your competitors.

The following in-store components are a good place to start when overhauling your brand’s retail experience:

• Omnichannel experiences
• In-store customisation
• Product offers
• Customer service
• Visual merchandising
• Store design
• Technology

If you’re looking to add a personal touch to your space, we can help. With a passion for bringing brands into the retail space Storepro designs and builds spaces with customer expectations in mind, creating engaging, personalised spaces that perfectly reflect your brand and messaging.