This is a real trend I would like to follow in 2015: How to optimize sales for a retailer upon two axis:
- The Time of the day.
- The location of the Store
Indeed, I believe that there is a lot of room for growth for retailers which are able to master these two components.
How to optimize those two axis:
The time of the day.
You need to match the time of the day with the bid you propose to customers. One of the great example I have is Mc Donald's in France. Hence, they have specific concepts and products they propose depending on the time of the day. They have the Mc Morning offer in the morning, based on orange juice, coffee and egg muffin, the "Cass Croute" Menu, which is a short version of a classic menu to eat on the go, the Mc Café concept with pastries in the afternoon, and obviously their orignal offer at night time. Hence, they are able to sell all day long, and hence maximize sales at the restaurant.
Retailers should be able to have such a timing management technique, to provide specific bid in specific locations of the store in order to maximize sales.
The location of the store:
You need to match the location of the store specificities with the bid. This is all the pop up stores you may find, the food truck that goes where the customers are, depending on the season or the time of the day.
Indeed, I am sure we will see soon more and more pop up stores appear in location with high traffic, such as train station,post offices, downtowns, stadiums, parkings, or malls. Why not even see in malls some specific stores that may change every months depending on the seasonnaility of the brand, and maybe even to adapt during the same day?
I believe that retailing will need to be more flexible to be efficient. But beyond the geolocalization data you may have, beyond your customers segmentation, you should also be flexible around the timing of the day and where you may meet the clientele in order to lift sales. A lot of things are going on on this topic right now.
