Brick and Mortar stores post covid?
Long before this pandemic hit us, there were questions over the future of brick and mortar stores. Online retail is set to hit 4 trillion per year in turnover, so it’s no wonder there are huge question marks over physical stores.
But the pandemic has also shown us all the importance of interaction and physical connections. Brick and mortar retail done well can not only survive, but thrive. Read on for 6 ways this can happen:
1. Give the human contact people want.
There’s nothing like a lockdown to remind us all what we have taken for granted. Human beings need social interaction. It’s important for both our physical and mental wellbeing.
This of course also translates to brick and mortar stores and what they can continue to bring. In the words of Ben Voyer
”there will always be a human element to commerce, and that means there will always be a level of demand for bricks and mortar”. 
So if you are involved in physical stores, it’s important to give your potential customers the human contact they desire.
2. Recruit those who want to interact.
Anyone who works in a business to consumer environment likes to think they provide excellent customer service. How many times have you come across this though:
- staff on their phones.
- staff chatting about personal issues in earshot of a customer.
- poor body language.
- not giving full attention to the person in front of them.
- a general lack of care.
Senior management like to think these issues don’t apply to their company, but unfortunately it applies to more than we would think.
One way to counter that is to actually hire people who WANT to be around others, who WANT to learn and engage with customers. To survive and thrive post Covid, this isn’t a ‘would like to achieve’, but a ‘must achieve’ for businesses.
3. Focus on the controllable.
Never have there been more external factors to influence what goes on in the business world today:
- the weather is against us.
- our competitor is selling it cheaper.
- the customers are grumpy.
- it’s hard to find good staff.
- our suppliers aren’t delivering.
The above may be true, but it’s true for all, and a lot of it you cannot control. Don’t spend time and energy focusing on all that can go wrong, focus on everything you can do internally to improve your situation. The above points can be countered with:
- over the 365 days in the year, the weather will balance out.
- only look at your competitor to learn, not to complain.
- are the customers grumpy because our staff are?
- spend the time to find the right people for you and invest in their development.
- work in tandem with your suppliers to deliver win/win situations.
4. Listen to your talent.
Depending on the structure of a company, directors or senior management can be a distance away from the customer. Their perception of how the business is operating may well be a far cry from what is actually going on.
If you are lucky enough to have talent in your teams, listen to them and nurture them. In turn, make sure they listen and learn from you, so they can identify what it is you are looking to implement. Tellermate outline how vital good staff are to a business.
Showing talent you value their input will give them a greater sense of achievement and ownership, leading to them giving you information you may not want to hear (what needs improvement in the company). This open and honest dialogue will be valuable to sustaining your brick and mortar business.
It is this talent you have within your organisation that can be the difference between surviving and thriving. Do not underestimate it.
5. Implement incremental change.
Radical and incremental change is a blog in itself, so for this particular case, try and implement a consistent level of incremental change, such as:
- continuously look to improve.
- keep employees engaged and active.
- create a culture of learning and winning.
- be proactive instead of reactive.
6. Don't forget, your product/service is still key.
As much as the future of brick and mortar business depends on talent, decision making and focus, none of this will help you grow if you take your eye off the product/service you are providing.
The importance of the customer experience is coming to the fore, and rightly so. However, if you fail to acknowledge the importance of continually selecting the right product/service that your customer is looking for, you will be in trouble regardless.
People want an experience and they want to feel important, but this won’t matter if you do not have what they want.
I had a personal situation recently as a customer where the experience was top class and the service was very good. The products I wanted had to be ordered and I was given a date to return for them. When I returned, they had forgotten to order them! If you don’t deliver the product/service people want, everything else you have worked hard on is wasted.
To Conclude.
There is no doubt the pandemic has driven some people to online retail who may have never purchased online before. 
There is also no doubt, however, the pandemic has shown humans how much we value and desire human connections. Brick and mortar businesses can help provide these connections.
If a business can do this well, they put themselves in a position to thrive in a market where much pessimism lies. Following the above 6 steps can help steer a company in the right direction, away from negative thinking and focusing on what’s important…your own performance.
In the UK, Over 60% of overall sales still happen in the world of physical stores…there is still life in brick and mortar yet.