After enduring over a year of social distancing and self-isolation, the emergence of normal life is just around the corner with the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. Most businesses have already started preparing for when day-to-day life goes back to normal, but multiple studies have shown there are several new consumer behaviors that retailers can expect after Covid-19 isolation subsides. Some of these new behaviors include: the erosion of confidence, amplified concerns about health, and reliance on a virtual connection and desire to stay at home. As a natural health store, there are several ways you can utilize these insights to bring customers into your establishment and reintroduce them to natural health products. We have developed three ways you can reestablish your brand after their long pandemic isolation to come out on top.
Providing Benefits That Promote Trust
The first consumer trend that will affect your business is the erosion of confidence. Lack of confidence in brands and the safety of “normal” life will make consumers less likely to trust your brand and products. In order to combat consumers’ lack of confidence, you will need to create a “trust multiplier,” otherwise known as an action that effectively rebuilds trust quickly and credibly. Promoting products and messaging that are confidence-building must be done through every channel; your messaging should be justifiable and optimistic. With the right actions, you can change the nature of how consumers feel about you and your products.
Maximize Loyalty Program Usage
One great way to build a “trust multiplier” is to create an outstanding loyalty program in your store. Flexible promotions and loyalty programs keep customers returning to your store while you gain valuable insights into purchasing behaviors and trends. By providing customers with well-targeted smart couponing and discounts, you give consumers a reason to enjoy your brand. Further, leverage your data to recommend complementary products that may better customer health outcomes, building even greater trust!
Supply Products Consumers Can Trust
As customers turn to your local natural health store, it’s essential that you build trust by providing them with reliable, safe, and trustworthy products. Providing customers with misrepresented or non-natural products may cause customers to lose faith in your store, brand, and mission. Take time and care in ensuring all of your products represent the mission your store desires as to avoid any negative consumer reactions.
Establishing a Familiar and Trusting Relationship
As customers get reacclimated to everyday life, they are going to be looking to create connections. Your store and staff should be ready to put on the charm and form relationships with customers that will keep your client base coming back and referring to your natural health store as one of the best.
Turn Your Health Store Into A Thought Leader
With consumers showing amplified health concerns, it’s important to ensure customers that their safety is your number one priority. Every business will need to understand how it can be part of a new health ecosystem that will alleviate consumers’ concerns. As a natural health store, you have the pleasure of being able to do this in two ways. The first is by showing the public that your store values consumers’ health and is ensuring proper safety precautions are still taking place along with enhanced cleaning procedures. The second way is to show you care and can help boost customer health through your products.
With all this being said, now is the time to take to social media and blogs to promote both these ideas. As a natural health store, you won’t have to get too creative in meeting the demand of this new ecosystem; however, it will prove to be a prime opportunity to make your voice heard. Your health store provides some of the best products and knows your customer’s top concerns. Use that knowledge to inform customers about the best products and trends that are going around. By using social media and blogs, you can become a thought leader in your local community and influence your customers from home.
There are several ways you can make your social media stand out. For instance, you could go beyond using eye-catching pictures and quippy posts by partnering with social influencers to promote your brand. Social influencers can help bolster your store’s popularity and get your name out there by providing consumers with a trusted name and face to associate with your brand. Other ways you can help promote your business and become a thought leader is to include: holding public health events, hosting speakers, attending and/or speaking at conferences and events, and showing strong connections with other brand leaders in the natural health industry.
Enable Customers To Enjoy Your Store Virtually
The last big change in consumer behavior worth noting is the desire to stay home and rely on virtual interactions. Covid-19 has brought about the virtual century, with the extended stay-at-home lifestyle many consumers will have created lifelong preferences and habits that revolve around staying at home. The enforced shift during the pandemic to virtual working, consuming, and socializing will fuel a massive shift to virtual activity; anything that can be done virtually will be. In order to combat this, use your time to think ahead and get creative with how you can meet consumers’ desire to stay home while engaging with your store.
Some ways to do this are to provide a healthy and substantial eCommerce site. With more and more people looking for virtual reliability, it’s crucial that your customers can purchase their favorite products online from the comfort of their homes. You can build on the virtual experience by offering one-on-one video chats with employees. These allow your staff to talk with consumers virtually to help them select products that fit their unique needs via video chat, followed by an online payment upon purchase. In addition to online ordering, many retailers are offering delivery services to enhance customer service.
With this in mind, it will be essential to look at your store’s inventory. First, start by evaluating what products your store is currently offering. Do you have products that can be incorporated into consumers’ everyday life as they look for a blend of virtual and real? Do your offerings make virtual more comfortable and healthy? For example, vitamins and health supplements to support their immune system as they reenter the world, at-home workout equipment, or products that promote relaxation will all be of interest to customers.
This may all seem overwhelming but can be done when you simplify your inventory management. In companionship with your online ordering system, it’s vital that you have a Point of Sale (POS) system and inventory management software that you can rely on. With an advanced inventory management system, you can easily catalog, organize, and monitor your inventory. With an innovative inventory system, handling online orders is easy and is guaranteed to boost order fulfillment accuracy. Your inventory system will flawlessly keep track of all your products so you can cater to your customers in-store and online without ever running out of stock.
The final way you can create a virtual store experience is by providing customers with Green Receipts & Emailed Invoices straight to their inbox. After their purchases, provide proof of purchase directly to their inbox to be accessed from home at any time.
Getting your clients reengaged with your brand after the pandemic’s long isolation doesn’t have to require a lot of work on your end as a natural health store. With the right technology and information, you can keep your brand top of mind with consumers. If you require a business partner to get your store’s technology up to date to meet these needs, contact Auto-Star today!
