{"id":464,"date":"2012-05-29T17:33:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T17:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrietteweber.com\/?p=464"},"modified":"2021-03-29T17:37:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T17:37:45","slug":"the-ultimate-guide-to-avoid-physical-store-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrietteweber.com\/index.php\/2012\/05\/29\/the-ultimate-guide-to-avoid-physical-store-death\/","title":{"rendered":"The ultimate guide to avoid physical store death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There’s a crystal shop in downtown Helsing\u00f8r (the lovely city where I live) called Krystallen<\/a>\u00a0– a lot of my friends who live in the same city often talk about how it’s amazing that it hasn’t gone bankrupt yet or been a victim of what I call the “physical store death” A lot of stores in Helsing\u00f8r has gone under, firstly because they build a very unromantic mall near the city center where all the mall stores in Denmark moved in -yeah it’s the same stores in the malls everywhere here, and secondly because of the financial crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, one of the reasons it has kept its business up is that it has a very clearly defined niche<\/strong> (crystals, buddhas, angels, etc), and it has championed Business Unusual in the world of physical crystal stores in Denmark. it’s present at all the crystal healing fairs – oh and it has a webshop. So when people start to talk about how it’s weird that it hasn’t gone bankrupt yet, I’m thinking it’s strange that other stores aren’t doing the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what I see as some simple solutions to avoid store death\/bankruptcy if you have a physical store:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A webshop<\/strong> is one of the simple solutions. I might even go as far as saying that it could be vital for existence in the future. It doesn’t need to be complicated to run a webshop, but it does take a lot of work. However, check out Moonfruit.com<\/a> if you’re into running a simple webshop – or bigcartel.com<\/a> if you are an artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media and Location-based tools <\/strong>Start surprising your more tech-savvy clientele with deals and offer when they facebook or foursquare check-in. Make sure that you “claim” your store on yelp and answer like this to bad reviews \u00a0(from Adweek.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optimize your physical store and make it sticky. <\/strong>So\u00a0people are holding on even though they are not in the store.\u00a0Yes, you need a newsletter with product info, specials, and identity. Yes, you need to do special events and see your store as having a small media\/content-producing outlet attached to it – and get that Return on Involvement<\/a> going.\u00a0But you need to ensure that stickiness exists for all target groups,<\/strong> you can’t plaster your walls with QR codes and only think in iPad and iPhone apps if your clientele is 60+ years old- then you need to think about making a mail service where you mail out your newsletter physically to them – possibly attached with a personal note for good measure. As also, \u00a0you need to have a newsletter sign-up list at the counter in your store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think in clusters <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite cases of optimizing\/reviving physical stores (or venues as it is in this case) is the social media case of The Roxy<\/a>\u00a0– now I think social media have had a huge part in that case, but I think the real key to success lies in the ability to actually work together with other venues on the same street. What are you doing to ignite that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do we do to the already empty stores that are bringing our city to it’s knees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well you (as a city, or the owner of the empty store) rent it out to somebody who has read this blog post and wants to sign this clause below – and preferably has hired me to help them out setting the system up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what I want to see happening in Helsing\u00f8r:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want my favorite Caf\u00e9 – Bakowski<\/a> to know who I am when I walk in the door (hopefully they will do that now when they find out I’ve linked to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want Isabell Shoes<\/a> (a kick-ass shoe store without any web presence) to sell their awesome leather shoes online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh and I want my bicycle store (Henriks Cykler<\/a>) to do a delivery service (and cut back on the Istockphoto usage)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my heel repairman to do that as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Levende Lys <\/a>is remembered by everyone in all of North Sealand – it’s a landmark up here, and it doesn’t have a website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and I want the city square (Axeltorv) to become vibrant and digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, I think the whole of physical stores should think out-of-the-box and embrace digital – but that’s just me. =)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish you all the best of luck in your physical\/digital endeavors !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"rock<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a crystal shop in downtown Helsing\u00f8r (the lovely city where I live) called Krystallen\u00a0– a lot of my friends who live in the same city often talk about how it’s amazing that it hasn’t gone bankrupt yet or been a victim of what I call the “physical store death” A lot of stores in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[90,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas","category-business"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":530,"url":"https:\/\/henrietteweber.com\/index.php\/2011\/09\/22\/sweden-be-appreciative-of-the-swedish-startup-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":0},"title":"Sweden: Be appreciative of the Swedish startup community","author":"Henriette Weber","date":"September 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The swedish startup community rocks! 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