Growth strategies or growth hacks. These have become the most commonly searched terms in the retail landscape. 2024 has just begun, and we can see a large number of retail outlets already looking for quick and effective tips on growing their eCommerce stores. 

The economy hasn’t fully recovered from the 2019 pandemic. With inflation increasing at an exponential rate and consumer spending slowing down drastically, you need to change your sales and marketing strategies to thrive in the competitive eCommerce sector. One positive change we’ve witnessed in the last three years is the increasing demand for online shopping. That has opened dozens of opportunities for startups and established eCommerce stores.

You can target your customers on different channels and integrate on-premises and cloud-based software applications that streamline your workflow. If you search for “how to grow retail business,” you will see hundreds of articles and guides giving you basic tips on building and growing your eCommerce stores. However, what you need is smart, less-popular, yet highly effective growth hacks. That’s what we are about to discuss in this post. Let’s get started.

An Easy-to-Navigate Menu

When a customer finds your website, the first thing they look for is the navigation menu. Your audience can’t find the product or the pages they intend to visit without a clear navigation bar. Just creating a list of items won’t suffice here. If you want your audience to have a seamless shopping experience on your eCommerce outlet, you should optimize the menu section. 

Make it easy to locate, understandable, and relevant. The menu should allow your audience to filter the search list by the categories they prefer. Set different categories and let your audience sort the list in one click. 

Use a Point-of-Sale (POS)

If you are setting up an eCommerce store, you should take some time to research point-of-sale software, its uses, and features. POS is much more than a payment system that accepts transactions from multiple channels. It’s an all-in-one tool that integrates all management operations, streamlining your workflow.

This tool comes in handy when you are processing online and offline transactions at your land-based and eCommerce stores. It comes with excellent integration capabilities and combines your business data into a single, centralized system. This gives you a consolidated view of all your business processes, from inventory to customer management in one place.

Try Downselling  

You should optimize your eCommerce strategy according to the current economic condition. After the pandemic, people have become more aware of the products they invest in. They check and compare prices on different retail outlets before hitting the “buy” button. A quick growth hack for startups and those facing difficulty selling their products is down selling. 

Down selling is a tested and proven way to grow your customer base and retain your existing clients. It’s a marketing strategy where you sell products at a cheaper rate than usual or at a highly competitive price. Of course, this results in low-profit margins, but it’s an effective strategy to retain your customers or invite more people to buy from your store. 

Let Your Customer Decide How to Pay

Do you still accept only credit cards and third-party payment gateways for in-store and online transactions? Well, that needs to change. Customers want the cash-on-delivery option, as they find it the most convenient and safest method of transaction. 

You don’t want to guide your customer through the sales funnel just to get a message, “you don’t offer a payment method that we use.” Your customers will abandon a cart and buy from your competitors if you don’t offer multi-channel payment methods. Integrate as many payment options as your customers might use to make the last step of their shopping journey convenient. 

Focus on the Return Policy

While you may have the best eCommerce store in the world, your customers will still feel hesitant to buy from your store if you have a complicated return policy. According to a report, customers said they’d shop again from a retail outlet that has a simple return policy. Check your return policy and make it as simple as possible. 

Let your customers know that they can return the product and get a full refund (except the delivery charge) if they are not satisfied with the product. Some businesses have the simplest return policy. If the customer doesn’t like a product, for whatever reason, they can schedule the return and get a refund. 

Use Blogs, Videos, and other Guides to Educate Users

This is one of the ever-lasting and user-friendly growth hacks for all retail outlets. A common reason people return your product is the lack of information about its uses and the product specifications. 

For instance, if you sell electrical appliances, you should write long-form articles or put videos of customers using these products instead of uploading product pictures with short descriptions. Remember, your prospects won’t buy expensive items until they are confident that the product will solve their pain points.

You can also check QBuster to manage your inventory, billing and much more.

Provide Quick and Easy Checkout

Users often add products to their cart and abandon them because of a lengthy and complex checkout. This is the last step of your sales funnel. You will never want your prospective customer to leave when they are just one step away from buying. Your checkout page must not have unnecessary fields. Keep it short and simple. Remember, every part of your eCommerce store needs to be user-friendly. Checkout is the most important part of your customer’s buying journey. 

Upload UGC (user-generated content)

Our confidence automatically increases when we shop from a website that publishes user statistics, reviews, and ratings. It works as social proof that your products are bought by other customers, and they appreciate the quality. 

Allow customers to give a detailed review with pictures of the product so your prospects can have peace of mind knowing that the product quality is as good as shown in your product catalog. These reviews will act as word-of-mouth marketing, helping your prospects find and choose products that other users appreciate. It also gives them a clear picture of the pros and cons of buying from you, giving full transparency.

Use a Chatbot

Chatbots are a great addition to your eCommerce website. If you are understaffed or don’t have agents available 24/7, using a chatbot is your best option. They will answer your user queries, help them raise complaints, find articles relevant to their queries, and guide them through the purchase. 

If your customer faces any problem during checkout, they can connect with the chatbots for assistance. These intelligent bots save you the time of answering repeated questions. Your customer support team can focus on other critical tasks while these bots streamline your customers’ shopping experience.

These were some of the best growth hacks for retail outlets in 2024. If you are always on the lookout for new eCommerce marketing tactics, chances are you have already implemented the above-listed techniques. But, if not yet, now is the time to optimize your retail outlets and improve your visibility.

Having a POS for a quick and efficient transaction is the first step to optimizing your retail outlet for your online customers. Check out QueueBuster, a remarkable POS tool, and get a demo to understand its features and applications.