TOM 04 2024

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GUEST CONTRIBUTION April 2024
How bricks-and-mortar retailers
can find and retain footfall
Guest article by Dr. Philipp Hoog, Member of the Management Board of BBE, Munich
In 2024, the retail sector still
faces two all-too-familiar but
all the more present challenges.
Firstly, despite a noticeable
recovery in some areas,
footfall in the city center is still
not back to pre-coronavirus
levels. Above all, tourists with
purchasing power are missing.
This is result-ing in more
and more stores closing, and it
is realistic to assume that we
will lose around 20 percent of
all city center retail tenants in
the medium term. Secondly, e-
commerce is putting pressure
on retailers with a wide range
of goods and a rather vaguely
defined target group in particular
- because it almost inevitably
creates price advantages
to the detriment of bricksand-mortar
retailers.
What should retailers do against
this backdrop? The most important
aspect of a successful
re-tail space is a clear profile
with a defined target group, a
carefully curated product segment
and motivated staff with a
high level of advisory skills.
However, in order for these
advantages to come to fruition
in the first place, the lower frequency
must be optimally exploited.
In other words: where
there is a lack of quantity, retailers
should focus on quality. It
is therefore important to attract
passers-by into the stores with
modern drive-to-store strategies
- and to stimulate purchases.
„Drive to store“
combines online
with offline
The starting position for this is
better than expected: In a survey
recently conducted by BBE,
it emerged that city centers are
becoming more popular again,
especially among younger people.
According to the survey,
around 43 percent of under-24s
visit the city center more often
than five years ago. The most
frequently cited reason was
„shopping“. However, new means
are needed to get to grips
with the old challenges.
Dr. Philipp Hoog
Online and offline retail have
long since merged in many respects.
Customers do not differenti-ate
between the channels,
which is why retailers should
also focus on a mixture when
addres-sing them. This can be
seen very clearly in modern drive-to-store
measures, the aim
of which is the aforementioned
frequency skimming.
These include regional newsletters,
selected discount campaigns
for which the customer
has to come into the store, or a
Google page with lots of positive
reviews (which retailers are
also allowed to ask their customers
for). The now established
click-and-collect system also
Photo: BBE
attracts customers to the store,
where the chance of additional
impulse purchases is very high.
Aug-mented reality allows products
to be experienced in a
virtual environment - and also
impresses with an undeniable
coolness factor. An important
side effect: all these measures
generate a huge amount of data,
which in turn can be used by retailers
to get to know their own
customers even better. This in
turn allows target groups to be
further honed and product ranges
to be put together even better.
The creative use of social media
also has enormous potential.
It‘s less about posting regularly
- and more about creating incentives.
A salesperson who films
the „unboxing“ of new goods
and posts it on TikTok is the best
example. An Instagram reel that
invites people to a fashion show
in the store combines modern
online communication with an
event in the store that stands
for the quality of experience in
stationary retail. If the event is
then filmed and later appears
in the timeline, the synthesis of
the online and offline worlds is
perfect. Another way to attract
new customers to the space is
to cooperate with other local
businesses. After all, the perfect
eve-ning outfit also needs the
right perfume, right?
It is important to emphasize that
none of these measures is a universal
solution in itself. Each
retailer should set their own
priorities and plan their implementation
carefully. Continuous
market observation and the ability
to adapt to new trends are
fundamental.
These are the prerequisites for
a holistic concept that clearly
sets the retailer brand and the
„look and feel“ apart from the
competition. It‘s not just about
being as pleasant as possible for
customers - now more than ever,
it‘s important for retailers to be
distinctive.
Conclusion: More
experience per
square meter
Sales area productivity equals
sales per unit of time divided
by pure sales area. This wellknown
formula for the key figure
„sales persquare meters“ still
dominates the analyses of many
retailers. However, modern
stationary retail thrives on the
„experience per square meter“.
This can even go as far as converting
indi-vidual areas in the
store and integrating a gastronomic
offering, for example. For
a sports retai-ler, on the other
hand, it can make sense to set
up one or two fitness machines.
The result is satisfied customers
who enjoy the experience and
are all the more likely to buy.