8 Ideas that any retail store can try to boost sales at the checkout counter
Tips / 12.08.2021
If you run a retail store and you think that the physical space of your store is the only place where you can sell, think again. Your checkout counter is the perfect place to cross-sell and upsell products. You just need to make sure you do it correctly. Wondering about how to go about this? This blog post shares eight great ideas for boosting sales at the checkout counter.
1. Promote on social media
Shops that have catchy slogans at the checkout counter make them Instagrammable. This means they’re photo worthy and you can encourage your shoppers to take photos of themselves at your store after which they can post these on social media. This is an excellent way of promoting your store to a wider audience. Make sure you showcase the fact that you’re on social media by displaying their logos at your checkout counter and encourage your customers to go online and share their experiences with your store. It’s critical to be on social media these days as it enables customers to leave reviews and experiences, which others can check out and, if positive, can make them want to visit your store and purchase from you.
2. Encourage impulse buys
There’s a lot of research out there that shows that your checkout counter doesn’t have to only be the place where your customers check out. But, it’s also an excellent opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell. Cross-selling is the sale of other items related to your customers’ main purchase. If they’ve bought a pair of shoes, consider selling a pair of socks or shoe laces. Meanwhile, up-selling is getting your customers to buy a more expensive item than they normally would have. These two sales tactics can also be approached from the point of your checkout counter as you can stock items there to help your customer make an additional purchase. However, make sure your checkout isn’t too cluttered and full. Instead, try to organise your items in categories according to your customers’ needs.
3. Play with the lighting
Lighting in a store can also play an important factor in whether your customers purchase from you and how much. Poor lighting means they’re likely to want to head for the exit quickly, while great lighting, especially at your checkout, will help you display items and showcase them in the best possible manner to make them look even more appealing and attractive. But it’s not only the store’s lighting you need to think about. Make sure your checkout counter is well-lit, too. This will stimulate feelings of cleanliness, organisation and a desire to come back for more.
4. Install a TV
Most retail stores will have a wall that sits behind the checkout counter. And if yours has one, consider installing a TV screen on it. Why? The answer is simple! You can use the TV to showcase sales and discounts, as well as promote anything else that you like in your business. Are you offering gift cards? Make sure this appears on the monitor! Are you offering a 2 for the price of 1 sale? Make sure your customers know about this! TV has a magical power; it draws the eyes of the consumers to the screen and they’re naturally inclined to look at it. So if you have the space for it, make sure you add a TV to the mix.
5. Make use of plants
Green is one of the most relaxing colours out there and plants are proven to have a relaxing and therapeutic effect on people. The same is true for your customers. This is why one idea to boost checkout sales is to add more plants to your checkout area so that it not only looks aesthetically pleasing, but also offers them an experience that’s soothing to the eye, which is likely to make them want to buy more and also help them remember your store out of the plethora of stores out there in terms of how you made them feel. As a bonus tip: consider stimulating your customers’ senses through the use of smell and sight and sound. Some relaxing music, a gentle air freshener and the combination of plants is likely to achieve this goal with minimum effort.
6. Emphasise your corporate social responsibility initiatives
Remember the TV monitor we mentioned a bit earlier? Why not also use it to emphasise your store’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts? If you’re collecting money or items for a good cause, get your customers in on it too so that they can help as well. Alternatively, display a sign with your CSR initiatives at your checkout so that while your employee is ringing up the items, your customer can quickly read about your initiative and see how they can help or get involved.
7. A healthy and sanitary POS system
Last but not least, make sure you have a card machine to accept cashless payments as this is not only a rising trend in a post-pandemic world, it’s also a safer and more hygienic way to pay. You can also accessorise your POS machine with a silicone case, which you can always remove and clean later. In addition, make sure the POS system of your business is clean, also offer your customers hand sanitiser at this point to let them know you’re thinking of their health and safety.
8. Offer your customers variety of payment methods
Your customers have one thing in common: they don’t like queuing at shops and no matter what they purchase from you and how excited they might be to get their item from your store, the truth is that no one wants to wait in a long queue to pay and go. In fact, a lot of research has been done on frictionless payment experiences at the checkout to reduce queues and waiting lines and to ensure shoppers have a smoother checkout experience to help them remember your business and come back for more. If you’re a retailer who’s interested in finding out ways to help your customers pay you without necessarily waiting, we offer five payment solutions which you can try at your store today.
First things first – Payment Requests. You can easily generate these from your myPOS app or your myPOS account. But what is a Payment Request? It’s a payment link that you send to your customers and once they click on it, they’re taken to a secure payments page where the payment can be processed. No lines or queues. Just a simple checkout.
PayLinks, much like Payment Requests, are links that you send to your customers. However, instead of being once-off like a Payment Request, they are links that can be sent to multiple customers at the same time. And what’s more is that just like Payment Requests, they can be sent via SMS, email or a chat app on social media, bringing ease and convenience to your customers.
Quick Response or QR codes are two dimensional “barcodes” that when scanned, can take your customer to a secure payments page. You can still take payments in-person with a QR code by simply generating it from your account. And if you’re worried about being able to send a receipt, this can be done digitally – via SMS or email, so all your bases are covered.
There’s a growing trend related to cashless payments with a quick and steady uptake of mobile wallets like ApplePay or Google Pay. Being ready to accept mobile wallets is going to create a much faster and swifter checkout experience for your customers. Check if your POS device is equipped to accept these types of payments and you’re all set.
Another innovative way to bring payments to your customers instead of having them come to you at the checkout is to use tap on glass technology. Also known as SoftPOS or software point-of-sale, you can turn your Android smartphone into a POS terminal and start accepting contactless payments this way, making it much easier for you to go to your customers instead of having them come to you.
In closing
While this is not an exhaustive list of ways to boost sales at your checkout counter, some of these ideas, if implemented, could help you make more sales. You can try combining some of them or using only one. Whichever option works best for your store, always remember that the checkout isn’t just a place where your customer pays you. It’s also a place where you can offer them an experience that they will remember.
Remember that the customer experience is a crucial part of their journey with your retail store and that you need to make the checkout as simple and uncomplicated as possible. One way of doing this is by giving your customers more options when it comes to payments. So, what are you waiting for?
