The Top 20 Best Ideas for Increasing Foot Traffic to Your Store

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By Tricia McKinnon, Emily McCullough and Ben Rudolph  

Brick and mortar retail is still the way most consumers like to shop. But with the growth of eCommerce consumers need a better reason to make a trip to your store.  

If you are struggling to increase your same store sales and are looking for ways to increase foot traffic here are 20 ideas taken from leading retailers that you can use to kick start sales.

1. Sell food onsite. In 2019 Crate and Barrel opened its first restaurant in Chicago called The Table at Crate. Customers at the restaurant eat food on plates and sit on chairs and at tables sold by the retailer. Speaking about the restaurant Crate and Barrel’s former CEO Neela Montgomery said: “it’s not like everyone comes to us once a month.” “Having a restaurant will help us drive more frequency and more traffic to the store and also create a different level of loyalty by having that experience with us.”

Having a restaurant or cafe can be an effective mechanism for increasing dwell time within a store. Staff working at The Table at Crate are well versed not only in the menu items but also on the merchandise sold in the restaurant. Next time you are in the Crate and Barrel store in Chicago you may want to try ordering a new chair along with your salad. 

If you prefer to make a smaller investment retailers like Frank and Oak have small coffee shops inside of their stores.  

2. Invest in your employees. Customers love Trader Joe’s friendly and helpful staff. One of the keys to Trader Joe’s success is hiring the right people and investing in them. Jon Basalone, President of Stores at Trader Joe’s has said: “we’ve been around for over 50 years, and we’ve never had layoffs. We stay true to what we know works for Trader Joe’s and our crew members.”  “You combine that with the pay, benefits and supportive, fun environment, and people tend to want to stick around.”  

This year Trader Joe’s was named the second best large employer in the retail and wholesale category by Forbes. Trader Joe’s was also ranked as having the highest customer satisfaction rating in 2023 in the grocery industry by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Your employees have a tremendous impact on whether or not a customer returns to your store for another visit. Do your employees smile at each and every customer? Do they go out of their way to ensure your customers are happy? These actions go a long way in increasing your foot traffic. When was the last time you had a “wow” customer experience? I bet you still remember it and that you go back to that store.

3. Hold classes. Sephora offers a whole host of classes. From skin care classes, to brow shaping classes to contouring classes. This retailer is in tune with its customer base and has thought of everything a customer wants to learn. For example, Sephora has given makeup classes for customers who identify as non-binary and transgender. These classes were a segment of the retailer’s Classes for Confidence initiative. 

4. Open a barber shop or hair salon on site. Frequently used services are a great way to drive traffic into your stores. Nordstrom has a barbershop in its men’s store in New York City. Not only is this a great service to offer customers it is also a way to get customers coming back into your store on a more frequent basis. In addition to barber shops hair salons are another tactic that retailers use to drive traffic. For example, Ulta Beauty has found its salon customers make twice as many trips to an Ulta Beauty store as those who do not use those services. 

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5. Make your store Instagram friendly. Primark’s Birmingham location in the UK has sought to capitalize on consumers’ growing desire for Instagramable experiences. For example, in Primark’s Birmingham location there is a “Snap and Share” room. This is an area of the store where customers can take pictures of the clothes they try on and can set the mood by changing the lighting and selecting the music they want to hear. It is like playing dress up for Primark’s young customers without the cost of purchasing the items. The room allows the average everyday customer to become an influencer for Primark as they showcase and tag the clothing they are wearing on social media. It is also an easy way for Primark to create user generated content without having to foot the bill.   

6.  Carve out space in-store and offer it to a complimentary retailer. In 2019 Kohl’s announced a deal with Planet Fitness that was supposed to see Planet Fitness gyms located adjacent to 10 Kohl’s stores. Space in Kohl’s stores was reduced to make room for the Planet Fitness gyms which take up to 20,000 sq. ft to 25,000 sq. ft. Kohl’s hoped that Planet Fitness customers would choose to buy activewear and accessories from Kohl’s leading to increased store traffic.  

7. Create a community of like-minded people.  lululemon often organizes running clubs. This allows customers and fitness enthusiasts to meet other like-minded people. Runs start at lululemon stores making it is easy for customers to pop into the store either before or after a run to check out the merchandise to see if they need anything new.  

8. Target kids to get parents into your store. If your target customer demographic is parents then try appealing to their children to get them in the door. Section off a part of your store for a kids play area. Or provide a space where parents can throw kids’ birthday parties. In the past Toys “R” Us has allocated a specific area that customers could rent out for birthday parties.

If you don’t have that much space even a small area where you can offer free face painting for kids is a great idea. JC Penney has even offered $10 kids haircuts during the back to school season.

9. Invest in a unique experience only available offline. When Warby Parker opened its 50th store in Melrose California in 2017 it invested in what was the brand’s greatest store experience at that time. The store was outfitted with a green room where customers could record 15 second videos while trying on Warby Parker glasses.  

Since the retailer literally had a green room in the store customers could change the backdrop in their videos to their liking. Backdrops ranged from: outer space to a shark-filled aquarium to a big pepperoni pizza to a palm tree-lined boulevard. Once the videos were created customers could easily share videos with others or keep them for themselves. The close distance between the store and Hollywood was the inspiration for the fun customer experience.

10. Partner with another retailer to drive traffic. In 2021 Amazon launched a new service called Amazon Counter where customers can pick up their Amazon orders from other retailers’ brick and mortar locations. The hope for the partnering retailers is that when a customer arrives at their store to pick up their Amazon order they will stay awhile and buy other items.

11. Allow customers to buy online, pick up in-store and return online orders in-store. Allowing customers to retrieve their eCommerce parcels from retail locations has become an essential delivery option and an important part of retailers’ omni-channel strategies.

This service is extremely helpful for customers who worry about the security of their packages if they are not home when they are delivered. Adopting a cross-sell strategy by including in-store coupons with online purchases is another way to boost in-store traffic. 

12. Launch a bring a friend & get a discount promotion. Try offering a promotion where to receive a discount a customer must bring a paying friend with them. This is a great way to introduce your store to new customers. Pala Spa had a promotion called “Friends Who Spa Together, Stay Together”. “Bring a friend and you both receive 20% off any spa treatment more than 50 minutes.” A promotion like this is an easy way to increase your foot traffic. 

13. Offer an in-store only promotion. On all of your digital channels as well as in-store promote an offer that can only be redeemed in-store. Shoppers Drugmart had a one day only friends and family event where on a coupon it said: “show this coupon in-store to receive 20% off almost all regular priced merchandise.” This is a great way to use your digital channels in addition to your stores to drive foot traffic.

14. Offer free-Wi-Fi. Starbucks may have you thinking this idea is old news but it still works. Providing free Wi-Fi encourages customers to visit your store and stay for a while. Consumers are often on the lookout for places that offer free Wi-Fi in order to cut down on their data charges. While you may be used to getting free Wi-Fi from your local coffee shop other retailers that offer this perk include: Nordstrom, Whole Foods, Target and Panera Bread.

15.  Provide cell phone charging stations. Have you ever been out shopping with a friend only to realize that the battery on your phone is dying? This is a situation that everyone can relate to. Putting charging stations in your store is a way to enhance customer service but it can also be used as a way to attract customers into your store.  Several retailers have started to place cell phone charging stations in their stores including: Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Under Armour, Nordstrom, Gap, Target and Saks Fifth Avenue.

16. Offer free samples. You don’t have to give away your first quarter sales but you can provide customers with a small product sample to get them in the door. Everyone loves receiving free stuff. How many times have you made a trip to Costco just to see what tasty treats it was giving away for free?  Lindt stores often give customers a free piece of chocolate upon entering the store which naturally makes you want to buy one of their products in order to have more.

17. Put on events. Despite operating in the age of Amazon, many independent bookstores who survived did so by putting on events that are targeted at the local community. Some independent bookstores have as many as 500 events per year. These events include author discussions and book signings, speed dating, trivia nights, happy hours, craft writing discussions, calligraphy writing workshops and story time for kids. A localization movement across the US has gained momentum with people preferring to spend money within their local community.

18. Lighten up the mood by serving alcohol. When Nordstrom’s first ever men’s store in New York City opened it had a liquor license so that customers can walk around with a drink in their hand while they shopped.

19. Try a new in-store selling concept. In 2018 Macy’s purchased Story, a popular Manhattan based store. Story sold merchandise inspired by a key theme with products and a store layout that changed every few months. One of the key reasons for acquiring Story was to breathe new life into the 164 year old department store.  

In April of 2019 Macy’s rolled out Story shops to several Macy’s stores. Those stores sold more than 400 products from a range of well-known brands as well as merchandise from over 70 small businesses. The shops were small, measuring only 1,500 sq. ft. The theme, colour and merchandise within the Story shops within Macy’s changed often. By changing merchandise often customers have an incentive to visit the store more often.

20. Offer spaces where customers can work and commune.  Office Depot has carved out space in its stores to create co-working spaces called the Workonomy Hub. The spaces offer desks and offices for rent as well as access to printing and copying stations. Users can also get tech support if required. According to Office Depot CEO Gerry Smith: “we’re not trying to be WeWork and go to the high-end of the market. We want to be right in the mid-tier.”  

Traffic from the co-working spaces can spill into the store and people using the co-working spaces are a perfect fit for the type of merchandise sold by Office Depot.

Tricia McKinnonCustomer Experience, Strategy & Growth1 Comment