If you’re like most successful small business owners, you’re likely on a constant lookout for new ideas and strategies to help your supermarket grow and increase its reach. While word of mouth and social media can be great strategies to expand your local reach, they may not be enough to boost customer engagement to the degree you’d like.
If you’re struggling to engage with your customer base, it may be time for you to consider running a contest, competition or promotion.
Help Boost Direct Engagement
One of the largest struggles faced by many small businesses such as supermarkets is finding a way to develop genuine engagement and outreach to your customer base. While you may find people enjoy their experience at your supermarket, finding ways to keep your business on their mind once they’ve left the forecourt can be challenging. Running promotional contests can help solve this problem.
When your customer engages with a promotional opportunity, it gives them reason to continue to think of and revisit your supermarket. Even after they’ve won, they are more likely to continue to visit your business to both redeem their prize, and to keep an eye out for future contests. Those who did not win the first time are likely to return to enter in future promotional opportunities.
Grow Your Contact List
Maintaining a list of customer contact information can be incredibly helpful for many reasons. Not only does the ability to deliver regular business communications keep your supermarket at the forefront of your customer’s mind, but it allows them to be aware of important information regarding your business. From hours of operations, to holiday closures, to new products and more, the wider the number of people you can reach, the better.
Running competitions allows your supermarket to collect this information more easily, without resulting in irritation from customers. Emails and phone numbers collected in this manner are easy to track, and are given with full knowledge and consent of the individual, meaning your business is meeting Australian privacy guidelines as well.
Increase Sales
Not only do contests generate engagement, but they are great at driving sales as well. Promotions such as buy one get one free, play to win, and more all give people a reason to choose your supermarket over others in the area.
Once they are at your business, they are likely to purchase more than just groceries. Overall, even contests centered around a certain product or service are likely to drive sales in other areas of your supermarket as well.
Types Of Contests
There are a wide variety of competitions your supermarket can run effectively to boost customer engagement as well as sales and return traffic. From creative to simple, effective promotions draw customers in and hold their attention without compromising your bottom line.
Free Groceries Raffle
The main reason most customers are visiting your supermarket is simple: they’re looking to buy groceries at a reliable business with high standards. This makes contests like a free groceries a guaranteed success. While there are several ways to navigate this type of giveaway, a simple collection of customer information followed by a randomised raffle is simple and straightforward.
Prizes can be presented in many different formats including a grocery voucher, gift card, or membership perks. Ensure that conditions are made clear before the contest is run to mitigate expectations and prevent conflict.
Product Give Away
Product giveaways are a great way to increase sales while also potentially becoming a great avenue for cross promotion. If you are able, finding a supplier to sponsor or donate the product in your giveaway can help you both avoid costs of the giveaway, while giving great advertisement to one of your favorite products and suppliers.
Pick A Prize
Increase customer engagement by allowing the opportunity for multiple winners, and a wider selection of prizes. If a raffle will result in 2-3 winners, as opposed to only one, customers may feel they have a higher chance of winning, motivating them to participate. In these cases, ensure that the prizes offered are sustainable for your business. As always, disclose the terms and conditions of the contest to avoid potential conflicts and disputes.
If you’re looking into new ways to grow your supermarket and truly engage with both a new and existing customer base, running a competition or promotion is a great way to do so. Between generating heightened interest and awareness of your business, and collecting a wider range of customer contact information, your reach is guaranteed to expand resulting in higher sales and increasing repeat business.
