Question: When do you think your retail store’s busiest hours are? Answer: It’s not in the morning just before work, it’s not even when most people are taking their lunch break. It’s actually when the average 9-5 ‘workday’ is over, and people are relaxing at home, scrolling on their phones with their feet up after a busy day. Unfortunately, most shops are closed at this time and so support for online shoppers is non-existent. Online retailers are missing out on a staggering number of daily traffic.
The number one reason people shop online is because they can shop 24/7 – Smart Insights
But how can we change that? We interviewed Confer With’s Data Analyst, Navjot Jagdev, to find out more.
Traditional Working Hours
During standard retail opening hours, our clients have 42% of their daily traffic, however the six hours post-closing (usually 6pm) accounts for 41% of all traffic. So, in the last 30 days, we’ve seen retailers get more traffic per hour in the evening than during working hours.
Looking at weekdays only, the majority of traffic comes through on websites from 7pm all the way until 10pm. It is also possible to see the types of users: during the day, the majority are on mobile, but the percentage difference from phone to desktop is a lot more when you’re looking at after hours. A lot of people are going to be on their phones, browsing whilst relaxing, or even browsing in between work. Looking at seven, eight, and nine in the evening, when the most amount of traffic is coming through, most retailers don’t have live video support. To put it simply, no one is working around those hours.
Retail staff available to help customers
Regarding live 1-2-1 retail availability, there is a massive drop from 5 till 6pm, and after that there’s hardly anybody online. It is evident that retailers are missing out on almost 50% of traffic, and this is when they have the majority of their traffic. In short, there is not enough supply for the demand. Businesses are missing out on the amount of people that are browsing their stores in the evening when they actually HAVE the time to do so.
But why is this important?
Take me as an example. I browse on ASOS whilst watching TV in the evening, if I see something I like I have the time to initiate a call, whereas I wouldn’t during the day because I’m at work. This is such a missed opportunity for retail stores because everything is online now. I could be cooking at the same time as taking having a video call, that’s the type of daily traffic online retailers are missing out on.
If businesses saw how much traffic they’re missing out on in the evening, I think there will be a number of different outcomes. Firstly, especially with big retail stores, you want to stay on top, you want to be bringing the revenue and the calls. The way to do this is by engaging with the customers when you can; every time you’re missing the opportunity to engage with your customers, you’re missing out on revenue coming through, and ultimately, you’re missing out on potential business. Larger stores have the ability to extend their hours. With smaller stores, they can bring in more experts to have the supply for their demand. This is where Confer With Experts can help.
Confer With Experts are the highest performing video salespeople on our platform, available as an extension of your retail team. Our video sales team’s deliver high call conversion rates of 30% and above, with a 50-100% increase in average basket size – and you only pay for them when they’re online. Find out more on our expert’s page.
What Solutions Can Retailers Provide?
The majority of businesses still consider the working day as 9-6, but the fact of the matter is, this is completely different for retail stores. Now, we’re not saying keep your showrooms open 24/7. But one way to fix the ‘out of hours’ demand is to introduce shift work – and the best thing about this is that it can all be done from the comfort of your retail staff’s home. They can be doing things on the side as well, such as cooking and looking after their kids, and the customer will be doing the exact same thing because they’ve got their own lives to be living as well.
Question: Are you supplying your customer’s demand during your store’s online hours? Answer: You definitely should be. If you aren’t, then book in a call with one of our sales strategists to find out how you can bridge that gap and make up for lost revenue.
