5 challenges facing retail in 2024 (and how to solve them)

Let’s start 2024 with a bang, and tackle those 5 meaty challenges head on. Whether your challenges are customer focused or internal management, take a read to learn what changes you could make to make 2024 a success for you.

1. Navigating the trend of conscious consumers

Consumers know more about you than just your products these days. Brand sustainability is a hot conversation topic that hasn’t gone quiet, and neither should it. Retailers need to be constantly reviewing how they’re putting themselves forward when it comes to sustainability, and what their specific policies are. Be your own harshest critic when it comes to your approach to sustainability to avoid greenwashing and getting caught up in bad PR (no retailer wants to be trending online for ignoring their responsibility)!

2. Driving footfall to the high street

“Is the high street dead?” Although it’s a question thrown around a lot, there is so much that retailers and consumers can be doing to keep it alive and let it thrive. Customers crave elevated experiences — let your stores be the playground. Brands are constantly opening new locations, like Uniqlo opening their first store in Scotland in Spring 2024 and SpaceNK creating new concept stores across the UK. I’ve seen first hand how this can impact increased marketing sign-ups and engage new customers with invitations to VIP store openings!

3. Supporting your staff to ensure retention

Staff are your most important asset and guardians of your brand, so taking care of them should be high on the agenda. Mental health support is vital, whether through internal Mental Health First Aiders as we have at Appointedd, or fantastic organisations like Retail Trust, who help retail colleagues with helplines, counselling, support and aid. This can also be supported by fair rota scheduling, with trusty tools like Rotageek – smart workforce management to improve productivity, profitability and happiness!

4. Ensuring the level of personalisation customers now expect

Personalisation is a huge benefit to the customer, but also to brands. Providing much more personalised customer experiences leads to the acquisition of new customers, repeat visitors, and increases the customer lifetime value — all the things retailers want to hear! Consumers want to feel listened to, feel individual, and feel cared for. With a scheduling platform like Appointedd, you can allow customers to book dedicated time with your staff, whilst answering specific booking questions to ensure the store can tailor their experience! This can then all be fed back into your brand’s CRM platform to customise engagement to encourage repeat purchases.

5. Cleaning your tech stack

Customer data – I’m sure you’ve got a lot of it, but is it really feeding into strategic decision conversations? Or, is it all siloed in different platforms across your tech stack? More and more, brands are looking at composable technology which allows you build your own experience approach, so you’ve got the right data feeding in and out of all the right places. Make it easier to clean up your CRM and engage with consumers who are actually your customers, and build on their purchasing habits to tailor that experience – making a very happy CRM team and a very happy customer base!

You can learn more about what to expect by looking back at previous trends in Appointedd’s Annual Data Report here.

Want to discuss how your company can tackle these challenges? You can book a call with me here, or send me a message on LinkedIn.