Use Snapchat to Compete With Web Retailers

Here’s a suggestion for getting shoppers who check out products in your store to buy from you instead of online: use Snapchat.

“A consumer walks into a store, falls in love with a product, whips out her phone, finds a lower price online, and leaves the store, interested but empty-handed,” Justin Emig writes in an article for Ad Age. “How can a retailer that requires foot traffic and in-store browsing compete with its lower-priced online counterparts?”

Using social media platform Snapchat can help “take back control of the retail experience and increase sales as a result,” Emig says. Snapchat is a mobile messaging app that can be used to send photos, videos and text that are only briefly available to the recipient.

Because the snaps are so temporary, they could create a sense of urgency that pushes customers to buy and leave with products instead of making plans to submit online orders later.

Here are Emig’s suggestions for using Snapchat as a tool for brick-and-mortar retailing:

1. Provide in-store-only coupons with a surprise offer.

2. Offer a scavenger hunt game that leads customers to a limited-edition product.

3. Use Snapchat to send consumers who are already in your store special offers or coupons that are only valid during that visit.

4. Build anticipation for new items arriving at a store with snaps of photos to customers.

5. Message coupons to shoppers who snap photos of themselves with your products and send them to their friends.

To read the full Ad Age article, click here.