Between mass marketing and customer clubs lies the store's underutilized gold mine

There are two corners of the market today, says Michael Lemner, retail strategist and board member of BizLab. The discussion clearly shows how the store's underutilized gold mine often overlooked when the focus is on reach and loyalty.

“In one, those who believe in reach stand: We need to reach more. Billions are being invested in mass media, social media and campaigns to drive traffic to the store.
In the second, the loyalty builders say: We need to get existing customers to buy more often and become more loyal.
Both sides are right – but both miss something crucial,” Michael continues.

The forgotten flow of visitors in stores

Between reach and loyalty stands the physical store – with a flow of visitors that is often both anonymous and underestimated.
”Here lies the greatest untapped potential in retail. The visitors who come to the store but leave without making a purchase,” says Tanja Cronqvist on BizLab.

In most industries, store conversion is somewhere between 15 and 50 %.
This means that half to 85 % of all visitors leave without buying.
”And what do we really know about these non-buying visitors? Almost nothing,” continues Tanja.

It's a strange gap in an era when everything is about data.
Online we know where the customer came from, how long they stayed, what was clicked and why the purchase may not have been completed.
In physical retail, however, we usually only know who passed the checkout and paid.

But that gap is now being closed – without guesswork, assumptions or uncertain measurement points.

New technology provides insights into all visitors

With new technology, retailers today can gain insights into all visitors in real time: how many came in, their gender, age category, how long they stayed and even their mood.

”With the right data, retailers can make completely new types of business decisions around assortment, staffing, promotions and time periods,” says Michael Lemner.
”Because in physical retail, an increase of just a few percentage points in conversion is enough to significantly boost sales – without spending a single penny more on marketing.
Real growth lies not just in reaching more people, but in understanding more people – and in taking advantage of the store's underexploited gold mine.”

When the store becomes its own media channel

When the same technology is connected to digital screens in stores, the message can be adapted directly.
Then physical retail gets retail media for real.

With target audience segmentation and guaranteed reach figures, retailers can now sell their own media space to brands and create a new high-margin revenue stream.

”Brands get access to relevant exposure when the visitor is closest to making a purchase – and retailers get paid for the in-store traffic they already own,” adds Tanja Cronqvist.

The store – the missing link in the marketing ecosystem

”It's time to give the store the role it deserves in the marketing ecosystem,” concludes Michael Lemner.
”Both by better managing traffic from the chains’ advertising campaigns, increasing consumer insights, focusing on higher conversion and create a new scalable revenue model via retail media.”

”The store is really the data source that ties everything between advertising and loyalty,” Tanja Cronqvist chimes in.
”"The technology exists. The question is who really takes the initiative."”

The way forward for retail

The physical the store is transforming into a data-driven meeting place rather than a traditional sales floor.
By leveraging new technology, AI and sensor data, retailers can understand customer behavior in real time and adapt both offerings and staffing.
It is in the store's underutilized gold mine that the competitive advantages of the future lie – where every visitor counts and every interaction can be transformed into value.

For Swedish retail, this could mean the start of a new era where physical retail and digital analytics finally meet in the same ecosystem.