In a previous article, we discussed how socially distanced cinema, clubs, and other businesses are set to become available in the UK. The market is changing, customer expectations are changing, and businesses need to change alongside these new trends to survive and grow.
For a lifestyle business that caters to customers in a more personal way, not all of the changes are easy to adopt. If you are eager to know how to make your lifestyle business more competitive in today’s market, these expert tips will help you get started with making some changes to how your business operates.
Streamline Experience
Offering extra conveniences and pampering customers isalways good for business, but these two elements are more important than ever now that the market is changing. There is a big need for stronger relationships with customers, and the way you build that relationship is by going the extra mile.
For example, you can switch to chat-based commerce rather than an online e–commerce site to keep customers feeling well-treated. Chat-based commerce is now possible without having to hire a lot of customer service officers thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and APIs from popular messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Customers will still feel like they are getting a highly personalised treatment, but you are not adding weight to the business by introducing new manual (and repetitive) tasks. AI-powered chat commerce bots can even stream customer orders directly to your existing PoS and order management system, which means you can focus on fulfilling those orders rather than taking them.
Make It Easy
Gone are the days of having to go through multiple steps to complete an order. You want customers to be able to make purchases as easy as possible regardless of whether they are shopping online or offline. This means making some subtle changes to your customer journey.
For example, you can remove a lot of inconveniences by using a mobile card reader to accept customer payments. Switching to a mobile card machine gives you the ability to offer Cash on Delivery as a payment method, which is a huge plus for customers.
You can find more information about mobile card readers by visiting utpgroup.co.uk. UTP is a leading name in payment processing, offering faster processing and good customer support while partnering with banks like Barclays to deliver reliable payment processing every time.
Manage Costs
To remain competitive, you also have to offer good prices to customers. This can only happen if you are flexible enough, and that flexibility comes from keeping your operational costs in check. If there is a good time to be lean as a business, now is that time.
Staying lean and keeping overhead costs in check also hasother benefits. You don’t have to worry about not being able to offer good deals or keep customers interested in upsold products when your costs are managed properly.
There are other challenges to face in today’s economy, but these three tips will help you get started with becoming more robust and competitive right away. For more tips and tricks on how to compete better and adapt to new customer needs, stay tuned.
