You can do it, and there are several ways you can approach carving out a distinctive, profitable niche for your mall kiosk. Here are some ideas to help you compete with e-commerce.
It takes the right selection of products at the right pricing to make a mall kiosk successful. Don’t copy anything that is available elsewhere in your mall, focus on complimentary products or something entirely different. Remember that the vast majority of mall kiosk purchases are impulse buys.
Periodically refreshing your product lineup with new items keeps things visually interesting and gives you a reason to invite previous customers back.
People continue to visit malls to see what’s new, so you can expect to see that foot traffic. But multi-channel retail is the only way to attract customers wherever they’re shopping. By creating your own online presence, you can introduce your kiosk’s brand and wares to more people. You can increase sales — with higher profit margins, thanks to no internet overhead — giving you more overall revenue to pay the costs of your mall location.
You can create a formal e-commerce site. Or you can sell via Facebook, eBay, or Etsy, all of which are far less costly.
As popular as online buying has become, the reality is that brick-and-mortar stores have allure that no internet “store” can offer. That includes your mall kiosk. For example, customers can see, touch, sniff, and/or taste your merchandise. Try that online. They can feel the ambiance of your surroundings, however compact. And they can get personal advice and assistance from you or your friendly associate.
Keep that in mind as you consider these ideas to make your mall kiosk successful in spite of the internet. (And keep in mind that, ultimately, your success may depend on beating your mall competition, not the online alternatives.)
With unique products and smart merchandising and marketing, your mall kiosk is sure to be a success.