Sales is a numbers game, and you can’t win a numbers game if you don’t have the numbers. Here are some fun ideas for building store traffic that you can implement immediately.

1. Make your store look great.

Are your window displays fresh every week, conveying excitement about your products and sharing the values of your brand? Do they invite passers-by to come into the store? And when you do get store visitors, do they feel a frisson of excitement as they look around your store and envision all the possibilities? If your store looks great and conveys your brand values, you are far more likely to get new visitors and long-term customers to engage with you once they enter.

2. Have an excellent selection of products.

Today’s consumer can find anything she wants, any time she wants. So what is your store offering that is more exciting than what she can find online? And how are you letting her know about it when she’s browsing one of those thousands (millions?) of jewelry websites? Your product selection doesn’t need to be the biggest in the world - it just needs to be unique to your brand and interesting to the right subsegment of consumers.

3. Make sure the staff is friendly and helpful.

Cool sophistication may be a design value, but it rarely works as a human value. We humans tend to prefer warmth, interest, and helpfulness. Hire for personality, and train train train for brand values. Make sure your staff is made up of people your customers really love to come visit.

4. Introduce a loyalty card scheme so that customers can save money.

Online sellers are exploiting loyalty programs like never before, and consumers are paying attention. Make sure you offer a program that rewards loyalty with savings. Don’t make the mistake of thinking of loyalty programs as “just a discount.” After all, if the customer purchases three times this year instead of one, everybody wins! 

5. Have fun sales promotions.

Sales don’t have to be discounts. They can be opportunities to engage and learn, gain access to products that will only be available for a short period of time, and even network with other customers. Make sure something fun is always happening in your store.

6. Ask for feedback, and reward customers who give feedback.

Social proof is based on the normative idea of social influence, which states that people will be fit to be liked, compared, or accepted by the influencer (or society). When you browse a landing page and see a testimonial from an industry expert you respect, it's social proof. When you look at a pricing page and see that an industry giant is already using the tool, it's social proof. It's social proof when you sign up for a demo because you've seen the tool solve exactly the problem you had for a similar company. Essentially, it takes influence from third parties to entice potential customers. Anything you can do to increase social proof in your business will drive more customers through your door.

7. Offer an incentive to buy multiple items

Sure, one way to do this is with loyalty programs. But another way to do this is to have lower-priced products at great margins that you can offer as add-on sales. This is one area that jewelry retail could definitely expand upon, and customers love the opportunity to get a “deal” at checkout. Not only that, but women are guilty buyers, meaning they feel guilty for treating themselves. Help her assuage her guilt by showing her something she can buy as a gift for someone else at the same time!

8. Offer a unique experience

But nobody needs another coffee bar. Really. Instead, think of experiences that are unique to your brand values. Constantly be on the lookout for interesting gatherings and events to offer your customers. Get them back into the store often enough that you don’t fall off their radar.

9. Come up with a fun way to advertise your store through a viral video

While younger generations are complaining that Gen X is taking over TikTok, businesses everywhere are finding fun ways to promote using video. If you have a great idea, a funny idea, go for it! Brainstorm with your employees about video promotions until something great occurs to you (you won’t discover it if you don’t start looking for it!).

10. Play upbeat music

What is the ambiance in your store? Is there a lot of energy in the air? Or are you still playing the same music tracks you’ve been playing for the past 10 years? If your music soundtrack is a little too elevator-y, maybe it’s time to perk things up a bit.

11. Offer private “sort out your jewelry box” consultations 

Nearly every woman has a layer of jewelry at the bottom of her jewelry box that’s suffering from missed mates, broken posts, twisted chain, and bent clasps. Promote consultations to go through their jewelry box with them, help them decide what should be melted, what should be fixed, what stones could be re-matched, and what could be remade. It’s a great way to get to know your customers while doing them a wonderful service and getting a few sales.

12. Stay open late

Why not? Try mixing up your hours a bit and see if a few new opportunities walk through your doors!

13. Have an App that allows customers to browse and communicate with you on their own time.

Having your own app is a fabulous way to capture attention during the customer's browsing-and-chilling time. Intrigue them with great products, encourage them to send you messages, and then get them into the store!

Don’t wait for the holidays to start increasing your traffic. Any day you attract one more person than you otherwise would have is a good sales day! Implement one - or all! - of these ideas, and see if you can move your traffic in a more positive direction.