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How to Improve Conversion Rate in a Retail Store

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Conversion rate is the one number that tells you how well your team turns visitors into buyers. Footfall depends on the weather, the mall and the season. Conversion depends on your team. That's why most district managers ask about it first.

What conversion rate is

Conversion rate is the share of people who walk into your store and buy something.

Conversion rate = number of transactions ÷ number of visitors × 100

For example, if 400 people came in today and you made 60 sales:

60 ÷ 400 × 100 = 15% conversion

So 15 out of every 100 visitors bought something. The other 85 left with nothing.

3 common reasons conversion drops

  1. Customers are not greeted, or the greeting is weak. "Can I help you?" almost always gets "No, just looking." After that, most customers are left alone until they leave.
  2. The team is short at the busiest times. If the rota doesn't match the traffic, customers wait, give up and walk out. You lose the sale even though they wanted to buy.
  3. The team doesn't know the number. If your staff never hear today's conversion, they can't improve it. Most teams know the sales target but have no idea how many visitors are leaving empty-handed.

3 quick fixes you can start tomorrow

  1. Change the greeting. Open with what the customer is looking at, not a yes-or-no question. For example: "That jacket just came in this week, it also comes in black."
  2. Check your rota against your traffic. Look at your busiest 2 hours of the day. Make sure your strongest people are on the floor then, not on breaks or in the stockroom.
  3. Share conversion in the morning huddle. Tell the team yesterday's conversion and set one simple goal for today. Teams that know the number almost always do better.

Track your conversion every week for free with the Retail KPI Dashboard.

Free tools: Retail KPI Dashboard and Promotion Readiness Checklist

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