Increasing sales appeals to most store managers, but are we aware that this can be done through shopping carts? Shopping carts allow customers to comfortably carry more products during their shopping experience, leading to higher purchases per visit. Providing well-functioning shopping carts also helps reduce shrinkage by allowing customers to properly transport heavy or bulky products without damaging them.
The impact of shopping carts is mainly in the convenience perceived by the customer. When the shopping cart rides smoothly and is easy to move in the shopping aisles, the customer is more likely to choose a shopping cart over a shopping basket. And preferring a shopping cart to a shopping basket increases the likelihood of making more purchases.
As mentioned above, the convenience of a shopping cart helps increase purchases in a shopping environment. Customers can easily collect large quantities of products with a shopping cart without physical strain, which encourages them to purchase more items than if they were using only a shopping cart. In addition, using a shopping cart encourages impulse purchases because customers have more room to add additional items they might not otherwise carry.
The risks and loss factors associated with shopping carts are diverse and can present challenges for retailers. Shopping cart theft is a common problem, with customers or even outside parties taking shopping carts for personal use or resale. This not only results in direct losses of the shopping carts per se, but can also lead to disruption of the shopping experience for customers and reduced operational efficiency. When customers encounter multiple shortages of shopping carts while trying to do their weekly shopping, this can result in choosing another supermarket that does have shopping carts available.
Logistic challenges, such as returning lost shopping carts to the store, can also increase operational costs and reduce store efficiency. In short, managing these risks and loss factors is important for retailers to maintain profitability and ensure a positive shopping experience for customers.
The degree of risk of shopping cart theft will vary by region and country, but the risk exists for every store. Local residents may take shopping carts to their homes and not return them. Or a criminal group may be active, stealing shopping carts in large numbers at night and reselling them. So several factors can increase the risk of shopping cart theft.
Rocateq’s solutions offer preventive measures to address the problem of shopping cart theft. By replacing one wheel of the shopping cart with the Rocateq wheel, the shopping cart can lock when it goes outside the designated area. This is normally at the edge of the store’s parking lot. Upon pulling the shopping cart back toward the store, the Rocateq wheel will automatically unblock and be free to move.
The question was whether store sales can be increased through shopping carts. With the aspects mentioned in this blog, the answer to the question is clear; shopping carts definitely contribute to increasing sales. In particular, having enough shopping carts available leads to higher customer satisfaction and a better and longer shopping experience. This results in higher sales for the store which brings us to increasing sales.
Let us help you prevent shopping cart theft. Download our e-book now and find out how Rocateq’s security solutions can protect your store and save costs.
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