Retail Marketing: Strategies & Examples to Drive Sales (2026)

Retail marketing is any method that helps spread awareness, build brand loyalty, and increase sales for your store. Every customer touchpoint—from your storefront signage to your checkout experience to your social media presence—is part of your retail marketing strategy.

Nearly 20% of small businesses fail within their first year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. To keep your store out of that statistic, you need smart marketing strategies that bring customers through your doors and keep them coming back.

In this guide, you’ll learn what retail marketing is and discover proven strategies to drive sales both in-store and online. You’ll also get to see real examples from successful retailers and explore 2026 trends that can give your business a competitive edge.

What is retail marketing?

Retail marketing involves both online and offline strategies working together. Whether customers discover you through Instagram, Google search, a window display, or word of mouth, your marketing creates the journey that turns browsers into buyers.

Your retail marketing strategy includes everything from in-store displays and visual merchandising to social media campaigns and local SEO. It’s the difference between hoping customers walk through your doors versus actively attracting shoppers who are ready to buy.

The importance of retail marketing

A strategic retail marketing approach increases brand recognition, builds lasting customer connections, and drives sales. The right tactics reduce buyer hesitation, build trust with your target audience, and create memorable experiences that turn first-time shoppers into repeat customers.

Build customer loyalty

Your first sales matter, but repeat customers drive long-term profitability. Customer feedback requests, loyalty programs, and email or SMS marketing are proven retail marketing strategies that improve retention and encourage repeat purchases.

“Since implementing customer loyalty programs, sales have gone up by 80%. Most of it comes from customers recommending or buying our products over and over again,” says Eric Mills, owner and CEO of Pro Support Accessories. 

Increase revenue

The goal of retail marketing is to get new customers into your business, and retain them for the long run. Whether it’s social media, SEO, partnerships, or paid advertising, they are all tactics to drive revenue for your business. 

Strengthen branding

A strong retail marketing strategy strengthens your brand and makes your products and company recognizable. 

When customers can instantly identify your store’s personality through your visual identity, messaging, or in-store experience, you’ve created brand recognition that keeps them coming back.

Types of retail marketing

Retail marketing requires integrating digital and physical channels. Most successful retailers combine in-store experiences with traditional offline tactics and digital marketing. This combination helps you reach customers wherever they are in their shopping journey.

In-store marketing

In-store marketing refers to any promotional activities that take place inside your store. It promotes products to customers and provides them a comfortable experience. In-store marketing, in other words, focuses on engaging customers as they go through the shopping journey. 

Examples of in-store marketing include:

• In-store displays that feature certain products or price cuts 
• Offering samples of new products
• Hosting events like live music or product demos
• Having a suggestion box or interactive board
• In-store promotions that encourage your customers to walk into your store

Traditional marketing

Traditional marketing involves finding a target audience through offline channels such as print advertising or billboard ads. While digital marketing has eclipsed traditional marketing for many industries, it’s still a good way to connect with local audiences.

This type of marketing connects with local audiences through offline channels like print and events. Common channels include:

• Flyers and brochures
• Direct mail
• Newspaper ads
• Event marketing, like pop-ups
• Referral marketing
• Radio ads

“We were offered the chance to pop-up in other businesses before we launched our brick-and-mortar—that was a great way to bring awareness to our business, and gain customers before opening,” says Kate Pepler, founder of The Tare Shop.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is the act of promoting your store or products through organic and paid efforts using online platforms. A well-rounded digital marketing strategy encompasses multiple channels. Common digital channels for retailers include:

• SEO
• Email
• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• SMS

Digital marketing promotes your store through online platforms using both organic and paid strategies. Even with a physical storefront, building an online presence helps grow your audience and attract qualified customers.

Point-of-sale (POS) marketing

Point-of-sale (POS) marketing uses checkout promotions to encourage last-minute impulse buys when customers are already ready to pay. It’s a great way to increase your average order value by offering small, relevant items right at the finish line.

Effective POS marketing tactics include:

• Counter displays featuring small, affordable items like accessories, snacks, or travel-sized products 
• Digital screens showing complementary product suggestions based on cart contents 
• Signage highlighting limited-time offers or bundle deals near the register 
• Strategic product placement within arm’s reach of the checkout line 
• Buy-one-get-one promotions or percentage-off deals for adding items at checkout

Your checkout area is valuable real estate. Use it to showcase products that solve last-minute needs or complement items customers are already purchasing.

Retail marketing mix: the six Ps

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion
• People
• Presentation

The six Ps are an expansion of the four Ps of marketing, which is a foundation model for building marketing strategies that connect with your target audience. It provides a set of tools you can use to reach your goals and objectives. 

1. Product

Product is what you sell. It’s any item or service that meets your customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points. 

You can break up your inventory into three categories:

• Core products. Items you always stock and sell consistently—your bread-and-butter offerings. 
• Line extensions. Variations of core products in different colors, sizes, or styles (like baggy, slim fit, and skinny jeans).
• Related products. Complementary items that support or enhance the core product (e.g., belts, shoes, and shirts for your jeans).

Understanding these categories helps you plan inventory, create product displays, and develop marketing campaigns that highlight relationships between items.

2. Price

Price is what you charge for your products. Your pricing strategy should balance cost of goods sold, promotional plans, product life cycle stage, and competitive positioning.

Price also shapes the perceived value of your products, or how customers view your brand beyond cost alone. For example, a premium price signals quality and exclusivity, while value pricing attracts budget-conscious shoppers. Your pricing must work for both your target market and your profit margins.

3. Place

Place is where customers can buy your products. In terms of retail, this could mean a stand-alone store downtown, a shopping center, or a mall. Your location affects visibility, accessibility, and competitive positioning. 

Some things to consider:

• Parking availability and public transportation access 
• Visibility from the street and quality of signage 
• Proximity to complementary businesses or competitors 
• Foot traffic patterns and neighborhood demographics 
• Store layout and visual merchandising opportunities

4. Promotion

Promotion is how you reach customers and build awareness. Your promotional plan gets customers through the door and converts browsers into buyers.

Common promotional tactics include:

• Social ads
• Direct mail
• Referral programs
• Loyalty cards
• Email marketing 

Your employees must also encourage sales through customer interactions. Discussing the latest promotions and upselling particular products are great ways to promote your products in-store. 

5. People

Floor staff are the face of your retail store. They are the ones customers interact with from when they walk in the door until the final sale. To succeed, retailers must train their employees and have trustworthy people on board. 

6. Presentation

Presentation is how your product is seen by the outside world. Everything from packaging to how you communicate with your customers determines whether your target audience will buy repeatedly. 

Retail marketing strategy: 8 proven approaches

A retail marketing strategy is any activity that attracts customers to your store and encourages them to buy. Different approaches work for different business stages. 

For example, a just-launched store with zero to 100 customers needs different tactics than an established retailer with more than 10,000 customers. Most successful retailers combine multiple strategies across both physical and digital channels.

Popular strategies include:

• Developing curb appeal
• Organizing retail displays
• Building your online presence
• Investing in local SEO
• Running local ads
• Staying connected with customers
• Working with influencers
• Investing in word-of-mouth marketing

Developing curb appeal

They say you first eat with your eyes, and the same is true in retail. Before a customer gets anywhere close to checkout, your curb appeal must get them into the store. Curb appeal refers to the look and feel of your store from the street, including parking and landscaping.

Some ways to boost curb appeal include:

• Install nice retail signage. Your signs communicate your brand message from the street, helping shoppers recognize your store and understand what you sell before they enter.
• Create an engaging window display. Attractive displays that highlight the right products and promotions can increase foot traffic. Use seasonal themes, product storytelling, or lifestyle vignettes that show your products in use. 

Read more: 20 Retail Window Display Ideas & Examples That Drive Sales

Organizing retail displays

Visual merchandising refers to how you plan, design, and display products to highlight their features. The goal is to attract customers and motivate them to buy. The best visual merchandising tactics will keep your store organized and help products sell themselves. 

Visual merchandising includes: 

• The color palette of your store
• The music you play in your store
• The scents surrounding your display
• Interactive displays
• Mannequins

Organizing your retail display is critical to successful retail marketing. It allows you to connect with people through the five senses and can trigger more sales in your store. 

Read more: What Is Visual Merchandising? Examples and Tips

Building your online presence

Building an online presence on social media helps grow your audience and attract qualified customers, even with a brick-and-mortar store. Social platforms let you share your brand story, showcase products, and connect with potential customers where they already spend time.

Popular marketing channels for retailers include:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• Pinterest 

Lost on what types of content to create? You can publish content like:

• Behind-the-scenes visuals
• Event promos
• Community-driven content 
• Influencer promos
• Product photos
• Short videos

The list goes on. Social media is a great place to share your brand’s story and connect with new potential customers. 

“I think just making something that you would actually want to watch [is important]. So, I just try to think about what I think is interesting about the brand or maybe questions that I would have for the brand, and then have that dictate our content,” says Stephanie Ibbitson, founder at Sonya Lee.

Investing in local SEO

Local SEO refers to increasing your store’s online visibility in a specific area. For example, if your store is located on Main Street in Patchogue, New York, a local SEO strategy can help people in the entire town of Patchogue (and beyond) find your store on Google. 

This helps people find you when they perform “near me” searches. Google uses the searcher’s location to deliver the best results nearest to them, making local optimization crucial for attracting nearby shoppers.

Retailers that invest in local SEO can get found online and increase store visits. Optimizing your Google Business Profile, maintaining consistent NAP (name, address, phone) information across directories, and encouraging customer reviews all strengthen your local visibility.

💡 PRO TIP: You can set up, track, and manage local inventory listings and Smart Shopping Campaigns from the Google & YouTube app for Shopify. Get all the perks of marketing your business on Google without jumping between accounts.

Running local ads

To help get discovered by shoppers, you can run local ads on Google. One popular ad type you can run is called “Local Inventory Ads.” These ads let you pay to boost your inventory and have it seen across Google’s network, including Search and Shopping. 

Local inventory ads show up in Google with the labels “In store” and “Pick up today.” These labels tell the shoppers that the product is available in a store near them. 

Local ads are a smart way for retailers to bring high-intent shoppers into their store. By running these ads, you can get found across various digital places, like Google search, Google Maps, Google Images, and more. 

Related Reading: How to Reach Nearby Shoppers with Google Local Inventory Ads

💡 PRO TIP: With Shopify, you can get your products found by more nearby shoppers looking for what you sell on Google. List your products on Google for free, show pickup availability to increase store visits, and measure how your listings impact store sales from Shopify.

Working with influencers

Influencer marketing means partnering with popular individuals to promote your products to their followers. By working with the right influencer, you can create long-lasting brand partnerships and run campaigns that appeal to your target audience, particularly younger consumers who value peer recommendations.

When choosing influencers, you want to look at more than just follower count. You want to check out:

• Their values
• Their total reach
• Who their followers are
• How they engage with their audience
• Their engagement-to-follower rate

“It just has to be an organic love for the brand. With Revolve, there was a mutual love for each other,” explains Lindsey Carter, founder and CEO at SETet Active, about her brand’s partnership with clothing brand Revolve. 

“I am a consumer of Revolve, and the people that were reaching out on behalf of Revolve were consumers of SET Active and so we both knew that we genuinely loved the product and the partnership, and so that was kind of a no-brainer for us in terms of talent.” 

Investing in word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing means inspiring existing customers to tell their networks about products and brands they like. For retailers, it’s about making products worth talking about and creating experiences customers want to share.

Encourage word of mouth by exceeding expectations, creating shareable moments in your store, making it easy for customers to leave reviews, and offering referral incentives. Authentic recommendations from trusted sources carry more weight than any ad campaign.

“You’re not going to go to a dinner party and tell somebody how excited you are about your socks, but you might go and say something like this: ‘Hey, did you guys know that socks are the most requested clothing item in homeless shelters? Oh, there’s this company Bombas [who] found out about it, and for every pair that I buy, they’re donating a pair.’ It’s a much more interesting story,” says Randy Goldberg, co-founder at Bombas.

Tactical techniques for implementation

Beyond choosing which strategies to use, execution details determine success. These tactical techniques help you implement retail marketing strategies effectively:

• Email segmentation logic
• Divide your list by purchase history, browsing behavior, and location. 
• Send cart abandonment emails within one hour.
• Send post-purchase follow-ups at three days.
• Send re-engagement campaigns after 60 days of inactivity.
• Display placement formulas
• Position high-margin impulse items at eye level (five to six feet high). 
• Place destination products at the back to increase time in store. 
• Create triangular sight lines that guide customers through key areas.
• Promotional cadence frameworks
• Run major promotions quarterly to create urgency without training customers to wait for sales. 
• Layer smaller weekly offers on specific categories. 
• Time campaigns around payday periods (1st and 15th of the month).
• Social media posting schedules
• Post to Instagram four to seven times per week during peak engagement windows (typically 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in your local time zone, but test what works with your audience). 
• Share Instagram Stories daily for behind-the-scenes content that builds connection.
• Local SEO optimization sequence
• Claim and verify your Google Business Profile first. 
• Add complete business information including hours, photos, and attributes. 
• Request reviews from recent customers within 48 hours of purchase. 
• Post weekly updates to signal active management.

Test these frameworks in your business, track results, and adjust based on what works for your specific audience and location.

Measuring retail marketing success

Tracking the right metrics shows whether your retail marketing strategies are working and where to adjust. Focus on metrics that connect to revenue and customer behavior rather than vanity metrics that look good but don’t drive sales.

Essential retail marketing KPIs:

• Foot traffic. Count daily visitors to measure the effectiveness of curb appeal, local SEO, and promotional campaigns. Compare traffic patterns across days, times, and promotional periods. With the Dor app for Shopify, track traffic alongside conversion data to understand how many visitors become buyers.
• Conversion rate. Divide transactions by total visitors to calculate the percentage of people who purchase. For example, if you calculate low conversion despite high traffic, that signals issues with pricing, product selection, or sales approach.
• Average order value (AOV). Track the average amount spent per transaction. Increase AOV through product bundling, strategic upsells at checkout, and promotional thresholds (“spend $50, get free shipping”). AOV growth often indicates successful merchandising and cross-selling.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV). Calculate total revenue from a customer over their entire relationship with your store. High CLV justifies higher acquisition costs and demonstrates successful retention.
• Customer retention rate. Measure the percentage of customers who return for a second purchase within 90 days. Retention directly impacts profitability more than acquisition. Track retention by customer segment to identify your most valuable audiences.

Tracking methods in Shopify:

Shopify’s built-in analytics track sales, traffic sources, and customer behavior across both online and in-store channels. Connect your POS system to see which marketing channels drive foot traffic that converts. You can use UTM parameters in digital campaigns to attribute online sales to specific tactics.

“Looking at these metrics helps basically understand and diagnose where you could be going wrong or what you need to fix. If, for example, let’s say your CPM is low [and] your click-through rate is high—that means the platform likes your ad, the people like your ad, [but] now when they get to your site there’s no add to carts. That means there’s some misalignment on the page they got to compared to what they thought they were getting to,” says Nik Sharma, marketing expert and owner of multiple direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing agencies.

Set monthly benchmarks for each KPI and review performance against your goals. When numbers drop, you can diagnose the issue by investigating the customer journey stage (e.g., awareness, consideration, conversion) where fall-off occurs. 

Most retailers see results within 60 to 90 days of implementing new strategies, but it can take up to six to 12 months to show the full impact of brand-building efforts like content marketing and SEO.

Examples of successful retail marketing

Rothy’s

Fashion retailer Rothy’s offers quality products that are sustainable and actively help to clear the environment of marine plastics. It also employs several retail marketing strategies that have allowed it to expand, including: 

• Referral incentives with their give $20, get $20 offer
• Customized offerings based on information given during newsletter sign up
• Pairing with influencers like Mindy Kaling and @dress_up_saturday to increase awareness of the brand.

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Read more: Retail Partnerships: 9 Ways to Collaborate with Other Businesses

The Tur-Shirt Company

UK-based The Tur-Shirt Company sells children’s clothing. Founder Terri-Anne Turton capitalized on the opportunity to appear in John Lewis, one of the UK’s largest high-end department stores. The partnership netted the brand more social media followers, website visits, and—most importantly—more sales and repeat customers.

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Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters offers customers a coupon code for $2 off their next purchase. Such small marketing techniques encourage customers to become accustomed to a local coffee shop.

2026 retail marketing trends

Staying ahead of retail marketing trends helps you meet changing customer expectations and capitalize on new opportunities. 

These 2026 retail marketing trends are reshaping how retailers connect with customers and drive sales:

• Omnichannel buyer journeys
• Cause marketing
• Experiential retail
• Metaverse marketing
• AI-powered personalization
• Live shopping
• Hyper-personalization at scale

Let’s take a closer look at each of these trends.

Omnichannel buyer journeys

An omnichannel buyer’s journey takes place when customers go through multiple touchpoints, both digital and physical, before making a purchase. It involves a multichannel sales strategy that creates a positive experience for customers, no matter where they interact with your brand.

“It allows us to manage stock levels both for our online sales and also in-the-shop sales. It’s good for pickup and collection, allowing people to go and buy whatever they like and then choose if they want to come and collect it in the shop or get it sent to them nationwide,” says Mathew Carver, founder of The Cheese Bar.

With the rise in digital ad costs, retailers are turning toward omnichannel experiences to draw customers closer to the brand, and eventually end in a sale. 

Read more: Top 8 Omnichannel Trends

💡 PRO TIP: Offering in-store pickup as a delivery method at checkout is a great way to get more online shoppers to visit your store. To get started, enable in-store pickup availability in Shopify admin to show online shoppers whether a product is available for pickup at one of your stores.

Cause marketing

Cause marketing happens when a for-profit business teams up with a non-profit for a common benefit. It’s an authentic way to connect with customers and make an impact on society. 

Data shows that 55% of people say they’re more likely to buy from a brand that publicly commits to combating climate change, suggesting that more brands will incorporate cause marketing into their strategy.

Read more: Cause Marketing: What It Is, How to Do It, and Why It Matters

Experiential retail

Gone are the days of packing retail stores with a superabundance of products. Some 60% of shoppers expect retailers to dedicate more floor space to experiences than products. 

That’s where experiential retail comes in: a tactic that gives shoppers an immersive experience and upgrades their shopping experience. Examples include pop-up shops, master classes, and community events all hosted in-store. 

Read more: Experiential Retail: 6 Ideas To Drive Foot Traffic

Metaverse marketing

The metaverse market is projected to reach over $150 billion in 2026. A metaverse is a hybrid world that marries the physical and digital realms to build immersive experiences for an audience. 

Take the Metaverse Fashion Week, for example, which showcased 3D catwalks, exclusive events, and shoppable fashion in Decentraland, a virtual, browser-based world anyone with internet access can join. The metaverse is becoming a new channel to help retailers build unique experiences for consumers and sell their products more easily online.

AI-powered personalization

Artificial intelligence is changing retail marketing by turning broad campaigns into individualized experiences. AI agents personalize recommendations, streamline decision-making, and handle auto-replenishment tasks.

For example, with Shopify’s agentic storefronts, customers can buy your products and check out directly in AI channels like ChatGPT and Google AI Mode. 

Other practice AI applications for retail marketing include:

• Predictive AI inventory management that anticipates demand based on browsing behavior, local events, and seasonal patterns 
• Dynamic pricing that adjusts based on competition, inventory levels, and customer segments
• Personalized email campaigns triggered by specific behaviors like cart abandonment, browse history, or purchase anniversaries
• Chatbots that answer product questions, check inventory, and guide customers to relevant products 24/7

However, since 2025, privacy regulations are strengthening, which requires retailers like you to balance personalization with privacy-first strategies that maintain customer trust.

Live shopping

Live shopping combines retail with entertainment and real-time engagement. These interactive video sessions let retailers demonstrate products, answer questions instantly, and create urgency through limited-time offers. It’s one of the ways Three Ships Beauty scaled from $4,000 to more than $1 million in revenue. 

“We’ll go live on Instagram and we’ll just sit in front of an iPhone for an hour and talk about the new product, converse with the customers back and forth," says Laura Thompson, cofounder at Three Ships Beauty.

“They can ask us questions. We ask where they’re calling in from. We’ll usually have maybe a thousand people join in during that one hour period and we’ll do $35,000 to $40,000 in sales in that one hour. So, it’s a great channel for community building.” 

Live shopping works particularly well for:

• Product launches where demonstrations add value
• Limited inventory releases that benefit from real-time urgency
• Community-building around niche products or brand values
• Complex products that require explanation or multiple angles

Platforms like Instagram Live, TikTok Live, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live provide built-in audiences, while dedicated live shopping platforms offer more commerce-focused features like in-stream checkout and product tagging.

In order to take full advantage of live shopping, focus on entertainment value alongside product education. Plan interactive elements like Q&A segments, exclusive discounts for live viewers, and behind-the-scenes access that creates connection beyond the transaction.

Hyper-personalization at scale

Hyper-personalization goes beyond basic demographics to create a truly custom experience for every shopper by analyzing their real-time behavior, purchase history, and preferences. 

Instead of grouping people into broad categories, it treats every customer as an individual, so your marketing can adapt to their specific needs. 

These hyper-personalized needs might include:

• Browsing patterns and time spent on specific products 
• Purchase history and frequency 
• Price sensitivity and promotion responsiveness 
• Channel preferences like email versus SMS versus social
• Local factors like weather, events, or inventory availability

Technology enables this level of personalization without much manual effort. Marketing automation platforms and customer data platforms (CDPs) collect behavioral data, identify patterns, and automatically send the right messages.

The best way to start is to pick one channel, like email, and set up a simple trigger with Shopify Flow. For instance, reaching out when someone leaves the site without making a purchase. Once that’s working, you can gradually add more triggers to keep your communication helpful without being overwhelming.