The year 2020 was a cruel reminder that those who had already embarked on their digital transition were far more resilient to successive confinements. Loyalty 2.0 and digital marketing: discover Pongo's ideas for bridging the digital divide for local shops in town centers.
In 2021, commercial revitalization is the top priority for medium-sized town centers. The Covid crisis has exacerbated the difficulties faced by businesses, which have been hit by the decline of certain town centers over the last ten years.
Challenged by suburban development, e-commerce and aging populations, the centers of intermediate towns are under pressure. The result is commercial vacancies and job losses, with the number of store employees falling in every region of France since 2009(source).
Finally, the lines are moving: to save town centers, it's far from too late! In 2018, the government launched the " Cœur de ville action plan ". It complements individual initiatives by towns but also by businesses. The stakes are huge: safeguarding and boosting local economies, reviving town centers.
To achieve this, digitalization is one of the main resources used. It's based on methods that are actually very accessible, inexpensive, and proven to boost footfall in stores that have taken advantage of them, especially in major urban centers.
It's the biggest initiative to revitalize city centers, launched by the government: the "Coeur de ville action plan", started in 2018, plans to inject 5 billion euros over 5 years. 222 intermediate-sized cities are beneficiaries. It precedes a similar plan that will apply at a lower level, the "Small Towns of Tomorrow" plan. From one program to the next, half of France's population will be directly concerned!
As the 2nd axis of the Coeur de Ville action plan, many of the actions are aimed at " balanced economic and commercial development ". Local shops are indeed the most important aspect in preserving employment and the attractiveness of intermediate towns. How can this be achieved? One of the plan's 8 objectives is to "support retailers in their digital transition ".
The digital transition of small businesses has long been a well-identified objective. In France, only 15% of SMEs sell online (Eurostat). Over the past ten years, local authorities and Chambers of Commerce and Industry have launched numerous initiatives to help retailers catch up digitally: BtoC, Click and collect, showcase sites, web-to-store, e-commerce...
Pongo knows a thing or two about digitalizing local businesses. As a partner to numerous restaurants and shops, we have developed and perfected our loyalty and digital marketing tools for them.
In the right hands, they represent an opportunity to revitalize town centers. They offer strategic assets for revitalizing local economies and bringing citizens back to the hearts of medium-sized towns.
And with good reason: if town centers are to revive the "consume local" trend, they have a number of assets which, we're convinced, could well turn the tide of the last 10 years. This means offering customers what they expect, with more modern recipes that are interconnected between the web and the store.
This is what we propose through digitalization, loyalty 2.0 and all the tools of online marketing. The applications are very concrete increase in-store traffic These include taking control of online reviews and local SEO, unleashing the potential of SMS campaigns, relaunching lost customers with contextual offers, building up a customer base... Ultimately, digitalization enables us to generate much higher sales, thanks to à la carte solutions within reach of all downtown retailers.
The loyalty 2.0 is at the convergence of several of these strategies. It consists in boosting the value of each customer for stores by giving them a personalized experience and rewards tailored to each profile. It can even be developed in parallel with collective loyalty cards, at the initiative of stores or local authorities. They can be adapted to all local businesses: they have proven their effectiveness for restaurant owners and store managers who have chosen Pongo.
Digitalization isn't just about bringing customers back to town centers. Above all, it builds customer loyalty and offers a renewed experience, from the stores to their online extension. This digital transition has become imperative in 2021! To find out more, Pongo offers a range of solutions for stores, to be discovered at at this address.
