Recently I was asked this question: What is the one biggest challenge for retailers?
Besides, you know, just staying open for business...
My answer: Winning the customer. No, this is not “find six ways to engage the customer so that she’ll say nice things about you.” I mean, “WIN THE CUSTOMER.” Do everything you can possibly imagine to get that customer to give their irrational loyalty to you and no other competitor so long as you both shall live, ’til death do you part!
Or 'til you need to find a new partner...whichever comes first.
The economy has created a paella of retail experiments and initiatives designed to keep the customer in the store and the store in the black. Here are some ways to do that:
Know Thy Customer. There is no excuse for not knowing your customer. You must know them, and everything about them. Give them what they want, and you have a customer for life.
See, how she leans her hand upon the product! (sic. sort of.)
Simply The Best. Do one thing better than anyone else, and target the customers that want that particular thing. No retailer can compete with the likes of Walmart on price, or Amazon on inventory, so the retailer needs a unique proposition. I recently read Jeanne Bliss’s new book “I Love You More Than My Dog.” In it, she writes about Memory Creation:
It means knowing what memory you want customers to have and making the decisions to prepare your people and your operation to deliver it. Memory creation – creating indelible remembrances of the customer experience – is the currency of your brand.*
Whether it’s customer service, an amazing product, or the way it’s sold, there is opportunity out there to be better than anyone else. Find it, and exploit it. And create loyal customers with it.
Make Your Brand a Reflection of Your Customer. Don’t just put a logo on a window and call it your brand. Embrace your customers, satisfy their needs, then shout that from the rooftops. And don’t stray. Just because some new bright, shiny object or services comes along doesn’t mean you need to own it. Jack of all trades, master of none – so very true.
Make Your Employees COOs. Make them the real operating officers. Give them anything and everything they need to deliver. Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s CEO, once said, “What we do to motivate the blue shirts will be far more important than any advertising we ever do.” And he’s right. Advertising only gets the customer in the door. The employee is the reason they stay or leave. The more flexibility, tools, and authority you give the employee, the greater chance he has of getting and retaining a customer. Believe it or not, the single biggest factor on shareholder price is the employee. And it today’s connected world, people love to write about the good, the bad, and the ugly. When a customer walks away from a store after an experience with an employee, which category do you want to be in?
Seriously, how much fun would it have been to see THIS GUY at a genius bar?
Is this list exhaustive? Hardly, but I’m sure we’ll see more retailers pushing daisies before too long. Ask yourself if you’re doing what it takes to win that customer. If not, you have some work to do.
