How to Turn Non-Customers into Customers

By Kizer and Bender

 Sometimes, you just have to go back to the basics and take another look at how you are doing business. Our world has changed; customers have plenty of choices when it comes to buying what you sell. Customers themselves have changed: different generations want different things. And Gen Y and Gen Z are dragging some retailers kicking and screaming into using new technologies. But make no mistake, you will have to adapt to these new ways of doing business.

 

We get lots of questions these days about how to conduct business. Is there a new etiquette? The answer to that question is yes. And no. Consistently great customer service is still great customer service but it’s not always enough. Let’s take a look at three of the challenges and opportunities facing retailers today:

 

“Do I have to repair or service products that people purchase elsewhere?”

 

The easy answer is, you don’t have to, but if you want to stay in business you need to serve the people who need your help.

 

It costs up to five times as much to get a new customer than it does to keep an old one happy. Think about that for a moment. If a potential new customer comes to your store seeking help, help her. You didn’t get his first sale, so don’t miss the second. If you turn her away, you are not only walking potential sales, you are hurting your store’s reputation and potentially creating harmful word of mouth.  Who wants to be known as the store that isn’t willing to help?

 

It’s fair to charge for your services, just smile and explain your policy. Hang a sign in your store that politely tells these potential customers what you can do for them, and what it will cost. Then get to work turning them into lifelong fans of your store.

 

“What about customers who buy online or from another retailer and come to me for advice on how to use the product?”

 

This is an age old dilemma facing all retailers. We’ve met retailers who are openly hostile with customers like this who have the audacity to ask for their help. And we’ve met retailers who embrace the opportunity to get their future business. Think outside of the box! We know a scrapbook retailer who was getting killed on Cricut machines – everyone wanted them, but the big boxes were selling them for less than her cost. So she got creative and started a series of Cricut training classes, and people lined up to attend. At the end of each class, she gave attendees a coupon they could use for future purchases in her store.

 

So, offer classes and invite these customers to attend. Host in-store clinics where you teach the basics. And sell private lesson packages. Hang a sign in the window, and on the sales floor, that reads something like this, “It’s one thing to have a new toy, it quite another to know how much fun it can be when you know how to use it properly. We’re here to help!” Add this message to your website and social medias. Get the word out that your store is the Go-To store!

 

“Browsers drive me crazy. I need buyers.”

Questions like this make us scratch our heads, wondering why the person who asked it ever got into retailing.

There’s a home décor store not too far from where Georganne lives, and she and the owner have become friends. It’s a fun place to go and get ideas and to dream about changing or updating your home. Georganne used to go there a lot, and over the years she made many purchases, but then she stopped going there because the owner got snotty when she did not buy. Here’s the thing: Your store has an ambiance that customers can feel when they enter the front door. This ambiance comes directly from the owners or managers personality. In other words, if you’re not happy, customers can feel it.

 

Once a shopper enters your store there is a world of possibility to turn them into buyers. Show them around, if they don’t buy this time how they are treated will determine if they come back. Sign them up for your newsletter and email blasts. Tell them about events and promotions, offer ideas, and invite them to hang with you on social media. You know the drill!

 

To view original article: http://www.retailadventuresblog.com/2015/04/how-to-turn-non-customers-into-customers.html?view=magazine

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The Millennial Way of Shopping: More Careful, Durable, and Frugal Than You Think

 

By Claire Suddath April 25, 2014

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Remember all those articles in the early aughts about how millennials were egotistical, privileged brats who copied whatever Paris Hilton did? (Side note: Hey, remember Paris Hilton?) As the Seattle Times put it in 2005, these kids had become ”the best-dressed, least-able, least-equipped generation ever.”

None of this is true— at least, not any more. Thanks in no small part to the worst economy since the Great Depression, millennials turned into functioning adults. They have a little less disposable income than they expected, which means that consumer companies are now changing to serve them. It turns out that today’s 18-to-34 set likes clothes and gadgets and cool stuff just as much as earlier cohorts; they just don’t buy quite so much.

A study by the Intelligence Group, part of the Creative Artists Agency, tracked the shopping habits of 1,300 people aged 18 to 34 (as well as a smaller group of those aged 14 to 17.) A little more than a third of the millennials in the study buy only “necessary” purchases—not exactly the prodigal children of popular imagination.

Story: Millennials Still Feel the Recession's Bite

 

“Every young generation gets criticized by the older ones,” says Jamie Gutfreund, chief strategy officer of the Intelligence Group. “Gen X were slackers, boomers were those crazy hippies.” The millennials, she points out, “came of age during a period of unprecedented economic wealth and were the most materially gifted generation that had ever existed before.” It all amounted to a reputation for materialism in the early 2000s—until everything changed with U.S. economic turmoil. Joining the labor force during and after the recession, with its stunted job market, “was a little bit of a perfect storm,” Gutfreund says. “They’re now much more specific and intentioned with what they buy.”

As a millennial, I always enjoy an opportunity to turn to my older counterparts and say: “See, I’m not as narcissistic and entitled as you thought!” But if you’ve been paying attention to generational trends, the new study fits perfectly with other research that’s been done on millennials’ financial savviness and caution. A lot of this is the result of a recession from which many young people still haven’t recovered. The average college graduate now enters the job market owing about $30,000—just under the $34,500 average salary that someone with an undergraduate degree makes right out of college. (Which, by the way, is the lowest starting pay since 1998.)

In fact, a 2010 report from the Urban Institute found that the current generation has an average level of wealth 7 percent lower than people in their twenties and thirties enjoyed in 1983; this trend predated the recession. And considering the income stagnation that has dislodged the American middle class from being the world’s wealthiest, things might not improve for millennials for quite some time.

Story: No Faith. No Country. No Marriage. Still, Millennials Are Optimistic

That doesn’t mean millennials won’t go shopping. They just do it differently than preceding generations. And in order to get their attention, companies need new approaches to marketing.
Nearly three-fourths of millennials do online research before buying a product. They also “prioritize access over ownership,” as the Intelligence Group study puts it, which basically means millennials prefer Spotify and Netflix (NFLX) to CDs and DVDs. This non-ownership tendency extends to the rise of Zipcar (CAR), Rent the Runway, and services that don’t require a major financial commitment. When researchers ask millennials what they value, Gutfreund says responses tend to focus on experiences such as travel—things, she notes, ”that can’t be taken away from them.”
When young people do buy something, they shy from flash-in-the-pan trends to favor more durable purchases. In response, the Intelligence Group notes, companies have been “de-branding” their designs. Denim companies, for example, are selling a lot of dark and plain jeans that will stay in style for years. And the browsing habits of millennials favor brands with seamless digital-to-storefront experience whereby what’s available online is also what’s available in stores.

Story: Millennial MBAs Are Selfish, Hard to Please, and In a Hurry

This newly frugal generation has also inspired a rise in peer-to-peer, online resale markets. The Intelligence Group reports that more than half of millennials consider the resale value of an item before they make a big purchase. A lot of this is still done through established third-party sites such as EBay (EBAY) and Craigslist, but retailers like Patagonia have started to get in on the action, too.
There is one money-spending trend that the Intelligence Group study doesn’t fully explore. Millennials are about to enter the home-buying, family-starting age en masse, and that’s when big-ticket purchases become unavoidable. Right now, millennials make up about 25 percent of the U.S. workforce and spend about $200 billion a year. By 2020, when they will become the majority of the workforce, the study estimates, their annual spending will have doubled.

Just don’t expect them to buy houses and raise families the way their parents did. “They watched their parents work, work, work, buy the big house, and then lose their pension and have it taken away from them,” says Gutfreund. “They’re looking at that model and thinking, ‘I want to do this differently.’”

To view the original article please visit: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-25/millennials-are-careful-frugal-shoppers-who-buy-for-the-long-term

[Guest Article] Selling To Generation Y

By: Retail Minded

It’s actually scary to think that Generation Y, also known as the Millennial  Generation, are use to being engaged with technology for about eight hours a day. Yep, you read that right – eight hours. Between texting, social media, computers, phones, i-Pads and TV, Generation Y makes it tough to communicate with in terms of sales. Their attention span is minimal, and many are known to be very impatient when being waited on or helped. In fact, most studies tell us they expect – not just want – but expect immediate satisfaction. As an independent retailer, that’s a lot to respond to.

Born between the late 1970′s and into the early 1990′s, Generation Y are making up a large audience of potential customers. While it may seem obvious to market to them online and via technology driven avenues, it’s also important to provide traditional marketing and sales options. The key is communicating with them in a way they respond to.

For starters, Generation Y consumers typically love a good “cause”. Whether you give a percentage of sales to a local charity or provide attention to a great cause, this group of consumers want to hear about what’s going on in the world. Sure, they may not want to read a ten page report on something, but they care enough to contribute how they can. And this is especially true if they are shopping for one thing and can give to another all at once.

Just as much as they love a good cause, Gen Y also loves the uniqueness that everyone has. Their appreciation for being a “one and only” was built on upbringings that told them they were unique and could do anything. In response to this, you have to learn to react to customers a bit more uniquely, as well. Without truly profiling your customer, you can still learn a lot by how they are dressed, what they are doing (example: are they on the phone and shopping at once) and how they react to certain environments and shopping. Many want to be engaged, so stores without the option to touch things or experience products before purchase often miss out. Consider how your store would make a Gen Y consumer  feel. Does it speak to who they are? For that matter, do you want your store to?

Finally, don’t let time be on your side. Unlike many other consumers, Gen Y tends to be in a rush. They are constantly moving and looking forward to the next thing on their to-do-list, even if that’s tweeting or checking their Facebook status. So what does that mean for you? Don’t beat around the bush and get to the point in your sales and support. They’ll appreciate it, and so will you.

This article was contributed by Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, Founder & Editorial Director of Retail Minded – the nation’s only retail lifestyle magazine dedicated to independent retailers both in and out of their stores.

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Retail Minded is a part of the One Step Retail Retail Professional Association. Bringing together high-end retail industry experts and service providers.