Cultivating Customers Lifetime Loyalty

September 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’m sure every retailer has heard of the importance of cultivating your customers’ lifetime loyalty. I have to admit though, I have heard anyone tell me what their customers’ lifetime loyalty is worth. Most of the time, it’s just an idea they have. They know this concept makes sense, but they can’t see the numbers that support this concept.

I wrote an article “How Much Is Your Customer Worth”. You can find it in the article section. In my article, you will see exactly how much your customer is worth. It also explains what customer satisfaction is so important these days. Not just as a catch-phrase. I’ve include the formula that I use to calculate what my customers are worth.

As a consumer, I do not like the trends that are happening in my part of the world. It is not about the prices that are going up, it’s about how welcomed the consumer feels when he walks into a retail outlet. I don’t know about you but I dislike going to a supermarket where you have barely enough room to walk, let alone push a shopping cart. Or the way merchandise is stacked up in the aisle, unopened. How would you like be shopping in a dirty supermarket? The saddest part is they can get away with it because they have the lowest price in the city.

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Store Lighting

September 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It annoys me whenever I see retailers who have no idea what store lighting is about. Last weekend, I was in the largest and newest shopping mall in my city, and it was evident that some retail outlets were clueless about store lighting. Take a boutique store for ladies garments, I saw. Firstly, there were areas of the store that was under-lit. Secondly, the display rack for ladies fashion was placed under the darkest part of the aisle. It’s no wonder the store was empty of customers.

Foremost, store lighting is used to create the mood. Depending on what you sell, the lighting could be dimmed, bright or focused. It could be of any color provided that it matches what you say your store is. Properly designed lighting soothes or excite the customers, it also serves to highlight sections of your store and merchandise. Used in conjunction with your feature wall or display, this creates a very strong statement about you. Use lighting to create focal points, and place your merchandise there. By doing this, you highlight your merchandise, and you are communicating with your target customers.

Lastly, provide enough illumination for your people to work. It makes for a better working environment. A dimly lit store will just sap the energy out of you, use lighting to create a sense of energy. By doing so, you draw customers into your store, you highlight your merchandise, and you will have energetic people working with you.

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Store Identity and Concept

September 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Every retailer must have their own identity, their own concept of retail marketing. It has to make sense to the customer the moment he or she walks into your store. The store identity you create for your store should span across the board. From your signage, lighting, brochures and posters, uniforms, customer service, products should speak very clearly to your customers; this is who we are, this is how we serve you better. With integrity, with our attention to details, our outstanding customer service, our fair price, our unfailing value for money products.

If your store has been around for some time, you might need to freshen it up or do a re-launch. Change is inevitable, and will eat into your operating profits. Change doesn’t guarantee you will win, but standing still is a sure way to lose.

We have to continuously evolve to serve our customers better. It means being market savvy and knowing the trends and directions of our customers. This allows us to develop effective and innovative solutions that will fulfill our customers’ demand. Without thorough research and planning, we wouldn’t know where to start. In our efforts to further improve and increase profitability and customer satisfaction, the simple solution is the best. This should be the fastest, most cost-effective change that our associates can implement. It’s has to be real, not a gimmick. Our customers have to be able to feel the difference. Equally important, the management has to commit and provide the leadership to ensure that the change is sustained.

Posted by | Filed Under retailing 

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