F E AT U R E
THE CONVENIENCE FACTOR Convenience is one of the biggest reasons consumers do business with a company. By Alicia Chapman
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onvenience is often an essential factor in how consumers make buying decisions. The last few years have compelled local businesses to evaluate their procedures and even add new innovative solutions to enhance the customer experience. Consumers constantly look for ways to save time. Dennis Host, vice president of marketing and communications at Coborn’s Inc., sees this in the grocery industry. “More and more consumers today are doing a lot of their shopping online,” Host said. “Who would have ever thought that you would grocery shop online? But it became a thing and ramped up considerably in early and mid-2020 as the pandemic hit.” Host said Coborn’s was grateful it already had a good online platform set up before the pandemic so it could easily transition. Now, even with consumers back in the grocery
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stores, the company still sees a lot of demand for online grocery shopping. “In most of our locations, you can select between either home delivery, curbside pickup, or our grocery shopping experience in the store,” Host said. “But if you are a time-strapped young mom or professional, or on your way to the lake in the summertime or whatever, you can do your grocery shopping online in 15 minutes and hit the button. So that whole convenience of time-saving is a tangible and practical way for people to take advantage of what we offer in that space of making your life simpler.” Banking is another industry focused on finding ways to make life easier for its customers. Most banks now offer mobile banking, mobile deposits, and one-stop bank locations. “We’re always encouraged to be curious about new possibilities to create an innovative approach to do
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something that might enhance our customer experience,” said Ryan Coye, senior vice president of retail banking at Gate City Bank. One of the things Gate City Bank focuses on is anticipating its customers’ needs and how to solve a problem early on. In addition to adding convenient bank products, Gate City Bank works to be accessible to its customers. All of the local branch locations are inside a Coborn’s or Cash Wise grocery store, which are locations many of their customers already visit. “Nowadays, people seem busier than ever,” Coye said. “So if you have an opportunity to provide convenience by something as simple as where you’re located, I think it makes sense to explore that. The best location for any business is where the customers are.” Little Sister Bake Shoppe owner Megan Johnson understands the importance of being where the customers already
are, since she doesn’t have a brickand-mortar storefront. “I am flexible about where I meet for customer pickups,” Johnson said. “I do a lot more pop-up shops than someone in a brick-and-mortar store would just because I don’t have those daily sales. So I try to make myself available; otherwise, I’m not at the front of people’s minds.” Johnson also started offering cookie kits, where customers can decorate pre-made cookies at home. She heard about customers who wanted to make and decorate cookies with their children or families but didn’t always have all the supplies at home. Or they would start the cookies and their children would lose interest by the time the cookies had baked and cooled and were ready to be decorated. “It’s something creative and fun and easy to do that doesn’t make too much of a mess,” Johnson said. “And those cookie kits are always really,