Think about the last time you went shopping. Many bigbox stores offer an entry into a drawing for your feedback. Ask your customers to complete a brief survey after a shopping experience to glean ideas for creating positive shopping experiences. Frequent shoppers who haven’t made a purchase in six or eight months are another ideal group to survey. If you’ve gathered email addresses via a newsletter signup or contest entry at the cash register, you can access these shoppers with a survey.
3
RETENTION
The primary drivers of overall business and brand health are retention and loyalty—when shoppers return to a store or increase the frequency of their visits. Three levers that encourage that are price, product and personalized (or customized) content. The Content Marketing Institute defines content personalization as a strategy that uses customer data to deliver any kind of content to a target audience based on its interests and preferences. “To a customer, frequency is about much more than a sale,” Ceresoli says. “This is where your customer is looking to you for relationship-building entertainment—experiences [that] surprise and delight.” In other words, their experience at your store is personal.
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WESTERN LIFESTYLE RETAILER ★ SPRING 2018
Strategies from surveys to sophisticated point-of-sales software can help you gather the kind of information that offers insight into a customer’s preferences. The data can also come from simple observation and conversation. For example, Mundee watches what youth are buying and how they react to products. “I see how they have their hats shaped and the color,” he says. “The kids travel in groups of four, five, or six, and there is always one who is out in front and looking at what’s cool. The group will take the lead from that kid.” He admits there’s not an exact science to collecting and analyzing data, especially when it comes to women’s fashion. “A trend in women’s fashion will take off like a bottle rocket and come back down at the same pace,”he says.“On a Wednesday at 2 p.m. women will stop buying that item, and no one will call to tell you.” The key to riding the wave is to strategically stock the Top 10 selling items in your store and supplement with enough trendy items to satisfy your trendsetting audience. “Ask your [wholesale] sellers for proven sellers and don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” he adds.
INTO THE FUTURE
Gathering the right data can be overwhelming to sort through and put into action. Bradlow recommends starting with the problem