Customer Experience

Retailers are constantly competing for customers and customer loyalty. There are many different ways to attract and retain customers. The obvious way is price. Price matters, but so does product availability, brand loyalty and advertising. The factor that contributes most to a successful sale is the customer’s shopping experience. When a shopper has a great experience, loyalty is created. Study has shown that customers will accept less selection, travel a longer distance and even pay more to have a better shopping experience. Here are five ideas that will help a retailer to create a successful shopping experience.

1.  The first step is to understand the shoppers’ expectations so you could have a plan to exceed their expectations. This may sound obvious but there is no one-size-fits-all. Retailers must meet and exceed individual shopper’s expectation without creating distraction. For example, you want to let the shoppers know that help is available. However, constantly asking them if they need assistance may create the opposite effect.
2. Increase pre-sale experience. Before a retailer could offer a better shopping experience to their customers, they have to draw customers to the store. Advertising, brand messages, store locations and exterior signage are among the important pre-sale experiences that help shape consumer expectations prior to in-store sale. Inside the store, features like merchandising strategies, interior signage, tags, employee dress code and checkout process further contribute to a successful shopping experience.
3. The most powerful factor that could shape the consumer’s experience is the store’s staff. Of all the factors, what the employees do, how they dress, what they say, how they say it and when they say it have the greatest impact on the shopping experience. It is the human touch that makes the greatest difference. Consequently, retails must not only evaluate employee’s current contributions but discover how to increase their motivation, reinforce positive behavior that contributes to shopping experience and discourage behavior that doesn’t.
4. Define the experience. The essence of defining the shopper experience lies in taking steps that will increase the trust that consumers feel for the store and the relationship the store establishes with their shoppers. The theme must have substance and be credible and demonstrable. Some of the tangible services include carry-out service, personal shopper, house accounts and home delivery.
5. After defining and identifying the above elements, the retailer must ensure that each element is in alignment with the desired shopping experience. You must ask “How does this element contribute to the customer’s expectation and experience?” A single inconsistency can be serious enough to undermine the consumer trust and credibility.

To design and deliver a successful consumer experience thoughtful assessment of customer needs is required. A thorough evaluation of the current environment and a clear vision make a significant difference in the subsequent performance of the retailer and in the clarity of the message that each sign, advertisement and employee communicates to the customer.

Digital Coupons

In a study by GfK Knowledge Networks, a full service research firm, shows that digital coupon users shop more frequently and spend significantly more during each trip than the average consumer

The study looked at the shopping behavior of over 200,000 households that use digital coupons. Thee households were identified as having redeemed coupons from Coupons.com or one of the many websites in the Coupons.com digital coupon network.

The study showed the following:

• Digital coupon users make 22 percent more shopping trips per year.
• Digital coupon users spend 23 percent more per shopping trip.
• Digital coupon users spend 49 percent more per year.
• Digital coupon users make 48 percent more trips to stock up.

More than 55.7 million American consumers are now using online coupons, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population.