Global Experience Study

Recently, the Freeman Global Brand Experience Study found that if data is the fuel that powers the marketing mix, then experience and events are what provide a broader and deeper range of insights on customers.

According to Adweek:

·       Nearly nine out of 10 companies use event-marketing data to inform wider marketing strategies and tactical decision-making

·       98% of people are more likely to purchase a product after a live experience

·       29% of companies who run experiential campaigns report a 10-to-1 return on investment

Here are four trends that retailers right here in Australia are using to win over customers, maximise customer insights and engagement, and even take home prestigious retail awards and titles.

Trend 1: Building a Niche Customer Community – Skate Connection

Skate Connection was recently named one of Vend’s RemarkableRetailers. Founded in 2013 by Shelley Hedley and Brett Vowles, the company has eight stores across Australia. What is remarkable about this husband-and-wife dynamic duo is their commitment to their niche customer community.

Shelley and Brett are passionate not only about providing high-quality sporting gear but also about supporting the people of all ages who love it too. “After getting on our feet for the first few years, we decided we wanted to support young people in their skating passions, so we started a team and sponsored a couple of up-and-coming riders. One of our skaters, Haylie, is only 13 and is already one of the top female skateboarders in Australia. I know that her passion is to train for the Olympics one day, and we support that one hundred per cent,” says Shelley.

Shelley and Brett want Australia—kids and parents alike—to fall in love with skating, and to achieve that, they do much more than sell equipment. They have a skatepark in their Newcastle store, where they have lessons and open sessions available so customers can explore and develop their abilities. They currently teach 6–12-year-olds and young teens.

“We want—kids and parents alike—to fall in love with skating, and to achieve that, we do much more than sell equipment.”

 

I’ve have had a great personal experience with Skate Connection as well.

My son loves scootering, and if you’ve been forced to watch YouTube clips of Ryan Williams and Claudio, then perhaps you can relate to my story.

I bought my 10-year-old son’s scooter at Skate Connection and after he took a nasty spill at the local skate park which left his handlebars crooked, we returned to Skate Connection for some needed advice. A cool-looking young man was in the pro shop that day. He took the time to teach my son how to fix his handlebars should it ever happen again, and after I thanked him profusely, I asked him what we owed for the tune-up. He said, “Don’t worry, this one’s on us. Next time, it will just be ten dollars.”

Skate Connection is an excellent example of a niche retailer that genuinely embraces its customer community and provides not only incredible customer experience but has the knowledgeable staff to bring that vision to life in-store for its customers. It’s brilliant retail at its best.

Trend 2: Experimenting – Supercheap Auto

Experimenting is one of the critical trends lacking in most of our retail landscape today. However, Supercheap Auto stands out above the rest.

With humble beginnings in 1972 by Reg and Hazel Rowe, Supercheap has grown from an automotive accessories mail-order business to a retail powerhouse with over 300 stores in Australia and New Zealand. As a sweetheart brand for our lucky country, it will probably come as no surprise that earlier this year, Supercheap took home the coveted Omnichannel Retailer of the Year Award.

This degree of success didn’t happen by accident.

Supercheap’s dedication to creating extraordinary customer experiences becomes apparent when you walk into their fancy-dancy flagship store in Penrith.

With its fantastic in-store stadium, new point-of-sale technology and large footprint, the Penrith store is a dramatic departure from other Supercheap locations.

From its conception to launch, its purpose was “to create a true experiential store, where cutting edge digital is integrated with theatre and customer engagement,” says Glenn MacGregor, General Manager of Customer Experience. From the start, the store was structured to behave differently from the rest of Supercheap’s stores, allowing for after-hours events and localised car experiences. Since its launch two years ago, the Penrith store continues to outpace Supercheap’s other brick-and-mortar locations.

“to create a true experiential store, where cutting edge digital is integrated with theatre and customer engagement”

Engaging regularly (at least once a month) with Supercheap’s local customer community, the Penrith store has unique opportunities to garner feedback from customers through active polling on new offerings as well as finding out what the staff think too.

So, rather than rolling out enhancements to all their 300 stores, the Penrith location is a fruitful experimental testing ground for evaluating what Supercheap customers and staff think.

Experimenting is a new, yet critical step to successful retailing today. Recent record-breaking quarters for Supercheap and successful experiential concept sites like Penrith are no mistake.

Retailers who experiment to gain significant insights into customer experience are winning both awards and customers.

Trend 3: In-store Engagement and Learning – Betta Home Living

Betta Home Living crushed Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction Awards in the electrical and furniture category this year, and it also took the top spot in the People’s Choice Awards for Best Bricks & Mortar Shop Experience.

While The Good Guys and Harvey Norman once featured heavily in these categories, Betta has whittled out its own space in customers’ hearts in a relatively short period of time. Betta’s customer satisfaction soared to a whopping 95% this year, a full 15% increase from last year’s rating.

When I spoke with Chief Marketing Officer Adrian Mitchell, he pointed out, “Having independently owned and operated stores allow us to create genuine connections with our customers, not only during the purchase of their new appliance or furniture but right through to delivery and after-sales service. This level of personalised service is not easy to replicate, and we believe it is what sets the Betta brand apart.”

Over the past year, Betta has also begun hosting specialised events for customers at their company-owned stores. They have welcomed micro-influencers and gurus on subjects including everything from the Keto Diet to home and fitness lifestyle topics for over-50s.

Focusing on offering a broader experience than just traditional brick-and-mortar retail has made Betta a more competitive business. Mitchell pointed out that while consumers now conduct a considerable amount of research online, most are inclined to visit the local retailer before purchase. “This propensity to make a trip to the store is what drives us to continue to innovate and offer outstanding customer experiences in-store,” said Mitchell.

 “This propensity to make a trip to the store is what drives us to continue to innovate and offer outstanding customer experiences in-store”

 

Betta’s excellent customer service and in-store educational workshops help forge trust and loyalty through regular engagement and learning for their community. It’s clear to see Betta Home Living has placed a significant emphasis on positive in-store experiences and providing a learning environment for their treasured customers.

**Betta Home Living is a client of Retail Rockstars

Trend 4: Dedicated In-Store Workshop Spaces – Biome

While Biome might not be a household name yet, this innovative eco-business has five locations in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Founded in 2003 by lady boss and eco-store warrior Tracey Bailey, Biome was not only named one of Vend’s Remarkable Retailers in 2019, but one of three “retailers to watch in 2020” by National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb.

Attracting a fiercely loyal customer base, Biome realises that brick-and-mortar stores need to use a different variety of strategies to retain customers today compared to ten years ago.

So, in 2016, they started hosting workshops at their then-new Balmoral store. Soon after, they expanded the concept to their Gold Coast store and launched the Biome Collective, a dedicated workshop space incorporated into the store design.

“Offering a sustainable learning experience was an easy way to enhance not only our customers’ in-store experience, but it was also a way to share our values and vision with our community and move towards a sustainable and healthy future,” said Bailey. When asked if the workshops were marketed to existing customers or were meant to drive new customers, Bailey answered that it is both. “They help engage existing customers, but they also help to bring new customers into our stores as most people who attend a workshop usually come with a friend, partner or family member. The positive introduction to our stores is invaluable for business and brand growth.”

“Offering a sustainable learning experience was an easy way to enhance not only our customers’ in-store experience, but it was also a way to share our values and vision with our community and move towards a sustainable and healthy future.” 

 

Emotional Connections that Inspires & Delights

Innovative experiences make a lasting impression on retail customers because they make an emotional connection that inspires and delights. That may seem like a tall order, but it is something all Australian retailers should be chasing in the highly competitive digital age.

As exemplified by the businesses above, connecting in more meaningful ways and experimenting can yield high customer loyalty wins for retailers big and small.

If your retail stores are doing something unique to wow customers and engage hearts and minds, we’d love to hear and share your success. Reach out to me at info@retailrockstars.com.au.

Not a retailer, no problem, comment below on some of the great experiences you’ve seen or experienced?

The post Bricks are Back; 4 Trends Award Winning Retailers Are Using appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

In my experience, the real force multiplier for brick and mortar stores comes from tapping into our own emotional and human needs – or what I like to refer to as Humanics.

Tapping into human needs

Humanics is about identifying deep emotional, values and human needs. Not just the needs of your ‘customer’…. your target….a segment….but rather the emotional person.

It’s how we distil these emotional needs and then bring them to life in-store, that creates ‘magic moments’ for customers.

Experiment With Purpose-Driven Events In-Store

In 2010, I was searching for a way to bring a Jamie Oliver campaign to life in my 2500sqm, home electrical store. We had spent (as one of 90+ franchisee’s) a great deal of money to partner with Jamie’s, Ministry of Food.

So, when our head office came up with traditional advertising (catalogues, TVC’s,etc.) in-store merchandising, blogs and a few ‘meet and greets’, I felt a bit let down.

Personally, I’ve always been inspired by Jamie’s message. His insistence on cooking ‘real food’ was a timely and important message that I wanted to get out in our local community. It was this very ‘inspiration’ that had me talking with a local trendy cafe owner, who always had the latest health foods, juices and created the most delicious and beautiful raw food you’ve ever tasted.

Since she was super passionate about healthy eating, I convinced her to come into our store and help me spread Jamie’s message of preparing healthy meals instead of relying on takeaway and unhealthy pre-packaged foods.  She prepared several of Jamie’s Food Revolution recipes and helped convince locals of the health benefits in cooking real food.

It was a huge success, we had people standing up in the aisles and even the local newspaper featured it. This initial event triggered a string of other social ‘experiments’ I would then run inside my store for the next three years.

We hosted paleo workshops for customers, healthy heart events and experiences of all shapes and sizes right inside our store. It was my first insight into the power of events with a purpose. I saw first hand how these events engaged our customers and created magic moments for them.

These experiments produced an outpouring of interest and engagement in our community. Bringing in new customers, advocates, increased our visitation, sales and our staff really loved it too.

Looking beyond our own commercial desires opens more meaningful human needs and values like;

• inspiration – how can we take action on something important
• freedom – how can we spark the spirit of choice
• identity – help facilitate a group of people ‘like me’
• creation – provoke the creators to put their mark on your brand

“The reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is that you haven’t given them anything else to care about.” – Seth Godin

Here’s my home cooked recipe for creating ‘magic moments’ at events in your store;

– It’s a special Human-to-Human event, taking place inside your store
– The entire event is ALL ABOUT the Attendee’s, from start to finish – not about your brand or sales goals
– Its purpose is super-easy to communicate and share socially
– It creates advocacy and sharing – purposely design it to be shared with friends and family a great experience you want to share. (if you’ve done this properly, your RSVP list(s) will have multiple surnames and referrals to family and friends)
– It’s all about creating community and cause first – it’s also a niche community you are reaching out to.

Within the four walls of our stores, we have more control over the experiences our customers have. So, why not engineer experiences that are inspirational, meaningful and memorable to our special people – our local customers.

Lastly, customers may forget the last discount you gave them or your recent ad campaign, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel at an event inside your store.

Keep Up The Experimenting! Amy

Connect with me on our Facebook page or personally on LinkedIn

For more ideas on creating Magic Moments see our FREE download on Increasing Your Stores Foot Traffic.

The post How to Create Magic Moments In-Store appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

In a previous post, I explained it as, “an experience given freely by a retailer to create some type of value for their customer.

It may be educational, technological, emotional, fun, entertainment or it may just involve them trying/experiencing a product.”

However, like everything, just because it’s ‘experiential’, doesn’t mean that it will be effective at converting sales or engaging your customers.

Experience Works Because We’re Emotional, not Logical Buyers

Our moods and emotions have a massive impact on how we see the world which includes how we perceive buying choices.

In fact, Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman says that 95% of our purchase decision making takes place subconsciously ‘aka’ through the emotional brain, not the rational/logical brain.

While our stores are plastered with ‘logical based thinking’, the reality is we don’t really use these ‘features & benefits’ to make our decisions. Our decisions are much more emotionally charged…well, 95% more actually.

So, if you want to win over customers these days, you need to appeal to their emotions.

Here are 8 Emotions that Drive your Customers Buying Decisions

According to a US study done by Smith, some shoppers shift between mindsets, depending on the product category, others use predominantly one mindset. Here are the top 8 emotions found driving buying decisions.

• Needs validation – 20%* “I’m shopping by opinions – yours, mine, his, hers …everybody’s opinion.”
• Decision anxiety – 17% – “I get overwhelmed when I shop. I want to take my time.
• I’m special – 16% – “I expect the product and shopping experience to be
  top of the line.
• Got to be first – 12% – “I shop and buy cool.”
• Know it all – 11%* of their study, “I’m shopping for information more than I am actually buying something.”
• Buy and be done – 10% – “I get easily frustrated when I shop because I don’t understand why I need all these extra ways to shop.
• Wants some fun – 9% – “Shopping is a hobby, and I like to have fun”.
• Avoid remorse – 9% – “Shopping is a chore for me. I’m looking to buy on the easiest, trusted path.

*%average distribution within North American population.

I’m not trying to bombard you with information here. But rather, inform you that customers walking into your store are bound by their emotional states.

Innovative retailer leaders need to understand HOW and WHY people shop and buy things.

By making your store evoke more emotions in store, you’ll;

– boost customer engagement
– increase foot traffic
– increase sales

Evoking Emotions Inside Your Store

As you can imagine, we all have different retail stores with varying types of customers stepping inside. As you look over the 8 emotions above, how can you help satiate these emotions in-store?

If we look at the most significant percentage 20% of customers, who need ‘validation’. In other words, they are looking for opinions on what other people think about a particular product.

Like many, one of my favourite pastimes when shopping online is to read the reviews of a product I’m about to buy. So personally I can really relate to this being a top driver.

As retailers, we need to think about how we can accomplish this in-store?

If You Like This, Then You’ll Love This ==>

You can certainly accomplish this through our team – if it was a clothing store it might be a story about someone who just bought this for a Date Night with her husband or that it’s one of the most popular items and it’s selling fast.

Similar to the online strategy of, ‘people who bought this like that’ you can verbally select another item you think they might like.  Or I’ve even seen physical signs at Bottle Shops that say, “if you like this, then you’ll love ==>”, with a higher quality product next to it.

Either way, all of these scenarios will play out differently in your store. So, start thinking about what emotions you want to evoke and then brainstorm how you can achieve that instore.

Of course, I’d love to see pics of what you’ve done in-store or hear (via email or comments below) what you’ve come up with!

Good Luck & May the Emotional Force be with you!

The post Using Experiential Retail to Boost Customer Engagement, Sales and Foot Traffic appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence then, that Chinese Zodiac identifies pigs not as wasteful spenders, but rather enjoyer’s of life. They especially love entertainment and experiences, which is fitting for not only people born of this year but also an ever-growing majority of consumers today.

Until recently, however, experiential retailing was little more than a wistful retail prediction. Today, far from a prediction, it’s happening with great success and profitability for pioneering retailers.

Here are 3 strategies to help you cash in on the year of the Pig and Experiential Retailing.

Develop Your Retail Community

With isolation on the rise, people are seeking more like-minded individuals to connect with. Make your store the heart of your brand. Pumping out magic moments, events, celebrations, education and valuable experiences that lure customers in and connect with your purpose.

Show customers that your store is the perfect place to gather with staff, teachers and other like-minded customers. Invite them in, show them and teach them how to live their life the [ ‘insert your retail brand here’ ] way.

This year, go beyond the ‘quid pro quo.’ Instead, invest in your community. Building not to re-brand products or even your own retail brand – but rather – to re-brand the customer who shops with you.

Start by formulating the qualities and attributes that you want to create in your customer? Are they crafty, healthy, sporty or nerdy? What will they like to do in their free time?

Then utilise the store to play out your story as a sort of ‘customer manifesto.’

Demonstrate what your values are and what the lifestyle looks like in-store. Deploying real-life experiences to show customers first-hand what they can become.

Once established, utilise these stories throughout your digital and other channels. Ensuring your online strategies mimic your stores – not the other way around.

In 2019, we’ll see innovative retail leaders start working on their retail communities to build deep customer engagement. As this customer bond matures, it will provide additional revenue streams for special ticketed events and experiences that will bring their ‘customer manifesto’ to life.

Evoking Emotions & Newness

Although neuroscience research has revealed that purchasing in-store is more emotional than logical. We still seem to be running on ‘auto-pilot’ when it comes to merchandising, pricing and displays.

By utilising more nostalgia, inspiration, education, and narcissism in-store, you’ll not only deliver more experience but convert additional sales and create more positive memories.

As a retail leader, you must continuously ask HOW we can evoke these emotions? How can we deploy them through; store-inside-a-store concepts, engaging visual displays, technology, interactive experiences, events and expertly trained staff.

Providing both a merry-go-round of newness and positive memories will be the key to increasing visitation, basket size, and frequency of purchasing in the future.

Customer Transformations

Rather than being in the producing or selling of goods and services, retailers will start dabbling in the business of transforming customers.

We’ve seen massive headway with social impact retailers like Tom’s shoes. As Tom’s started out in digital but is now leading the way in Pop-ups and unique experiences through brick and mortar locations. However, this won’t stop there.

Retail innovators will start partnering with appropriate change-makers to give the ultimate gift to any customer – a better version of themselves.

Retailers like Nike and Adidas are already pioneering in this area with in-store workshops aimed at heightening their customer’s athletic performance and mental grit.

As we move from the experience economy into the transformation economy – it will serve as a new way for customers to live the brand but also provide new streams of profitable revenue for savvy retailers.

Your Customer is your Greatest Asset

In summary, experiential is all around us, and it’s not going away. It’s not an investment in marketing or even a new strategy, it’s an investment in the customer you seek to have.

Experiential is all around us, and it’s not going away. It’s not an investment in marketing or even a new strategy, it’s an investment in the customer you seek to have.

Instead of thinking of it as another strategy for investment, think about your experience as a means of purchasing your future customer.

The customer – not the experience – is the asset.

It’s through building retail communities that we will reach and genuinely engage with our special customers.

It’s through providing newness and emotionally connecting that we will keep their interest and attention.

And finally, it’s through experiential retailing that we will transform our customers to a better version of themselves, in the year of the pig. (oink oink!)

About the Author: Amy Roche is a retailer, marketer and author of, The Retail Experiment. She’s also the owner of Retail Rockstars, in-store CX and event specialists.

Connect with her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyroche1/

The post 3 Strategies to Cash in on the Year of the Pig and Experiential Retailing appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

(7.5min read time)

Like everyone else in the world – even those not into retail experience, the early days of any New Year are a chance to reflect on what happened in ‘our worlds’.

However, for those crazy enough to be in retail, it’s even more critical that we learn from those that triumphed in retail experience and those who weren’t so victorious with a wrap-up of what went down in 2018.

As a retailer and marketer myself, I’ve seen several years of ‘feedback’ from customers that support and reinforces what I consider to be the winners & losers of retail experience in 2018.

Most of the winners and losers alike have a direct correlation of either embracing or ignoring their customer’s in-store experience.

As with any industry though – there hasn’t been a miraculous event or a turning point in 2018. Instead, there’s several months and even years of hard work and experimenting for some very brave and innovative retailers.

We’ve seen pure players who’ve said there’s a better way to construct a brick and mortar environment and they’ve done a ‘bang-up’ job in using their existing digital analytics to build something truly remarkable for their customers. Warby Parker is definitely the poster child for that.

Of course, many have failed, but others have adapted, refined and discovered some wonderfully experiential concepts. Sure some might be called ‘an overnight success’ but we all know this is never the case.

Former retailer Ray Kroc, best known for expanding McDonald’s into one of the most successful franchises in the world, most notably said,

“I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s

Admittedly, none of the ‘winners of retail in 2018’, are 30 years in the making. But it’s with absolute respect that I use the previous analogy of an ‘overnight success’ for these brave retail innovators. Because what they are doing is risky, it’s experimental, and it’s certainly is brave – especially in these uncertain times.

Sure, It’s easier to do what we’ve always done. Looking at your previous campaigns, themed months and freshen up from the prior year. Perhaps you’re looking to bring on board some new retail technology, analysts or a new advertising agency to re-position your brand in 2019.

But the winners of 2018 weren’t just tech-innovators or spin doctors, they’ve looked at what their customers needed. What will help them look better in front of their friends and family and more importantly they’ve built a culture inside the four walls of their store to play it all out in high definition for customers to enjoy.

So if anything, this is a call to arms for the brave retailing souls who want to be made noteworthy for 2019.

At this time many retail executives are reassuring their boards that they’ve got everything under control. Many may even be preparing some great plans for 2019 that will promise to pull the company out of the rungs of danger.

It is with great hope that you and your team go way beyond ‘quid pro quo’ this year in regards to customer experience. Because customer experience is no longer a service to get a sale – we’ve surpassed that point already.

Instead, invest in your retail community, evoke emotions and newness in-store and start looking at transforming your customers…but more on that later (next week).

The Winners and Losers of 2018 in Retail Experience

I’m generally a pretty positive person – in fact, I don’t even really like the term ‘loser’. However, I’m well aware that in life – we don’t always win.

While some retailers were busy chasing shiny objects, installing expensive technology that doesn’t really serve a purpose for their customers and pleasing their boards and shareholders, others were focused on the biggest retailing dilemma of our time – this new narcissistic and technology-driven customer.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s me, it’s you, it’s all of us. Powered by years of “IWWIWWIWI” or – I want what I want when I want it – these new customers have been quietly voting with their wallets – whether they’re digital or man-made for years now.

Retailers, including myself, must rip away from the ‘what we’ve always done’. Like a band-aid that’s been affixed to the hairy part of your arm for days, we must do it quickly or risk additional pain to not only ourselves but our entire retail organisations.

Traditional retail executives are mostly driven by P&L’s and trusted strategies that have saved them in the past, cost savings and quick wins. But this is not the time for executives with these specialised skills. This is the era of the creative retail leader, the innovator, the human leader and the empath.

For those lucky few who can genuinely – hand on heart – lead, inspire and connect with their team and deeply understand and empathise with their customer. Rather than conserve and cost-cut with staff, they must instead give and empathise with their valued customers.

the ‘losers’…

While some retailers have closed their stores or been rescued by sale, sadly brands like Ed Harry, Rodger David, Diana Ferrari, Marcs, David Lawerence, Metalicious, Australia’s Espirit, and Toys R Us are closing their Australian doors.

While other big retailers still haunt our weekly headlines of poor performance like Myer, David Jones and Target. I won’t elaborate on each. All I ask is that you imagine yourselves inside any one of these stores. Now, what do you see?

I see a lot of “On Sale” point of sale and desperate messaging. Scantily placed and poorly trained sales staff. These ‘3-hr shifters’ aren’t happy cheerleaders for the store. These are not the staff anyone wants help from…let alone inspiration from.

You’d also see that their email campaigns to customers are all aimed at big discounts and special deals. You’ll see expensive spokesmodels, agencies and as much product as you can possibly stuff into a 3-D square box with four walls.

Any of this sounding familiar?

While there are plenty of new and old brands doing it well we also see overseas brands like JC Penny (116 years old), Sears (126 years old) who are also closing their doors.

House of Fraser has a history stretching back almost 170 years – it’s one of the UK’s best-known fashion brands (Image: Western Mail) is now also in trouble.

And yet despite this, at 118 years old, somehow Nordstrom is a leader in innovation and customer experience. So it’s not the model – department versus destination, versus lifestyle boutique but rather the experiential and experimental mindset of the retailer.

Doing the work

Instead, these focused retailers who are in fact ‘winning’ are buckling down, rolling up their sleeves and doing the work.

They were using data to glean insights, they were experimenting with what their customers crave.

And using this information to roll out small bite-sized campaigns to analyse what’s working and what’s not. They were busy investing in training, skilling up management and mentoring staff. They were building retail communities, inviting customers in for education, events and unique experiences.

In-Store Experience works

Clever retailers like Sur La Table have built their entire business model of in-store shopping experiences and digital around their products. With over 134 stores nationally, Sur La Table is one of America’s largest kitchenware retailers.

More than 80 of their stores are armed with a Culinary School – their secret weapon. These classes are taught by their resident chef’s who are all employees. With over 600,000 students enrolling annually, their customers can’t get enough of their in-store cooking school experiences.

CEO of Sur La Table, Billy May says, “We’re actually the largest non-professional cooking school in the country.” During his interview on Retail Get’s Real podcast, May says, “That Combination of product and experience, service and expertise are what separates Sur La Table.”

As far as getting new customers goes, the cooking school isn’t just another branding exercise or in-store experience for the sake of it – it’s the retailer’s number one acquisition vehicle for new customers.

“The experiential piece is really about how we get customers in,” May says, “and it’s our opportunity to get customers back.” Up to half of the customers who finish a class go into the store and buy something afterwards.

Experience is no longer ‘woo-woo’

Just over 10 years ago in Australia, our store (The Good Guys) was part of a committee that was uploading, selling and testing product sales on eBay and other marketplaces.

Our biggest competitor at the time was Harvey Norman, headed up by their co-founder and chairman Gerry Harvey. While we were adopting best practice and e-commerce techniques from the US and UK and one of the first retailers in Australia to offer click and collect, Harvey’s was slow to embrace selling online.

In 2008 after we’d made significant inroads into e-commerce in Australia, a market that hadn’t quite caught up with the rest of the world, Gerry Harvey was quoted as saying, “selling online is a complete waste of time.”

Similarly, experiential retailing may seem a bit a bit ‘woo-woo’ and as Gerry once said about selling online, it may even sound like “a complete waste of time”. However, it’s those who’ve done the work, who have tested in-store experience that has had the biggest wins in 2018.

While there are no ‘overnight success’ stories, there are stories of courage, of hard work and digging deep on what matters most to their customers. Refining their retail experience story and customer journeys. And then, finally testing how it will come to life in-store through staff, events and experiences.

I believe that in-store experience will revolutionise the entire retailing industry. However, there is still more shake-up to come.

the ‘winners’…

Whether it’s fashion, homewares, electronics or food, it’s now the experience in-store that engages customers and keeps them coming back. Without strong engagement and positive real-life human experiences, a consumer’s choice online is somewhat dwindled down to trust and price.

In Australia, stores like MJ Bale, Cotton On, Universal Store and Lorna Jane all deeply understand their customers and have strong engagement both with in-store visitation as well as through their website, blogs and social.

The buying team at Universal Store is committed to sourcing exclusive and private labels. Accounting for 50 per cent of sales, this adds value to the overall experience and newness for customers.

When discussing their unique range with AFR last year, they were quoted,

“it’s more killer and less filler”.

While I’m certainly well over their 15-34yr old demographic, they were undoubtedly on brand and on point with the ‘more killer, less filler’ quote.

Globally, retailers have struggled with out of date retailing metrics like sales per square metre which have been underwhelming shoppers for well over a decade. Sure, it makes Buyers accountable for their KPI’s but creates a very predictable shopping environment.

So, while it was a tumultuous year in retail, there are also some clear winners pulling out in front. Whether the winners are from the UK, the US or Australia is irrelevant. Our customers are voting.

These winners have rolled up their sleeves, they’ve done the work. Hopefully, that will give them a bit of a lead with their competitors.  After all, I reckon they deserve it, don’t you?

About the Author: Amy Roche is a retailer, marketer and author of, The Retail Experiment. She’s also the owner of Retail Rockstars, in-store CX and event specialists.

If you need help increasing your visitation, check out our free guide, 5 Ways to Dramatically Increase your footfall.

The post 2018 Retail Experience Wrap-Up appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

After helping her, it made me think about how much our customers have changed both sociologically and psychologically. And how little we’ve adapted our messaging to reach them.

Sure we have lots of new social and digital ‘tools’.  However, our obsession with products, pricing and features and benefits have not adapted to our New Customer. More importantly, our blinders on; sales, digital experience and love for products has put us at odds with the NEW customer.

In my experience of being a large (2500sqm) successful retailer (28mil per yr in turnover) for over 11 years, it can be exhausting finding fresh new ways to reach and connect with your customers.

So, here’s 3 mistakes I was making as a retailer and some ways to fix them.

1. Only focusing on the top 3% of customers ready to buy

Retailing is no cake-walk these days. And we make it harder on ourselves by focusing so much time, money and resources on the top 3% of customers who are ready to buy now.

In the “Ultimate Sales Machine,” Chet Holmes says that only 3% of your target market is ready to buy something from you now.

As you can see by the image below, that means that 7% of your target market is open to buying but not looking (now), 30% of your market are comfortable with the status quo and 30% of your market believe they are not interested.

As retailers, we focus the majority of our marketing efforts on the top 3% of people who are ready to buy now.

The bad news about our obsession with the top 3% is that’s exactly who your competitors are trying to reach as well.

In our current world of retailing, you’re paying to reach (digital advertising or traditional) the same exact people that your competitors are and it’s a battle of who spends the most in many cases.

Just don’t forget about the other 67%

But, it’s also crucial that we don’t lose sight or ignore the 67% of people who may be our future customers.

Why? While it may seem counterintuitive in retail to focus on those ‘not ready to buy’, it’s the most powerful way to drive deep customer engagement. More importantly, when customers are highly engaged they;

• Buy from you 90% more frequently
• Spend 60% more per transaction
• Worth 3 x annually what non-engaged customers are worth.

(Rosetta Customer Engagement Study 2015)

So, it’s definitely something worth listening to. But it’s nearly impossible to engage and add value to customers if you’re solely focused on selling.

Interested in Mr Holmes, “Demand Generation,” I started experimenting (in my own store) in reaching the other 67% through in-store customer events and experiences.

It was through these ‘experiments’ that I discovered how great events are at increasing sales, visitation, profit and of course merely re-connecting and building trust with your local customers (which is why the sales increase happened in the first place). Later, I wrote about my findings in a book called The Retail Experiment.

Helpful in-store events not only reach the top 3 ‘percenters’ who are ready to buy now but also helps you build long-lasting customer engagement for 67% of potential customers that your competitors are completely ignoring.

There has never been a better time to start engaging and building trust with the other 67% of your future customers through in-store experience.

2. Focusing ALL of your customer experience magic on digital

According to the NAB, brick and mortar sales account for 92% of all retail sales in Australia.

So, the lowest hanging ‘marketing fruit’ for brick and mortar retailers is improving your in-store experience.

Emotionally Connecting with Customers In-store

One of the biggest opportunities, outside of having plenty of great trained staff available to help your customers, is having special experiences that emotionally connect customers to your store.

In my experience (in developing over 300+ of these bespoke events), those aimed at inspiring or educating customers tend to be the most successful.

My advice for those wanting to explore in-store customer experience is to create unique events that capture your own brand promise while purposely helping your customer to reach their own aspirations. It’s about building an emotional journey that takes both of you (you and your customer) where you each want to be.

So definitely keep doing all the fantastic digital customer experiences (remember that’s probably where your customer will start anyway). But, don’t forget about the 92% of people that are getting into their cars and driving to your store – make sure you’re focusing on their experience too.

3. Focusing Too Much on Products and Not Enough on Customers

I’m not sure who was the first person was to coin this phrase, but Tony Robbins (an authority on leadership psychology) once said,

“The biggest mistake most businesses make is falling in love with their products, not with their clients.”

This is especially true for us retailers.

When we’re honest and evaluate our current marketing catalogues, social posts, EDM’s (email) and in-store merchandising – retailers are not really that crash-hot at falling in love with customers either.

Posted all over our websites are price and product messaging, in-store we find more products than you can poke a stick at. A store jammed to the rafters with products doesn’t leave a lot of room for experience or discovery.

Don’t Stress Customers be Part of the Solution

Stress and anxiety are typical for the Modern Customer today. And, stress impacts how and why we shop and buy.  So think about your store from your customer’s perspective. In our tech-crazed busy days, too much choice is overwhelming.

Cut-back on your range of common products (remember you can still sell them online). Instead, source more unique-to-you products. Focus on taking your customer on a visual & experiential journey and range unique products that can tell that story.

YES, this directly contradicts sales per square metre philosophy.

Carve out the space in-store to create lifestyle displays that inspire. Host meaningful events that genuinely help and educate your customers.

Rather than adding to your customers’ anxiety, be the solution by helping them to easily make the right choices in the store.

Lastly, balance your messaging with appropriate ways you could assist them to achieve more in their day (time), make smart choices (financially or realize the value of a better quality product).

We Can Be So Much More Than Just a Place to “Buy Stuff”

The truth is; we can be so much more to our customers than just a place to buy ‘stuff.’

Start today, just like reviewing sales reports, make in-store experience a part of your weekly planning. Start focusing on marketing that’s for those ready to buy as well as plan some events to educate and help future customers in-store – mix it up a little!

Finally – if you have a brick and mortar store celebrate it! Pure play online stores don’t have the luxury of people, of touch, smell and visceral experience. But don’t waste this wonderful space, get creative and get experimenting!

The post 3 Mistakes Retailers Make in Marketing and How to Fix Them appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

In our household, I’m always extremely looked after on Mother’s Day. I have a thoughtful and loving husband and he makes sure I get spoiled.

It’s not to say that I’m gracious about it. No way, I milk it for all it’s worth. “What do you mean you can’t clean your room, Rrrrreally, it’s Mother’s Day in just 3 weeks (sad, disappointed eyes).

It’s the one time of the year I can really pull out the Mother card. Sure, it doesn’t always bring out my most redeeming qualities, but it’s only once a year, and I try to maximise the days.

My husband, on the other hand, is a little more humble about his special day (Father’s Day). I try each year to do something fun, get the kids involved, make him his special meals or treats, get him just the right gifts. Somehow though, I feel it’s never quite good enough.

Just this week, in the lead-up to Father’s Day, he shared that he didn’t think Father’s Day carried the same importance as Mother’s Day does.

Personally, I really think he could be doing a better job of maximising it, dropping gift hints prior to, playing the guilt trip more effectively, but hey that’s just me. But seriously, I did feel a bit sad after that. I’d like him to feel like I do on Mother’s Day – Queen for a Day!

All of this discussion, of course, lead me to do a bit of research on the topic, and here’s what I found.

3 things that you may not know about Fathers Day

1. Aussies Spend More On Father’s Day than Mother’s Day

According to a report, released 2 days ago by the Commonwealth Bank, Australians spend 1.58 billion in the lead up to Father’s Day versus just 1.37 billion spent on Mother’s Day. On average that works out to us spending an extra 15% on Dads.

In fact, spending for Father’s Day has increased year-on-year, with the data showing a 37 per cent increase since 2015 in Oz.

What’s even more surprising is that the UK reports consumers spent half as much on Dad as they do on Moms for their respective days.

And it doesn’t stop there, the National Retail Federation in the US reported that 23.1billion is spent on Mother’s day with an average gift of around $180, while Father’s Day rolled in at 15.5 billion fetching only $133 on the average US Dad.

Perhaps we are setting the trend globally on the significance of Father’s Day (and the US and UK simply haven’t yet caught up with our retailing prowess) – or us Mom’s are trying to even up the spending for this massively important day – either way…Psssffffff, hubby. Spend wise – Father’s Day is raking it in.

2. Retail Fatigue and Father’s Day – it’s a match made in heaven

With my Dad living in the US, I’ve always had a hard time remembering the ‘different dates’ for Fathers Day(s) around the globe.

But, did you know that only 4 other countries; New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea share Father’s Day with us – and it’s because we set the date. Some other 70 other countries celebrate Father’s Day on the 3rd Sunday in June.

Why Do We Have Father’s Day In September?

There’s a theory for Father’s Day being in September. It’s described as “holiday fatigue” where experts claim consumers grow tired of always being bombarded with holidays and need a little time to recover — a theory that only helps Father’s Day’s September placement.

So in essence, like all the other holidays we now celebrate, it was picked for what suited the retailers and promotional calendars best.

Father’s Day started in the US in 1910, however, wasn’t celebrated in Australia in 1936, according to an archived newspaper article which lists it as “a new day”.

So, while celebrating Mother’s Day in May lines up with most of the world, Father’s Day is a full three months after countries we share the most similarities with.

Most if not all of our calendar days, boil down to either marketing or the retail sector.

3. We spend more on Fashion & Dining out than Gadgets and Hardware for Dad’s

It will be interesting to see what we spend on Dad’s this year, but here’s the surprising makeup of what we bought for Father’s Day in 2017;

Dining out: $400 million
Fashion: $114 million
Hardware: $94 million
Tech & gadgets: $52 million (up 62% since 2015!)

Well, I hope there were some surprises in there for you, there certainly was for me.

While my Dad isn’t celebrating Father’s Day tomorrow (he lives in the US, jeez, keep up) – he’s a fantastic guy who served his country in the Vietnam War, worked tirelessly to support our family, was a great teacher and mentor and is still the measuring stick I use to tell whether someone’s a good bloke today.

Happy Father’s Day to my husband and all those other Wonderful Dads out there!  I hope you have an awesome DAY tomorrow – it’s YOUR Day!

Cheers, Amy

The post 3 Things You Might Not Know About Father’s Day appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

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As the founder of Retail Rockstars, I’m feeling pretty chuffed to be asked to join Remodista’s Women2Watch Australian Retail Advisory Board; I’ll join some truly amazing female retail leaders from Australia…. So, it’s a great opportunity for sure!

The post Women to Watch Retail Advisory Board appeared first on Retail Rockstars.

When I started researching in-store experience many years ago, I set up a Google Alert for ‘experiential retailing‘ and ‘in-store experience’, those alerts have remained mostly silent until, well…this year really.

Now, it ‘sounds-off’ like my Facebook notifications, ALL-DAY-LONG.

Direction to Create More In-Store Experience

But, while there might be more ‘Alerts’ now, little serve up insights and direction on how to effectively create more in-store experiences for customers.

Something I’m hoping my new book The Retail Experiment and the infographic below for 5 Steps to Create More In-Store Experience will help shed some light on.

As retailers, you might feel like your customers are listening to you less and less (despite spending more than ever on marketing).

Well, that’s how I felt anyway. Not that long ago, I’d activate an advertising campaign and then brace for the wave of people and sales.

We’d see a fairly big reaction in terms of increased visitation to the store and a spike in sales too. Who would have thought these curves and spikes would wane in such a short period of time?

No doubt you’re wondering what has changed so dramatically since then?

Experimenting In My Store

Well, I did too! So, for several years, I experimented in my own store to find out HOW and WHAT I could do to get my customers attention back – to re-engage them.

I also wanted to start re-building trust and advocacy within my 2500sqm appliance store.

Sure, I was interested in increasing our sales – what kind of retailer isn’t? However, I also genuinely wanted to help them too.

More importantly, I wanted to show customers that I deserved to have their repeated business more than my competitors.

So, after lots of research and testing different concepts, I discovered we needed more work on our in-store experience.

Sure, we had a great team of professionals, but we needed to offer more than just a personal experience with our staff for our in-store customers.

So, I set out to change that first in my store. Then, years later for others, as moved out of experimentation mode and into helping other retailers.

Waking Up Disengaged Customers

And here’s what I found. By focusing on the following key areas, customers were waking up and re-engaging with our store once again;

• Humanics – this is all about the human side of retail. Rather than thinking of the customer targets, journey’s and segments only, thinking about the whole human, their emotional values and human needs. Humanics is all about leveraging the personalities within your store to complete your unique story and offering.
• Experiential Retailing – digging deep on what resonates with your absolute best customers and creating experiences that they crave. What are they trying to achieve, what is keeping them up at night and how can you come to their aid.
• Retail Storytelling – is about honing in your unique to your store retail story. Storytelling connects
• Events – a clever event strategy can be an absolute gift to your customer. Driving not only deep engagement but also visitation, dwell times and sales. Events, when executed well and measured, can be a great acquisition tool.
• Mindset – often the most challenging is shifting what being a retailer means to us – who are we and what is our purpose? Customer engagement is all about creating experiences that encourage your customers to interact with you. The creation of these experiences is not about extracting revenue, but rather to creating value for customers.

Waking Up Your Customers

When I say ‘waking up’, I mean, customers were opening our emails (our open rates tripled), responding to social posts and increasing their store visits.

So, I’ve put those learnings, strategies and pitfalls into a book called The Retail Experiment, 5 proven strategies to engage & excite customers through in-store experience.

For visual folks – like me, I created this “5 Steps to Create More In-Store Experience”, infographic.

I hope you find the infographic helpful. If you’re interested in learning or reading more about The Retail Experiment – you can download the first 3 chapters free here.

Wishing you ALL the experience your store and staff can handle!

Amy

PS. Let’s connect on LinkedIn –https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyroche1/

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