Are you coming back?

There are a lot of stores to choose from to buy just about anything, and there is still just 24 hours in the day (and typically very few to dedicate to shopping).  Of course now you can buy almost anything online as well.  While online shopping has its limitations it wins big for convenience.  I recently attended a seminar and the audience was asked, who has bought something online after 10pm—nearly everyone in the room raised their hands.

I’ve shared the statistic before; that the number of hours Canadians spend shopping has drastically decreased.  Just ten years ago the average Canadian spend 140 hours a year shopping—that number is now down to just 40 hours.  So what are you doing to keep your customers coming back and spending time in your store?

I encourage my clients to think of their competition as far broader than other businesses in the same category.  Today each and every business competes for the most valuable commodity – your customers time.

Given the decreased shopping hours, increased shopping choice and the overscheduled consumer, retailers have never had to work harder to keep customers coming back.  I admire the tactics of some of the American retail chains.  Many retailers of highly consumable goods bring their customers back regularly by printing out a time-limited coupon with the customer’s receipt. 

Couponing was a very important marketing and product trial tactic for decades, then in the 1990s couponing rapidly declined in popularity, but with the Internet and now mobile marketing, coupon is back and stronger than ever before. 

I am a big fan of both Michael’s Craft Supply Store and Bath and Body Work’s couponing programs.  At the time of purchase both of these retailers print out custom coupons to motivate customer to return for a discount (or free product) during a time-limited period.  These coupons work (for me anyhow) because:

• The type of products they sell.  You can return frequently to these stores and always find something to buy.
• The coupon cannot be used immediately—you must come back – usually about one week later.
• The type of discount.  Discounting can be a dangerous game that must be thought-out for the long-term strategy.  You do not want to create discount dependant customers.  Discounts should be positioned as time limited or as a customer reward.

Could you start a discount program that rewards your loyal customers without devaluing your product or creating a dependency on coupons?

Until next time

Melanie Taljaard