What I appreciate about Paco Underhill is how grounding his observations are. In Back to Basics with Paco Underhill in the March 2010 issue of DDI Magazine he makes several points that we should all pay attention to particularly with respect to the retail experience and our very important woman consumer.
More specifically, he addresses safety and cleanliness and how much women consumers appreciate, expect and need these in their retail experiences.
Safety because for the most part "guys are physically stronger, not to mention bigger, than the average woman. Thus, females are conscious of their own personal security in ways most males really can't fathom, whether it's the lighting levels in the lobby, the burned-out bulb in the parking lot or hotel window that isn't locked... Women often feel vulnerable...."
Same goes for cleanliness. "For a majority of the world's females, determining whether they are in a clean environment is an intuition, an undercurrent, a sixth sense, a vibe they puck up about every room in their house, every retail establishment they frequent, every dressing room they try on clothing in, every restaurant they dine in, every hotel they plunk their suitcase down in, ... and every bathroom they enter."
Safety and cleanliness represent necessities for women.
Interestingly, Back to Basics by Beth Freedman [same title!] in addressing the minimum requirements for travel refers too to the need for "a safe, clean and friendly environment." In his article, Paco refers to travel and even a hotel where management consulted with its cleaning staff in anticipation of a redesign to make cleanliness easier to achieve.
Safety, cleanliness. Friendliness, too. Important to the retail experience. Hmmm.
Consider Buc-ees with locations in Texas. I learned about them shortly after Bathroom Blogfest 2009 ended. Guess what? They pride themselves on having the best and cleanest bathrooms in Texas. They believe in having bathrooms as destination and if you don't think their retail experience strategy experience is right on, they check out the Buc-ees Testimonials Blog, the Fan Photos, or their YouTube videos. By the way, close to 200,000 fans like them on Facebook.
Retail experience basics: safety, friendliness and cleanliness especially in bathrooms.
What are you waiting for? Don't be stuck in the 60s!
Happy Bathroom Blogfest 2010!
A marketing blog about improving the consumer experience, even in flooring. To get there, it is critical to understand who that consumer is, what matters to him/her in a retail experience, and where to look for inspiration. And, by the way, more often than not, this consumer is a woman!
Flooring The Consumer on Simple Marketing Now
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Friday, October 29, 2010
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Reminder: Please, no self-promotional or SPAM comments. Don't bother if you're simply trying to build inauthentic link juice. Finally, don't be anonymous: it's too hard to have a conversation. Thanks, CB