Blog Birthday #5!

Yes, it's true. Today is Flooring The Consumer's 5th Blog Birthday.

A lot has changed since I first launched this blog in June 2006 - not least of which is becoming my own boss! Thank you for being along for the ride.

As I start year #6, I'd love to hear from you.

What feedback do you have for me?

What do you like most about this blog?

Which stories have you found most interesting?

What's missing?

I love observing the retail experience -- especially since we are starting to see a lot more experimentation taking place. Retail is where buyer and product come together. It's where theory becomes practice. Furthermore, in Paco Underhill's words, Retail is the Dipstick of Social Change!

Here's another question for you.

If you feel as passionately as I do about the retail experience changes around us, would you be willing to share your observations here as a guest contributor?

I welcome more perspectives on this fascinating topic.

Again, thanks for celebrating with me.

Best,
C.B.

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Image Credit: Number 5 is Alive originally uploaded by Wagsome Dog.

Retail Experience in the News - 1/14/11

Wow! Already here is the 1/14/11 issue of Retail Experience in the News...  recapping the latest articles and links shared on Twitter with the #retailexp hashtag this past week.

Retail Experience and Customer Service

• Love that Umpqua Bank is redefining #retailexp fr @retexperience http://ow.ly/3ASsZ by @JeanneBliss | @umpquabank Thanks, TeriLou. 1st learned re: U @ Forrester event. Love how focused U R on customers & #retailexp cc @stevefurman 
• How many of you are thinking about your hispanic customers? Study: hispanics R ideal online customers http://ow.ly/3Cfc4 #retailexp
• Make social part of company culture; listen & love customers http://ow.ly/3CWXN #practicalmktr & #retailexp 
• How businesses will use social media. I like customer service focus predxn. http://ow.ly/3BAxP #retailexp

The Economy/Consumers

• Lots fascinating insight in Mintel's 2011 consumer trends http://ow.ly/3ASEv #retailexp Note: women, apps & retail experience
• FC Infographic: how the economy has changed us http://ow.ly/3AT1k #retailexp 

Retail Experience Ideas

• Intriguing view of #retailexp innovation. Note Paco Underhill comment in 3rd 2 last para fr NRF 100th show http://ow.ly/3BALI
• Doneger's David Wolfe shares past & future of fashion. Ready of rediscovery of good taste? #retailexp http://ow.ly/3BAPr
• Big grocers sound like department stores: stuck in middle and making changes http://ow.ly/3CWNn #retailexp
• uniqlo getting back to basics to compete ag H&M, Zara #retailexp http://ow.ly/3CWPY

Integrating Online with Offline

• Catch a glimpse on the #retailexp of the future: http://ow.ly/3DDaG Integrated!
•  Lots of gd #retailexp perspectives in this interview w Petco web strategy mgr "Mobile as critical in-store conduit" http://ow.ly/3A03N
•  Location based marketing is more than the check-in http://ow.ly/3CfHa Which R best #retailexp examples?
• Talk about integrating offline & online #retailexp: make yr store more like website http://ow.ly/3CWUl 
• Fabulous! H&M turns to fashion blogger for next collections http://ow.ly/3CWRs #retailexp 

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

For previous issues of Retail Experience In The News, see Retail Experience News.

Graphic Created Via Wordle.

Retail Experience Issues & Paco Underhill

As you can tell from this picture, I have met Paco Underhill, founder of Envirosell, author of What Women Want: The Global Market Turns Female Friendly and accomplished retail experience anthropologist. This wasn't the first time, but it was the first time I had the presence of mind to ask for a photo!

Time spent with Paco Underhill is grounding. He reminds you of what matters in the retail experience and does so based on extensive observation. This most recent meeting took place in NYC in March 2010 as he discussed with Rich Relevance "Respect the Shopper. Harmonizing the Cross-Channel Experience." [White paper available for download via this link.]

In this meeting, Paco noted three levels of consumer convergence:

1. Mobile phones and the online world create a multi-channel world for consumers.

2.The economic crisis has acted as an accelerant for customers who are scrabbling to use technology tools to get more out of the money they have available, especially since the fixed costs in our lives - housing and healthcare - are out of our control and continue to increase.

3. Customers see one brand regardless of whether they seek us online or offline. This means that we must be consistent and unified regarless of the medium.

Paco Underhill brought up additional retail experience issues.

• We live in a world designed by men, but intended for women.
• We face intense time poverty and look for efficiencies online.
• What is global vs. local? What drives customers globally to a brand? Is it online or is it brick-and-mortar?

Given that customers see one brand regardless of the medium through which they interact with retail, it's really important to consistently spend time walking in their shoes offline and online. At the same time, it helps to actively listen to customers - offline and in-store - to understand their world and how they use mobile and digital tools to interact with us.

Ideally, as we do this, we are keeping track of the information in some manner that tracks the range of options that customers have for interacting with us... and integrates - or harmonizes - all of those conversations.  Check out Time to Harmonize Your Cross-Channel Customer Experience for added perspective.

What's your take on this matter? How do you address these customer retail experience issues in your business? How do you track these conversations across different media?

Active vs. Passive Retailing and Improving the Customer Experience

"Minding the customer" by Janet Groeber from DDI Magazine's March 2010 issue with perspectives from Herb Sorenson, Paco Underhill, Vince Guzzi and Marcie Merriman has inspired two posts so far: The Changing Customer Retail Experience. Data Vs. Insights and Reinventing Retail.

This post explores active vs. passive retailing and improving the customer experience.

I'm particularly taken with the notion of "active" retailing which implies thoughtful consideration of customers and how products meets their needs. Think Trader Joe's deliberately adhering to a set number of SKUs while encouraging new product introductions.

Active retailing also opens the door to the possibility of meaningful relationships. Lulu lemon athletica comes to mind.

From "Minding the customer", I found these quotes intriguing [note: bolding is mine]:

Underhill: "Retailers can either super-size or specialize - become all things to all people and manage it that way, or focus on who they want to serve."

"Over the past six months, we've found an astonishing number of customers - particularly those shopping for durable goods - pre-shop a Web site before arriving at the store. That's a fundamental reordering of how retailers take products to market and a completely different way of connecting."

Merriman: "Planned interruptions in the shoppers' path, ... in-store displays and disruption packaging, are current tactics to stop shoppers and make them pick up something they hadn't planned to purchase. Often, these tactics result in more mind clutter and a less enjoyable shopping experience..."

Guzzi:  "The physical environment is still the theater to stimulate ideas... Shoppers are in constant search of being surprised and delighted. Beyond this, understanding underlying customers needs has inspired retailers to incorporate new service offerings..."

Sorenson: "It is really quite simple, moving from the passive warehouse mentality to actually selling to shoppers, not just waiting for them to buy...  What do shoppers want to buy? ... That's what a shopper-centric retailer will focus on selling."

What's your take on active vs. passive retailing? How would you apply it to your business? How do you see it improving the customer experience?

Retail Experience Basics: Bathroom Blogfest 2010

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!

Reinventing Retail

In The Changing Customer Retail Experience. Data Vs. Insights, I mentioned an article titled "Minding the customer" by Janet Groeber with perspectives from Herb Sorenson,Paco Underhill,Vince GuzziMarcie Merriman. It's in DDI Magazine's March 2010 issue. From that article, comes another topic that I'd like to explore with you: reinventing retail or at least rethinking it.

Here the quote that got me going on this topic:

From Paco Underhill, "...the basic design of the American supermarket has, for the most part remained unchanged since the 1930s. Much of that design was based on the weekly shopping trip, but also on construction and energy management costs. So, we understand why milk (historically) is in the left hand back corner, where it's more efficient to run power lines for refrigeration. But that has changed, so there are more possibilities now."

There may be more possibilities, but the retail store design hasn't changed all that much - be the store a supermarket or another type store - in the past few decades. Or has it?

We have seen retail salespeople emerge from behind a counter where they were gatekeepers between product and shopper. Product is now readily accessible in most stores. Self-service is common.

We've seen store windows change [see A. Alfred Taubman: Overcoming Threshold Resistance] becoming powerful means for drawing shoppers in [see Retail Window Displays Matter.]

I love the glimpse of the 1880s retail world that Emile Zola describes in  The Ladies' Paradise where a personal shopper escorts every shopper throughout the store. Nowadays, that's more of a high-end or specialty approach to retail.

Apple has used The Apple Store concept to address problems associated with its product category. Do other similar examples come to mind?

What changes have you noticed in retail? Which ones seem most effective? Which ones least?

If you weren't constrained by energy management or other paradigms, how would you go about reinventing retail?

I'd love to hear!

The Changing Customer Retail Experience. Data Vs. Insights

No surprise, the Customer Retail Experience is changing. It's due to technology, the economy and also the consumer. From what I can tell, the change is exciting. However, like all change, it's also disruptive and disconcerting. Will you join me as I explore some of these changes? I'd love to hear your perspectives.

First topic to explore: data.

More specifically customer retail data and how to glean customer retail insights from the data.

After all, there's a ton of data available nowadays.

How do you use all of that data?  How do you make consumer meaning from it? How do you interpret point-of-sale measures to determine how customers behave in-store?

It's a question asked of 4 retail experts in a discussion about retail trends and shopper marketing in DDI Magazine's March 2010 issue. The article is titled "Minding the customer" by Janet Groeber and includes perspectives from Herb Sorenson, Paco Underhill, Vince Guzzi and Marcie Merriman. The article includes a multitude of other gems worth addressing separately.

Back to data.

The question about retail data had me thinking intensely about data vs. information and insight. And about what sales data don't tell us, particularly about customer behavior in-store.

If I think through some of my shopping expeditions and the ones where I opt for self-service vs. live service, I guarantee that no retail executive can understand why I choose one over the other simply based on my sales data.  I bet it's the same for you.

Marcie Merriman explains "this data can't tell the retailer why things are working without elaborate testing, which still may not provide accurate or definitive feedback."

Paco Underhill says "Gathering data is easy, but figuring out what it means often requires going into the field." He should know. For perspective on that, read In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers from The New York Times.

What's your take on data vs. insights and the changing retail experience?

How often do you find yourselves going into the field and spending time in-store watching what actually happens so you have better context for interpreting the mounds of data? And, when you do, don't you emerge filled with ideas and insights?


[P.S.: This question also reminded me of my Surfaces 2008 Presentation: What Your Register Tape Doesn't Tell You.]

Waiting & the Retail Experience

'Bending' Time or How to Improve Waiting in the Retail Experience

Have you ever spent time waiting? Perhaps at the bank, waiting for a teller or ATM, or at a grocery store checkout, perhaps even on the phone for service. Did you like it? I bet you put up with it, though, because you had no other choice.  It was simply part of that retail experience.

As negative as waiting is, it can be managed in such a way that the person waiting may enjoy the experience or, at least, not feel dissatisfied. Call it 'bending' time.

I was reminded of this when I read that US Emergency Department patients spent an average of 4 hours, 7 minutes waiting [an increase over previous findings] and yet "patients who waited more than four hours, but received 'good' or 'very good' information about delays were just as satisfied as patients who spent less than one hour in the emergency department." [note: bolding mine]

In other words, interacting with those waiting and eliminating their uncertainty about the wait positively affected their waiting experience.

In Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill dedicates a chapter to waiting and the retail experience.  It's titled "Time, Real and Perceived" and states "...the single most important factor in determining a shopper's opinion of the service he or she receives is waiting time.... Quite simply, a short wait enhances the entire shopping experience and a long one poisons it."

However, he explains that shoppers' perception of waiting time can be 'bent' or modified.

Time is a funny thing. We may measure it with a watch, but our internal sense of time may override what the watch tells us [think of times when time flies or seems to drag forever].

According to Paco, "when people wait up to about a minute and a half, their sense of how much time has elapsed is fairly accurate.  Anything over ninety or so seconds, however, and their sense of time distorts.... Taking care of a customer in two minutes is a success; doing it in three minutes is a failure."

And yet those folks waiting in emergency rooms did so for much longer and were satisfied! Why?

His advice for the retail experience:

Interaction - human or otherwise - makes a difference.  "The time a shopper spends waiting after an employee has initiated contact goes faster than time spent waiting before that interaction takes place."

Eliminate uncertainty.  "Tell shoppers their wait will be finite and controlled rather than open-ended and subject to the vagaries of fate and chance."

Companionship.  It's much easier to wait if you have someone to talk to.

Diversion.  "Almost anything will suffice." Communicate a message, offer reading materials; in so doing you 'bend' shoppers' perception of waiting time.

My favorite personal example took place several years ago when my flight was canceled and I had to spend an extra night on the road. When I reached the airport Marriott, a line of fellow stranded travelers stretched out the door, all waiting to check in. Not good. I had no other choice than to wait...After a while, a Marriott employee made his way through the line reassuring those waiting that additional personnel had been called to help expedite registration [interaction, eliminate uncertainty]. Next, he produced a silver tray filled with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies which he offered to each of us [diversion!] while thanking us for our patience.  This then broke the ice between those of us waiting and we all began to chat, expressing amazement over the cookies [companionship].  I was sorry when it was my turn to check in. Marriott had successfully bent time for me, altering my perception of waiting time.

Paco's advice on bending time or altering waiting translates to my hotel experience as well as emergency room waiting.  What about in your business? What do you do to help bend waiting time in your retail experience?



Image Credit:
Time Warped? originally uploaded by onkel_wart

The Retail Experience Roadmap

This article, titled "The Retail Experience Roadmap," appeared in the February 9/16, 2009 issue of Floor Covering Weekly, in my column "flooring the customer."


What serves as your retail experience roadmap? Three resources ground me when I think about the retail experience: Paco Underhill’s "Why We Buy," Raymond R. Burke’s "10 Principles of Retail Shoppability," and Pamela Danziger’s "Pop! Equation: Field Guide to Shops That Pop" from her recent book Shopping.

Paco states that amenability and profitability are inextricably linked. To that end, he applies the tools of an anthropologist to retail environments, examining how shoppers behave and interact with product, displays, signage, and people in stores. The more comfortable and convenient a store, the more likely a shopper is to spend time and eventually buy. Makes sense.

Raymond R. Burke, professor of business at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, studies retail including marketing research, retailing, shopper behavior, and data mining. His "10 Principles of Retail Shoppability" represent the common elements he identified across a range of successful retail formats. Although the 10 principles may seem basic, they are critical and yet often aren’t addressed in the retail environment.

Show the product
Provide effective navigational aids
Simplify product organization and presentation
Minimize clutter
Maximize product affordance
Showcase new items and new ideas
Make the shopping experience convenient
Make the shopping experience enjoyable
Speak with authority
Maintain flexibility

Pamela Danziger’s "Pop! Equation: Field Guide to Shops that Pop" captures the soul or magic that great stores infuse into their retail experience. Her equation assumes that the basics have not only been covered, but also elevated to new heights to deliver more for the consumer. Such stores should:

Offer high levels of customer involvement and interaction
Excite consumer curiosity to explore & experience
Exude contagious energy & excitement
Represent a fine synergy between tangible and intangible elements
Capture an authentic concept
Offer superior value at a reasonable cost
Welcome all with an inclusive [not exclusive] attitude

Let’s take a visit to the Apple Store as an example. You position yourself first outside the store and watch to see how subjects approach the store, what they look at, how they enter. You follow. Once inside, what do they do? Where do they go? How do they interact with displays? How long do they stay? Do they buy?

Then, step back and observe the store itself. Remember that a store is about bringing people and product together, so both can interact. Successful store experiences engage the senses, as a store is about the product seducing the shopper into making a purchase.

The Apple Store is a sparse contemporary environment: plain white box; bright ethereal lights; very clean. The product, though, shines! It is available throughout the store on simple, accessible rectilinear tables. Shoppers are encouraged to play with it, interact, consult MapQuest, listen to music, ask questions, consult a Genius, obtain training. Bold graphics celebrate the beauty of the product, its stylishness, its newness.

If you need help in an Apple Store, you can easily consult the Genius Bar or an employee dressed in uniform t-shirt with an identification badge hanging from his or her neck.

Listen to the buzz of the store. It’s alive with energy, excitement, enthusiasm. Not only are shoppers involved with product, but they interact with one another. They are curious about what they don’t know and eager to share with others. It’s contagious! It also demonstrates the value associated with Apple products. An Apple product welcomes you into the Apple community. Whether you buy or not, you are invited to spend as much time in the store as you’d like.

Now, leave that Apple store. Keep that template or roadmap in mind and go back to your store. What do you now see that would improve your retail experience?

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Retail Experience Of the Future

Lookıng ƒor rhızomıng lınεs . .

originally uploaded by jef safi.

Do you think much about how the retail experience might look by 2015? Or even once we emerge from the current economic mess? I do. In fact, I believe that the new retail experience will be one of the most exciting results of our mess.

According to Paco Underhill, as reported in Transworld Business' summary of Envirosell’s The Science of Shopping Conference: Paco Underhill Presentation, retail will change more in the next five years than it has in the past 100.

Strong words. But, then again, Paco spends considerable time observing and analyzing shopping behavior around the world. Methinks he should know.

The post explains: "Underhill believes that global economic factors, innovations in technology, and a dramatic increase in vacant retail space in the US are creating a paradigm shift in shopping behaviors, and that the world is entering a new era of consumer behavior."

Intriguing, no?

Do read the entire summary and think about the changes in consumer shopping behaviors and how mobile technology [primarily smart phone related] is affecting shopping patterns. On the retail side, think about all that vacant real estate [remember that we've been considerably overstored]. What will become of it? How will it add value to consumers' lives? What about size? [To that I add, what about connections to local places vs. generic national entities?] And where is innovation happening?

Paco Underhill's suggestions on what retailers might do:

-Revisit Format
-Recognize Value, Significance, and Value
-Don’t Get Lost In Technology
-Make Financial Offering Consistent With Location/ Customer
-Be Careful To Cater To Local Tastes

I attended the 2006 Envirosell Science of Shopping Conference during which Paco introduced many of these themes. They sound further developed during this event. At that event, I had the opportunity to spend time with Wendy Liebmann from WSL Strategic Retail. Talk about delightful, clued in and totally passionate about retail! She presented at the recent conference and Transworld documented that presentation, too, in Envirosell’s The Science Of Shopping Conference: Wendy Liebmann Presentation.

She says: "nothing will be the same again." Her suggestions:

1. Know your shoppers.
2. Keep them in the store, keep them in the brand.
3. Value your customers' values.
4. Be where your customers want to be, and reach them where they are
5. Create emotional real-estate, not just another store
6. Innovate, innovate, innovate.

Here's more food for thought: according to Retail To Shift by 2015 by Debra Hazel of GlobeSt.com retail will be greatly affected by an overall customer base becoming both younger and older, richer and more cash strapped, tech savvy and not.

Talk about an intense dichotomy, which - to me - further reinforces that the middle is gone.

The article [and conference] suggest that the older [i.e., boomer] segment of the customer base will want "small, closer stores that are easier to shop, with large signage or lettering for convenience." Furthermore, stores will need to be more connected with consumers through technology.

Not too surprising in my mind. What about to you?

Take a younger consumer perspective -- particularly if s/he might have been exposed to a program like WANT from the University of Washington Environmental Design class which is designed to help college students develop smarter shopping habits that take into account frugality and sustainability. Imagine the implications for retailers... and the opportunities.

At the heart of the retail experience - now more than ever - is delivering a truly memorable customer experience, defined from the customer's perspective. Certainly, helping to put a purchase into a value framework makes sense.

So, how might we enhance that experience, particularly in complex categories [like flooring]?

In high end shopping experiences, a personal shopper plays a role, asking questions, offering suggestions, listening for feedback before making recommendations.

Think about your Amazon.com experience. Do you 'see' similarities? As in suggestions, or product reviews and recommendations? Read Personalization: Putting the “A-Ha!” into Online Shopping; the benefit? "Personalized product recommendations ... create cross-sell and upsell opportunities." Now read Enriching Retail Product Relevance. Recommendations help customers find products more quickly. "If I have a store that's easier to navigate for my customers, I get a higher degree of engagement and loyalty from those customers," and revenue.

My take on all this?

+ Online an offline will need to be fully integrated. [Be sure to read Marketing to Digital Moms: How To Reach Out To Today’s Tech-Savvy Moms and how important it is to be engaging with customers online.]

+ Start thinking about how to capture customer feedback on what you offer so others can benefit from the information and you can benefit from the increased engagement. Do you encourage reviews of your products and experience?

+ What do you stand for? It had better be distinct, memorable, and relevant to your customers because the middle is gone.

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Consumer Choices And The Retail Experience

Weekend treat! originally uploaded by Shagadelicbabe.
If the marketplace is over-stored, if consumers have too much stuff already, and if the choices available at retail are humdrum-boring, why would anyone bother shopping? Especially now.

Think about it.  Do you need to replace your car if the one you have works fine? Who needs another pair of jeans or a t-shirt if your closet is overflowing with jeans and t-shirts? Do you really want to buy more utilitarian beige carpet when that's what's already in your house?

Many of the choices available to us at retail just aren't that inspiring. They may be considered 'safe' options, but they do absolutely nothing to make my heart sing and convince me to part with my hard-earned and scarce assets.

I fear, though, that the choices available will only become more dismal. Consider this 2/3/2009 WashingtonPost.com article titled Supplier woes may mean fewer choices from shoppers by Anne D'Innocenzio.  It just doesn't sound encouraging.  In fact, why not just put a sign out saying "Nothing new and exciting here. Come back when the recession's over!"?

I wonder if it's time to start sewing my own clothes again. 

What a missed opportunity.  After all, shopping still serves an important purpose.  It's a social activity.  It's a vibrant opportunity for retailer interaction with customers [i.e., conversation] and a tangible, physical time for shoppers to come into contact with product in a manner that engages the senses, sparks curiosity and inspires the mind.

According to this 2/5/2009 article titled 'Shopaholics will be shopaholics' by Christopher Muther at Boston.com, "the reason we shop ... has just as much to do with self-exploration and discovery as it does with gathering blouses and scented candles.  "Shopping is a way that we search for ourselves and our place in the world," says Benson... "It can promote self-expression, self-definition, creativity, even healing when it's not done to excess."  Paco Underhill weighs in on the matter saying that "retail therapy is alive and kicking."

Now, I'm not denying that these are really tough times, and the solutions aren't easy. We are faced with conflicting imperatives: the need to cut costs, to rationalize, while at the same time maintaining or improving the experience our store offers customers.

That's right. The retail experience becomes even more critical at drawing shoppers into our stores, encouraging them to engage with us and our products, and eventually purchase.

Consider this 2/4/2009 article titled Stores need to excite, execute, entertain. To survive in 2009, merchants have to aggressively court reluctant consumers with exciting products, prices and services. by Parija B. Kavilanz from CNNMoney.com.  It says that the "worst thing retailers can do in this environment is hunker down."  Better to actively take control of the situation and figure out what it takes to survive.  Definitely "keep a laser focus on evolving to the changing needs and wants of ... shoppers."

Some other advice:

+ "Don't neglect customer experience."

+ "Avoid discount mania."  Much better to differentiate yourself "by giving shoppers value beyond price."  This is where product choice plays an important role.  You want to give consumers enough breadth and depth of choice without overwhelming and turning them off.  

+ "Have the right number of employees at the right time."

+ "Play offense."

+ "Reevaluate your stores and close underperforming locations."

On the subject of product: can you bring clarity to the product range you offer and through the choices you offer diminish the paralyzing effect of over-abundant choice? Clarity goes hand-in-hand with transparency so the customer doesn't feel that you are denying him/her relevant options.

There's absolutely no denying that consumers have gotten 'frugal.' That doesn't mean that they will never again make a purchase. Quite the opposite. It does mean, though, that we have to be very clear about the value we offer them. In my mind, that's a fantastic opportunity!

In Consumers get frugal, so retailers get creative by Jayne O'Donnell and Sandra Block, USA Today from 1/29/2009, the authors state that mindless spending is gone. Shoppers now demand products that "deliver long-term value, not just empty calories." Disposable is gone. Quality is in. Hurray!  

Retailer survival tips include:

+ Highlighting value - figure out how you and your products make your customers' lives better, simpler, easier.  Focus on new/fresh/unique products to get shoppers interested in making a purchase. Know your customers and create unique product offerings relevant to them.

+ Offering better prices

+ Emphasizing local ownership

+ Going green

A good quote from the article: "cheapness is not the same as value."

Finally, don't forget to Look More Closely At The Lipstick Effect by Sarah Mahoney at MediaPostNews from 2/12/2009.  Note the discussion about price transparency. Consumers are paying close attention to what goes into products and how like products compare. Don't give them reason to not trust you and your pricing.

Remember, too, that the new austerity isn't sustainable and that consumers will be back.  Our opportunity, though, is in making connections with customers now so that, when they are ready to spend, they return to us.  Which means we must focus on the retail experience and the choices we have to offer.

Do you agree?

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Surfaces 09 - Retail Experience Seminar

Will you be attending Surfaces 2009, which takes place February 3 through 5, 2009 in Las Vegas? If yes, consider participating in the educational sessions which focus on the future of floor covering. In fact, I'd love for you to attend my retail experience seminar titled "Your Customer's Experience: How Much Is It Costing You?" It takes place Wednesday, February 4 from 4pm to 5:30pm in the Sands Convention Center.

I guarantee that you will bring something actionable back home from the session. Despite the economic environment - actually, because of it - your customer's retail experience matters now more than ever. If you don't believe me, step back and observe yourself as consumer. You may not be purchasing right now, but you most certainly are considering and researching and making decisions. I bet your decisions are 'negative' decisions. In other words, you are scratching resources off your list. You are narrowing the choices of those you will patronize and doing so based on the ease of your interactions and the overall quality of your experience.

Andy Sernovitz, in Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, says that You [i.e., your brand, your store, your service] are the User Experience. Paco Underhill says "amenability and profitability are inextricably linked." I see the two statements as totally relevant to today's retail experience.

Think about it. How convenient and enjoyable you are affects the experience your customers have interacting with you. You are the user experience. Your user experience affects your profitability and the success of your business.

In addition to looking at trends affecting the marketplace [for example, marketing to women, trading up and ageless marketing], we'll examine the retail experience and how to improve it [think Paco Underhill type observations], and review examples of retailers doing it right - including flooring retailers!

What I'm particularly excited about is that I'll be weaving social media into the discussion. After all, social media allows you to extend the customer's experience beyond the physical store as well as engage the community and offer added value. It allows your traditional marketing tools to work that much more efficiently.

[I've also found a wealth of articles referring to the criticality of focusing on customer service, empowered consumers and the customer experience. To be detailed here soon.]

If you have successful examples you'd like to share, I would be delighted to highlight them during the presentation as well as include them here in a followup post.

Also, don't forget to attend the Flooring Industry Wake-Up Call panel discussion general sessions on February 3rd.

I look forward to seeing you then!

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A Mack Collier Blog Review

What makes an effective blog? That's a question that Mack Collier addressed during the recent MarketingProfs Digital Mixer when he reviewed several blogs [including Flooring The Consumer].

Mack knows blogs. He reviews them regularly on The Viral Garden in his Company Blog Checkup Series. He also writes about effective blogging.

Here's what Mack looks for in a blog:

1. Blog Content
What kind of information does your blog offer readers? Is is of interest? Or is it just self-promotion? Effective blogs discuss issues of interest; they provide value to readers so readers will return regularly for more.

Look at Graco's Graco Blog content [Note: Graco attended BlogHer Business 2008: Social Media Outreach Programs.] Notice, too, the posting schedule [i.e., see #4 below].

Mack's article What Makes a Great Company Blog? offers more detail.

2. Comments and Are You Responding?
Good content engages readers. Engaged readers leave comments. Are you responding to those comments? The more you respond and interact with your readers, the greater the opportunity you have to create a community.

Look at Life of a Farm blog and its comments. They are personalized and full of detail [did you know that Llamas are effective against coyotes?]. Also, look at how HomeGoods' OpenHouse's bloggers handle comments [Note, too, how the multiple bloggers are individualized, the photos in the posts, and also the value-added elements in the sidebar - see #3 below].

Mack's article What Makes a Great Company Blog: Comments offers more detail.

3. Sidebar/visual elements
What you include in your sidebar communicates information about you to your readers - who you are, how serious you are about your blog, and how easy you and your blog are to interact with. What have you included in yours? Is there a photo of you? Is there information about who you are and how to reach you? This helps establish your trustworthiness. Do you offer the means to subscribe to your blog? And, then, do you offer your readers resources and recommendations?

Look at Patagonia's blog, The Cleanest Line, and its sidebar. Note the del.ici.ous links.

Mack's article What Makes a Great Company Blog: Sidebars offers more detail.

4. How often are you posting? Do you have a schedule?
The essence of a blog is regular updates. At least weekly and ideally more frequently. Keeping to a regular schedule creates a rhythm that readers identify with, encouraging them to visit your blog regularly in anticipation of updates.

Look at Kodak's A Thousand Words blog with excellent content and a Monday through Friday posting schedule.

Mack's article What Makes a Great Company Blog: Posting Schedule offers more detail.

I love that Mack referred to so many corporate blog examples. After all, these represent benchmarks for doing things the right way. Here are a few more that he mentioned [notice, too, how these are integrated into the corporate websites]:

+ Turkey Hill's Ice Cream Journal Blog

+ Southwest's Nuts About Southwest Blog [check out the Flickr group, the video blog, the news, the polls and the media center - suggestions that Mack brings up in Your Blog is Reallllllly Boring... to add spark.]

Mack's article Examples of Great Company Blogs offers a few more examples.

When it came to reviewing Flooring The Consumer, Mack suggested a regular series. To him I owe, then, the idea for Social Media Series: Bridging New & Old [only fitting that he should be my first guest!]

Read Mack's article Need More Blog Posts? Then Start a Series! for additional perspective.

Finally, read 10 Steps to Creating the Perfect Small Business Blog to put all of this into a 10 step framework.

What it boils down to is how do you create value for others? Which gets back to the points that Ann Handley made about how we connect with customers...

This blog review session did for me from a blog perspective what Paco Underhill does for me from a retail experience perspective: create a renewed sense of appreciation and awareness for the customer experience.

Thank you, Mack!

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Retail Window Displays Matter

Two weeks ago, I received an inquiry from Annie Karni, News Editor and Senior Writer for The New York Post's Page Six Magazine. She was working on a feature story on Bergdorf's and Barneys' holiday window displays for and had come across my post about Engaging The Consumer... Via Store Windows! and Linda Fargo. Would I answer some questions, she asked?

More specifically,

+ Why are talked about window displays important to a store?
+ Do they help drive sales?
+ Do they help establish a store's reputation?
+ Aside from creating beautiful street art, why is it important for these department stores to invest time and money in their windows?

Here is how I answered.

Stores bring people and products together. Stores lead to shopping, and possibly to a decision to purchase. The most successful stores engage all of the senses to seduce shoppers into becoming buyers.

Store windows start the romance between shoppers and the products within the store. They start a conversation, generate curiosity and excitement about what's happening inside the store. They communicate to passers by the store's soul, its brand and personality. They set expectations about the store -- 24/7 and for all who pass by.

Store windows are critically important and need to change frequently [Paco Underhill says approximately every 2 weeks; Linda Fargo says every 2 to 3 weeks] to encourage people to return and revisit. Keeping the windows updated and fresh signals how much the store cares, how passionate it is about what it does, and that it is alive and engaged in interacting with shoppers.

Look at comparable examples around us. Newspapers have fresh headlines every day. The Huffington Post does so several times a day. Effective blogs post updates several times a week. A flower store or farm stand makes sure that only the freshest, newest items are showcased. Imagine the message that wilted flowers and rotten tomatoes would send to those shopping! These are the equivalent of retail window displays.

Finally, look at stores like Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters that disavow direct selling. Instead, they have created engaging retail buying experiences - starting with window displays and every other element within the store - that encourage the consumer to 'sell' herself into purchasing something.

Annie translated that input into the following:

'The success of these windows, which can cost millions of dollars in planning and execution, directly affects a store's profits, says Christine Whittemore, who studies consumer trends for manufacturers. "Store windows start that romance between the potential shopper and the product within," she adds. Many retailers stock the same merchandise, and reaction to the windows can determine which store shoppers decide to spend their money at. "The more the windows appeal to the senses, the more successful they are at making people become purchasers."'

Annie Karni's article titled The War of the Window Dressers is a mesmerizing read whether you are fascinated by Barneys and Simon Doonan or Bergdorf Goodman and Linda Fargo, or not. I am honored to have been quoted in an article that highlights retail window displays and their ability to create conversation between shoppers and products...

So, tell me, when is the last time you updated your store windows? I hope recently...

[Note: I'm scheduled to 'do' the New York City department store Christmas windows next weekend with my daughter.]

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Bathroom Blogfest '08: Dressing Rooms

miley cyrus dressing room originally uploaded by g.n.o32.
Next on my agenda for Bathroom Blogfest '08 - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us: Dressing Rooms...

True, dressing rooms aren't bathrooms. But, they are often overlooked and dismally depressing [think Loemann's or even TJ Maxx]. Paco Underhill, in Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, equates bad changing rooms to "bathrooms without the plumbing" which are "design[ed]... with all the romance and glamour of changing stalls at public pools."

What a mistake! Dressing rooms, fitting rooms or changing rooms - according to Paco - "may be more important that the floor of the store." Think about it. A dressing room is where a customer tries ideas on for size; it's where she becomes involved with the product. She interacts with it and, as a result, engages fully in your store and in all that it has to offer. This process takes time. It usually means that your customer is serious and in full buying mode.

Paco even developed a formula after extensive observation: "shopper conversion rate increases by half where there is a staff-initiated contact, and it jumps by 100 percent when there is a staff-initiated contact and use of the dressing room."

Are you paying attention?

Now, perhaps dressing rooms are irrelevant to your category. Nonetheless, even if you are selling flooring, you need an area where your customer can try ideas on for size, where she can consider possibilities and accessorize her choices. It's the same concept as trying on clothes, and needs the same kind of careful attention...

Here for your consideration are examples of stores that fully understand how important dressing rooms are to the selling process. Visit them, observe what makes these changing rooms critical to the retail experience, watch how customers interact with them and also how sales associates facilitate the customer's buying process via the fitting room. Then, think how you might translate some or all of these considerations to your store.

My favorites:
+ Urban Outfitters
+ Anthropologie
+ Coldwater Creek - where a sales associate is assigned to the fitting rooms specifically to help shoppers find what's missing
+ Even Macy's has added banquette seating and TVs outside its changing rooms.

VMSD's August 2008 issue features an article titled Dressing Up the Dressing Room by Lauren Mang. It makes the point that "dressing rooms should be an experience." The print version includes photos of Love Culture in Los Angeles, Galeries Lafayette's Berlin store, G by Guess in Hollywood Hills, Geometry in Berlin, Te Casan, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters.

The article touches on the evolution of the fitting room experience into one that is about community. It states that "common areas in fitting rooms give shoppers a place to hang out with friends and interact with other shoppers." Have you noticed the increase in sofas and chairs with coffee tables loaded with fun reading materials outside changing rooms? [Think, too, about how social an Apple Store experience can be.]

As you consider the dressing room experience and how you might apply it to your store, here are ideas:
+ Can you create a comfortable nook or area with table and comfortable chairs?
+ Can you surround it with ideas? Color boards and vignettes and maybe even examples of other successful concepts or installations?
+ How friendly and engaging is the lighting?
+ Can you make the experience social?
+ Can you include other sensory elements?

If you have other ideas on how to incorporate the dressing room notion into the store experience, please do share them. This Bathroom Blogfest '08 - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us is all about identifying and sharing best practices to improve all of the forgotten spaces affecting the customer experience.

Next: Luxury Bathrooms

These are the latest Bathroom Blogfest '08 updates from the BBC:
+ From Marianna What would momma say if she knew I was participating in "Bathroom Blogfest '08 - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us"?
+ From The Carpetology Blog Bathroom Blogfest '08 - How Hotels Inspire Me
+ From Shannon, great water saving tips in “Bathroom Blogfest ‘08 - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us”
+ From Stephanie Forgotten Spaces Day 2
+ From Claudia 3 American toilet things to hate

The Bathroom Blogfest Community [BBC] for Bathroom Blogfest ’08 consists of:

Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
Katia Adams at Transcultural Marketing
Shannon Bilby at Floor Talk!
Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
Jo Brown and the blogging team at Kohler Talk
Lisbeth Calandrino at Lisbeth Calandrino
Sara Cantor at The Curious Shopper
Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
Katie Clark at Practical Katie
Iris Shreve Garrott at Circulating
Ann Handley at Annarchy
Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
Elizabeth Hise and C.B. Whittemore at The Carpetology Blog
Maria Palma at Customers Are Always
Sandra Renshaw at Purple Wren
Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path
Claudia Schiepers at Life and its little pleasures
Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer

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Back To Basics in Retail

Back to Basics originally uploaded by echerub.
The basics matter, in everything we do. Yet, they often get overlooked. Or worse, don't get considered -- let alone from the perspective of the end user or customer. Especially at retail.

The basics give us credibility. They are why people consider whether to do business with us or not. They are so basic that we don't have an excuse to get them wrong. And we have every reason to get them right and make sure they remain right.

And, yet....

Take store hours. I've written about them before [see Shattering Expectations]. Wouldn't you agree that store hours are part of the basics? They tell customers when they can come in and shop us. And when they should leave. They set expectations.

What they also do is communicate to customers what our attitude is about them.

Think about it.

Our hours tell people whether we are attuned to them or not. So, if we don't open until 10am when customers wish they could shop at 8am, our hours say that we are clueless about our customer base.

Staples does an amazing job with its hours. I wish BJ's did better with its morning hours, although its evening hours are terrific. Mitchell's, a retailer in Wesport, CT [see A Good Hug Is Worth.... and Hugs or Relentless Customer Focus!] has been known to stores to accommodate customers at the oddest hours...

This is something that Warren Tyler addresses in the April 2008 issue of National Floor Trends, in an article titled "Things to Re-Evaluate When Sales Dip." He says to look at store hours. Are you open when it's convenient for your customers? That means evenings and weekends. Even holidays.

He also brings up another retail basic: merchandising. He refers to Stanley Marcus' [of Neiman Marcus fame] observation that "the broader the selection and lower the price, the lower the sales. Conversely, the more concentrated the selection, the higher the price, the higher the sales." The solution: be sure to display your products as a consumer would use them in her home. Large product samples and vignettes help tell a story. They also help sell product.

Too many retail stores forget that they need to tell a story with their products. That's what The Apple Store does, or Zara, or even IKEA.

Within your store, don't forget to offer chairs to your customers. Paco Underhill makes a big deal about chairs. Chairs send a strong message that you care, that you welcome visitors within. If you don't have chairs, people will improvise. Or they will leave. Too many flooring stores don't offer chairs. It's a basic.

Finally, your people. Do your sales associates truly love your customers? Are they fully focused on delivering a memorable experience or would they rather gather and gossip and ignore those entering into your store? Do they deliberately make life difficult for customers? Or do they suggest solutions so their customers can quickly and happily go about their business?

Retail Design Diva says it perfectly in Customers Don't Shop Here, People Do: "the best retailers sell to people, not customers." [I also love Knoth's suggestion to hire stylists instead of sales people to better assist shoppers. That type of attitude is what I've noticed at Coldwater Creek where they deliberately assign an associate to the fitting rooms to make suggestions and find items. Imagine that kind of assistance in a flooring retail store!]

Have you covered the basics?

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