"Weekday Convenience and Weekend Experience"
Nadeen Steffey
(Main Street Manager, Our Town Cooperative - Borough of Canonsburg Main Street Program) wrote via Linkedin:
2012, A Year of Change -- Top Ten Changes
1. Weekday Convenience and Weekend Experience
These will be the major drivers in 2012 in retailing. The
consumer will expect you to provide convenience during the week which
may mean you will need to offer different services and possibly longer
hours. During the weekend customers want your store to WOW them and
therefore more theatrical events will need to be organized on weekends
to catch the consumer’s attention.
2. Avoid the Big Ticket Items
Consumers will be more frugal this year. This reduction in
spending will not affect all retailers, in fact sharp retailers in the
food and garden sector could see an increase in sales as families stay
at home, cooking and gardening become more of a pastime. But, it will be
the small ticket items that will prosper. The big ticket items are the
ones that you will find difficult to sell. Furniture, carpet retailers,
etc. will especially find it more difficult to survive while food and
garden retailers weather the storm.
3. Social media de-cluttering as a marketing tool
Many social media guru’s are predicting that business people
will start analyzing which social media channels are really working for
their businesses. Discard some and focus on others. Social media will be
a major marketing tool. Those retailers who do not join in the social
media marketing surge will quickly get left behind, but it will be a
less cluttered social media world.
4. Video and Pictures will grow as Marketing tools
A picture is worth a 1,000 words so the saying goes. Businesses
will be putting more videos and more pictures online to sell their
story to their customers. This may be an important area to learn new
skills.
5. Fewer staff, but better staff
Many retailers have forgotten how important their people are
and have forgotten to train them in how to be the best hosts in town. In
this area of common sense many businesses are failing badly. Customer
interaction will be a real key to success.
6. Networking with other retailers
Independent businesses cannot survive on their own. The future
means networking either in a group within the industry sector or with
retailers within your community, or better yet, in both areas. To be a
truly independent retailer and not engage with other retailers could be a
major mistake.
7. Your Local Community will be the key
Customers will engage with retailers that they feel support
their community. This is why farmers markets have been so successful in
recent years. The consumers want to know your values and want you to be
consistent in getting that message across.
8. Price flexibility
All the research shows that price is a driver and nothing will
change in 2012. Many retailers have been too inflexible in their pricing
and we will see a lot more price flexibility in 2012. This does not
mean discounting. There may be special offers, but at the same time
other products may be increased in price.
9. Seasonality will reappear
Retailers will need to celebrate all the seasons. Re-embrace the seasons and use this as a marketing opportunity.
10. Fewer but better
There will be fewer retailers doing what you do. But, the
retailers who are left will be stronger as a result of the clean out
that is taking place.
This is an exciting and challenging period, to quote the QANTAS slogan . . . ”Enjoy the Journey”