‘It’s a bad time to be boring’ – why retailers must focus on customer experience
In 2017, most retailers don't sell anything you can’t get elsewhere quickly, so how do shops stand out? Williams Lea Tag invited two industry experts to a breakfast summit to discuss why old-fashioned companies need to rethink their approach to survive.
If you were asked to pick a case study of a forward-thinking retailer, TK Maxx likely wouldn’t make many people’s lists.
The Massachusetts-based company’s proudly old-fashioned approach to fashion sees shoppers rifling through the racks of thousands of unorganised clothes to nab a bargain. There’s no delivery, no online store and you’ll be lucky to spot two of the same item next to one another.
Martin Butler speaks at the WLT breakfast meeting
It’s the big-business equivalent of a car boot sale. Yet the way industry expert Peter Wilson tells it, they’re far smarter than most shoppers give them credit for.
“It’s like a treasure hunt,” he enthuses. “You go in there thinking, ‘If I don’t buy that now it’ll be gone soon’ because they turn the stock around so quickly. They have a belief in that process. Just think about the number of times you go into a supermarket searching for potatoes but come out with a drill because it’s on special offer.” Or in other words, TK Maxx – known as TJ in the US – prioritises the experience of shopping above everything else.
Wilson was speaking as part of a Williams Lea Tag (WLT) breakfast summit in Sydney examining perhaps the biggest issue in retail in 2017 – in a world where there’s so much choice, nobody is selling anything unique anymore. Now shops, both bricks and mortar and online, must realise that how you sell something is often as important as the goods you’re offering.
Or as Andrew Swinton, WLT’s managing director for ANZ, puts it more succinctly:
I call it the retail apocalypse. We’re seeing stalwarts of Australian retail disappearing. Names such as Borders, David Lawrence, Rhodes & Beckett and Payless have shut or gone into administration because there is more choice than ever before.”
WLT, of course, is in a unique position to see these changes first hand – as a global brand services company that manages and implements marketing campaigns worldwide, retailers trust them to bring control and consistency to their promotions, taking them to market quickly and effectively.
Fellow expert and bestselling author Martin Butler, also speaking at the event, puts it even more bluntly still: “If what you’re selling isn’t different, the way you’re selling it better be. We’re in the midst of a perfect storm. Exciting, customer-led organisations with patience are beating boring, profit-led legacy retailers. It’s about a nourishing customer experience vs a depleted customer experience. It’s a bad time to be boring because people are migrating away from that.”
The way Wilson sees it, stores need to focus more on shoppers’ frustrations. The average customer spends only 20% of their time shopping and 80% navigating through stores and looking for products. Businesses should consider how rewarding their interactions are. “Memorable experiences convert into sales,” he says without skipping a beat.
Yet many companies identify the problem but pay lip service to their customers – finding ways to solve the issues that frustrate customers by creating an even more soulless shopping experience. “Everybody is talking about listening but not actually doing it,” argues Butler.
“Supermarkets, for instance, know their customers hate queues so what do they do? They ask them to pay for products themselves. Don’t like that? Well, if you are spending less than $15 you can go down the quick aisle instead.”
Self-service checkouts frustrate customers
Today customers want more than just quid pro quo. They demand organisations that look after them, that look after their staff, are authentic and make the actual process of shopping, well, fun. “My father-in-law grew up in a South African town,” continues Wilson. “He went to the same general store and got to know the owner. He would have a conversation with him. He put his trust and confidence in him. People still want a memorable experience.
“The modern equivalent is going to a coffee shop in the morning and the guy serving you knowing your name and your regular order. But with mass-retail, there is only a paradox of choice. It’s about pack ‘em high and let ‘em fly. That’s less personal.”
“People want convenience,” adds Swinton. “ They want things now. They want to share their views. I like this product so I want my friends to buy it. But they care about provenance and authenticity, too. They’ll ask, ‘Where is this cotton T-shirt coming from and is it sustainable?’”
Yet everyone agrees that there are businesses who are solving these problems. Businesses that are, unsurprisingly enough, finding more success than dinosaur firms that refuse to accept change. Wilson uses the example of health supplement brand Blackmores’ stores. They performed research that suggested most of their customers came into branches because they were ill and wanted something to ease the pain.
“They used to have all these rows full of vitamins,” he says. “You went in there and thought, ‘Where do I start looking?’ Vitamin C. Zinc. You’re jumping all over the place! So they rearranged everything to stock supplements by condition, instead.
“It’s the same with liquor store Bottlerocket in New York. Customers were intimidated because they realised the staff were wine snobs and they weren’t. So they arranged their merchandise to aid with selection. Now you can shop by gift ideas. You can shop by what meals you are pairing the wine with.”
Even more important, perhaps, than experience is what a business stands for. People associate brand values with their own, so customers increasingly want to shop with a company that has a social conscience. “My teenage daughters are obsessed with Lush,” says Wilson. “Their staff are kind and they are environmentally friendly. Shoppers want a brand with a purpose and they just do it so well.”
“I live in a house full of Gen-Zers. They want to know what brands stand for? Why do they exist? They are asking questions beyond price. They are prepared to pay more for a retailer with a purpose.”
Martin Butler agrees. Based in the UK, he cites the example of John Lewis. They don’t have staff in the traditional sense but instead ‘partners’ who share in the success or failure of the firm each year with a bonus. It means they are routinely lauded for customer service. Simply put, the staff have a reason to care about the business because they part own it.
“The company believes in a fairer form of capitalism,” he explains. “And they are the benchmark for it. They provide a different experience of shopping than you’ll see anywhere else.
“But don’t forget they don’t sell anything unique.
“Winners in retail are obsessed with a sense of belonging and trust. When people feel that that, they begin to drop their guard. It’s about that emotional edge. Winners understand that they don’t own their brands anymore. The customers do.”
Wilson presented statistics to back up this new reality. A recent Nielsen survey, for example, revealed that 57% of shoppers considered a trip to the grocery store a fun day out and found that a similar number wanted stores to do more than just sell products. Meanwhile, 67% of those Gen-Zers, who have grown up with online shopping, said they would prefer to visit traditional stores than go on the internet. Furthermore, 85% stated they like to touch and feel products before buying.
“The most admired people in the shopping process are manufacturers,” concludes Butler. “Most retailers wouldn’t know a purpose if it bit them. But successful retailers start with the customer and work backwards. They get that it’s an emotional journey. Jeff Bezos always asks: ‘What’s in it for the customer?’”
Wilson sums up the mood of the morning perfectly as he finished up. “The analogue world of retail is not dead. It’s analogue retail that is uninspiring that’s finished.”
Martin Butler is a former ad agency owner turned best-selling author. His latest book, It’s Not About Us, It’s All About Them, is out now.
Peter Wilson is a self-confessed shopper fanatic, with more than 25 years of experience in market research and agency account planning roles.
CONTENT SPONSORED BY Williams Lea Tag
