How Are You Earning Customer Loyalty?

Earning customer loyalty, for retailers, is a constant struggle. Knowing who to target, and when, is a challenge - one that can make or break your bottom line. This is why it always helps to have someone in your corner offering timeless and trending advice.

Today we are taking on that roll and sharing this great article we found regarding earning customer loyalty, “25 Tips for Earning Customer Loyalty” from Entrepreneur. Check it out here: 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245365.

Key takeaways:

-          Share your core values

-          Provide excellent service and exceed customer expectations

-          Always be transparent and admit when a mistake has been made

-          Create a sense of community with your customers

-          Don’t neglect existing customers

-          Offer incentives

-          Ask for feedback and act on that feedback

-          Always be reliable

-          Anticipate problems before they become problems

-          When problems are identified, fix them

-          Be flexible

-          Communicate

Customer loyalty has to be earned - we all know that - but there are some tried and true methods to do so. These tips draw on traditional methods and incorporate the latest trends, achieving maximum effect.

If you want more tips on earning customer loyalty, Storesupport has the toolset to help. Call us today at 1-877-421-5081.

Is CPG Dying in Canada? How to do Rightsizing the Right Way

Change is a constant factor in the retail landscape, and adapting to change is a critical component of any brand or retailer’s strategy. It seems as though many companies are making the move to smaller locations, downsizing and putting emphasis on online sales. This trend to downsize has had many impacts - not least of which is the continued competition, impact on brand loyalty and the impact on employees (lots of people are finding their jobs being downsized as well).

Canadian Grocer recently weighed in on the online grocery trend with their article “Get ready for online grocery’s rise.” According to the article, “Of Canada’s vast supermarket sales, only a drop in the bucket are online. Nevertheless, grocers and CPGs should start to plan their e-commerce strategy now or else get left behind as consumers start to fill their pantry from their computers and smartphones.”

Furthermore, according to Keith Anderson, vice-president of strategy and insight at Profitero, “By 2018, three per cent of CPG sales in Canada could be online, up from the current estimates of 0.5 to one per cent.” That is a major mark up!

Check out the full article here: http://www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/get-ready-for-online-grocerys-rise-in-canada-54240.

So what does this mean for retailers across the nation? Well, with the downsizing trend often comes lost loyalty, so you absolutely need to be sure that you are rightsizing!

What does rightsizing mean? Whether you are downsizing or upsizing (yes, while the trend seems to be downsizing, many other stores are upping their square footage rather than reducing it), if you do it correctly, you are rightsizing. This means keeping customer service levels high and staying on top of empty or messy shelves and employee to customer ratios.

Is CPG dying in Canada? Of course not. It is just changing. Chances are we won’t see the demise in our lifetime - we can always keep our fingers crossed just for good measure - but that doesn’t mean that we can keep doing things the way we’ve always done them.

The old saying adapt or die may not necessarily apply here, but when it comes to rightsizing, you always need to keep an eye on strategy.

For more about retail downsizing, upsizing, or as we like to call it, rightsizing, please call Storesupport today at 1-877-421-5081.

Going Digital…Are You Targeting Through Digital

Over the last few years, digital has become the trend in retail. Keeping in touch with consumers, engaging them and motivating them to purchase has become far easier when digital is embraced. So, have you gone digital? Are you targeting your customers through digital?

Here are the top 3 digital trends sweeping the retail industry in 2015:

Social media. Social media continues to be a major player in the retail game. Before social media, people used the internet primarily to research products and compare prices. However, although that remains an important part of digital, far more is now done online, specifically when it comes to social networks and reputation. 10 years ago, not having a website was common. 5 years ago, many companies still had not jumped on the social media bandwagon. In 2015, both of these are gone the way of the horse and carriage - a few hangers-on still try to stick with tradition but it is becoming harder and harder. Now, people head online not just to research price, but to read reviews, get recommendations, find out what others in their networks are saying about different companies. Ignoring this fact can be detrimental - social media definitely needs to be embraced.

Marketing through email. Being asked for your email address at the register has become commonplace, and for good reason. Marketers are celebrating the value of email marketing for retail in a big way. It is a great way to keep customers informed, and especially when they are provided with something of value, is a great way to get them into the store. Just make sure to balance out the promo and don’t be sending daily emails - too much and that unsubscribe button will be getting a work out. Keep emails short and sweet - weekly deals, promos, etc. are a great way to keep customers connected with your brand or retail location.

Digital signage and interactive retail displays. Customer engagement offline is becoming just as important as online, and it too has gone digital. Digital signage and interactive displays are a great way to grab attention and get customers talking. This is especially popular with newer products or brands. Create an emotional connection, draw on seasonal tradition, anything that will make a customer stop and think is a worthy addition on the retail floor.

No matter the industry, going digital is now a necessity, and with CPG it is no different. Are you taking advantage?

For more about going digital in the retail arena, please call Storesupport today at 1-877-421-5081.

The Young and The Restless? Generational Challenges in Retail

Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y, Z, Millennials - sometimes it becomes almost impossible to keep all of these groups straight - and keeping their wants and needs as both customers and employees is even harder. Generational challenges in retail seem to only be growing with the times and that means that it can be hard to keep up, and that makes keeping up even more essential!

Consumers:

Chances are, your pool of potential consumers is generationally diverse - this is especially true in the consumer packaged goods industry - and that presents its own challenges. One approach to deal with this is to choose one group and cater specifically to them, ignoring all others. Is this a good idea? Probably not, and we suggest taking a different route.

Instead, cater to every group simultaneously. Technology has made this task easier and harder all at once. For example, online shopping, although taken advantage of by all ages, is more common for younger generations. However, technology in store and mobile e-commerce continues to grow, and the older generations are adapting just as well. The best advice we can offer when it comes to dealing with this generational challenge in retail is to make sure that you are not putting off one group in exchange for another - be inclusive, not exclusive.

Want some more advice on how to overcome this challenge? Check out this great article from Instore Magazine:
http://www.bakemag.com/instore/Consumer/Demographics/2014/12/Generational%20differences.aspx?cck=1.

Employees:

The retail space is predominantly filled by millennial aged employees - this is a well-known fact. This alone creates problems. Hiring almost exclusively, whether by choice or necessity, from one group means that shoppers outside of this group can feel ostracized - never a good thing in retail. When you have a generationally diverse workforce, this strongly works in your favour. Each group has different needs - but as a whole they should be working together.

Dealing with clashes? Here is a great article from Vancouver Business. Although not specific to retail, it has some really excellent tips that do apply to the retail landscape: https://www.biv.com/article/2015/5/ask-experts-embracing-generational-differences-wor/.

There is no way around it - generational challenges in retail exist, both on the consumer side and within the workplace. This fact can’t be denied, and unless you embrace these difference, you may just find yourself at the back of the pack.

Call Storesupport today for people support and marketing tips to take advantage of these differences: 1-877-421-5081.