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.

Retail Disaster: Do These Images Represent a Positive Customer Experience?

In today’s retail environment, customer experience plays a major role in not only the perception of your brand, but also your level of customer loyalty. A happy customer is far more likely to both return to your store and purchase your product. They are also far more likely to recommend you to friends and family, or even to the world at large thanks to social media. Knowing this, how do you think these images work when it comes to customer experience? Do these represent a positive customer experience?

If your store is a mess, trust us, customers notice! No one wants to have to step over piles of stuff on the floor (nor are most willing to purchase items they deem dirty thanks to the mess). And not only does this impact your customer experience, it can turn into a legal hassle if someone gets hurt!

Long line ups are the bane of a shopper’s existence, and having to stand around makes people cranky - and can sometimes have a huge impact on customer loyalty. Continually having to wait in line inevitably leads to choosing a different store where the line ups tend not to be such a problem.

Target Canada had to deal with customer blow-back thanks to empty shelves - one could argue that this issue played a part in their ultimate demise - and we all know how this customer service issue impacts the overall customer experience. Shelves should NEVER look like this (and for most they likely don’t), but even a few empty spaces or the inability to find what one is looking for, or even an alternative, can have customers leaving the store in droves.

Don’t let a lack of people support impact the customer experience you deliver. Messy aisles, long line ups and empty shelves are all, for the most part, a direct result of not enough staff.

Feel like these issues only arise at particular points in the year, during the summer holidays for example? Don’t want to hire, train, and then lay off seasonal staff? Find a merchandising company that can offer trained, experienced, professional staff members, on a temporary basis, right when you need them. This not only saves you time and money, you can be sure these customer service issues are handled!

For more about people support that meets your needs and customers’ expectations, please call Storesupport today at 1 877 421 5081. 

Cashing In: Merchandising Strategies to Increase Customer Loyalty and Engagement

As a retailer, your job involves a number of complex moving parts. Having every aspect of your store run smoothly can be a major challenge - and this doesn’t even take into consideration a plan for improvement. When it comes to customer loyalty and customer engagement, the best way to improve is by beefing up those merchandising strategies and making people even happier.

Some of these may seem like pretty common sense advice, but the reminder won’t hurt.

Firstly, start with a plan - don’t dive right into the deep end and expect results to float right to the top with you.

On the store floor, create displays that pair like items, or create a theme to encourage more interaction and sales. Take advantage of seasonal opportunities - summer is a big one and it is right around the corner! Pull on those heartstrings - create an emotional connection and consumers will feel a sense of attachment.

Experiential marketing is another great tactic, especially coming into the summer, to get customers thinking about what you are offering and to create a connection as well as to engage. For example, think about BBQ season and everything that comes with it - major upsell opportunities here.

People make a difference - you know this. Hiring the right employees, those who can demonstrate knowledge about your brand, and who display dedication and a commitment, are the ones who will be recognized by shoppers. This can help build a relationship with a customer when shopping, and encourage loyalty. That being said, when it comes to your busy season, or even those odd days that require extra staff, hiring a handful of employees might get the job done, but a merchandising company that offers people support can get the job done quickly and efficiently, so this might be an alternative to consider.

Keep the store clean. Another common sense tip, but we mean clean, organized and well stocked. Customers notice everything, really, and if they feel uncomfortable this registers and can impact their choice to return. Empty shelves have the same effect - think about the big box retailer that recently vacated Canada after just 2 years in business…

Perhaps not technically a merchandising strategy, but one that belongs on any customer engagement and customer loyalty list, is social media engagement. If customers are talking on social media, respond - never ignore a review, whether positive or negative. Engaging online shows your customers that you care and are committed and this goes a long way towards building customer loyalty.

When it comes to customer loyalty and engagement, merchandising strategies can go a long way towards improving your numbers. Want to get a plan in place? Call Storesupport today at 1 877 421 5081.

Forbes: Brands with the Most Customer Loyalty

We are all well aware that customer loyalty is critical in every aspect of the retail world - last week we even discussed it with regard to the social online environment - but some undeniably do it better than others. Forbes’ recent article “2015's Brands With The Most Loyal Customers” demonstrated this by giving us a look at those top brands that have managed to beat out the competition when it comes to customer loyalty.

Check out the Forbes article here http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpassikoff/2015/02/16/2015s-brands-with-the-most-loyal-customers/.

This list, actually called the Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, done annually by Brand Keys, is created by rating brands based on their ability to meet customer expectations compared to the competition. A total of 540 different brands, in 64 different categories, were analyzed. What kinds of categories are we talking about here? Everything from airlines to fast food restaurants, car manufacturers to hotels, search engines to insurance.

So what do these brands have that you don’t, besides a spot on the list? Brands that top the list are those that do a number of different things, really, really well.  Check out the list here: http://brandkeys.com/portfolio/customer-loyalty-engagement-index/.

According to the article, “In a marketplace where brands struggle to create meaningful differentiation and engagement, those who can able to identify customers’ expectations and address them via authentic emotional values, will see tangible bottom-line results, which come in the form of higher engagement power, more loyal customers and, axiomatically, greater sales and profits.” Clearly brand identity is intrinsically linked to customer loyalty, as the brands on the list have come to recognize.

Since consumer expectations seem to grow every year (according to the Forbes article, customer expectations increased by 28% this year), brands need to continually recognize and adapt, making new expectations a priority alongside traditional ones.

If you need to revamp your customer service and customer loyalty strategy, Storesupport has the tools to help. Give us a call today at 1 877 421 5081. 

Target: A Case Study in Customer Loyalty

By now most of us have bid our farewells to Target Canada. The big box giant, after attempting to make waves on the Canadian retail scene (and arguably it did, although in the end these were no more than ripples), fell quite short of expectations and as a result is no more. Target has really proven to be a perfect case study in customer loyalty.

Target Canada faltered, almost from the very beginning, for a number of reasons. One of the biggest was the empty shelves that seemed to constantly loom large for shoppers looking for a deal. Another was the prices; Canadian shoppers entered Target Canada for the first time expecting an American equivalent and were usually disappointed. Those Canadian shoppers who fell in love with the discount superstore from the U.S. continued to have their customer loyalty tested.

By the end of the road, Target Canada seemed to give up, but refused to go out without a bang. Check out this great article from The Huffington Post, “The Unbearable Lameness Of Target Canada's Liquidation Sale”: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/07/target-canada-liquidation-sale_n_6633616.html. After building up the hype about the liquidation sales Target would host in order to get rid of stock, customers again found themselves wondering why they’d even bothered.

The article features of number of Twitter images of customer’s experiences, from empty shelves, to higher prices masquerading as sales, to aisles that were almost impossible to navigate due to the mess. In the end, people did turn up for what they assumed would be great deals, but many just left after a largely lackluster event.

If Target Canada can teach us anything after only 2 years here, it is that customers need to feel as though their needs and wants matter. Customer loyalty is becoming increasingly difficult to retain, and even the slightest hitch in today’s retail sphere can have major impacts.

Storesupport has the tools and tips to help you boost your customer loyalty. Call us today at 1-877-421-5081.

Brand Loyalty Blog Series: Does Price Really Matter?

For many companies, brand loyalty is a major factor in driving revenue and profit, but just what makes a customer loyal to a brand? Last week, as part of our brand loyalty blog series, we revisited the issue of age and how it impacts brand loyalty. To follow that up, this week we examine price, and the impact it has on brand loyalty.

Check out this infographic that looks specifically at a number of different things that can impact brand loyalty, and the consequences of a customer shifting their loyalty.
 

If we pay special attention to the numbers relating to price, there are some startling factors to consider.

According to the infographic, 80% of people will switch a brand or switch a store if there is a promotion. Obviously price plays a big role in choices made when shopping. Furthermore, shoppers said that 83% of their unplanned purchases were made because of a promotion.

So what happens when a shopper switches for a special promotion or a lower price? Do they go back to their original brand once that promotion is done? According to the graphic, 78% of shoppers asked said they have engaged in showrooming, or checking out a brand in-store and then going online to find a better price. Customer loyalty is fluid; just because they were once loyal, doesn’t mean that they will always be loyal.

Price plays a big role in brand loyalty, and that means that you have to continue to compete in other ways - ramping up your marketing, ensuring shelves are never empty and that pricing is always correct, and staying up to date with how your brand is performing in-store compare to your competition.

Storesupport can help you combat the challenges posed by price when it comes to brand loyalty through services like competitive pricing audits. Call us today at 1-877-421-5081. 

Jingle Bells Chime for Retail Marketing Boom

The holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes the inevitable traffic surge and selling boom. Shoppers will be out there filling their carts with the latest and greatest from everyone’s wishlist and getting foodstuffs stocked for that holiday party or big family dinner, and retailers, while feeling the added pressure, are the ones to reap the benefits.  

Here are our tips for smart retail marketing to get you prepped for the busiest season of the year. Sure, some of them may seem pretty simple, but it never hurts to get back to the basics.

Tip #1: Keep shelves stocked. This may mean reiterating to employees the importance of ensuring shelves remain full, implementing a strategy that sees them refilled throughout the day, or hiring extra staff to manage the stockroom. If customers don’t see what they are looking for on the shelf, they may just head somewhere else!

Tip #2: Stay social. We all know how important social media can be in the retail world, so make sure that you are maintaining yours. Update statuses and posts regarding sales or promotions. Manage complaints to help boost customer loyalty and brand recognition.

Tip #3: Keep floors well staffed. With the traffic comes extra-long line ups, which no one likes. Make sure that you have enough staff on hand to cover surges throughout the day as well as to be around the store to help assist customers.

Tip #4: Make the most of visual merchandising. We are not saying throw up some holiday decorations at random. Instead, use the season to pull at people’s emotions and guide their purchases by putting together displays that make connections they make not have thought about.

Tip #5: Keep the store clean. Ok, we don’t just mean ensuring janitorial duties are completed each night. During the holiday season you have to be extra diligent about keeping stock organized and in place. Holiday shoppers tend to be less, let’s just say, cognizant, of their actions, so staff members need to be sure to try and keep the store in tip-top shape throughout the day.

The holidays can be the perfect time to cement your brand image and ramp up customer loyalty. How you manage your retail marketing over this period can bode well for the entire year, so let your actions speak for your reputation.

Want some extra back-up for your holiday retail marketing campaign? Storesupport has you covered. Contact us today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Sales Staggering? Might be Time to Consider Experiential Marketing

In the CPG industry, experiential marketing is not a foreign term. The concept of letting a customer try before they buy is not new, and brands across the country are taking advantage of the benefits that an experiential marketing campaign can bring to a merchandising plan. But why does experiential marketing work? How is it that giving your customers the chance to test a product in-store actually leads to profit and what impact do these campaigns have long term?

When a customer enters a store with a shopping list, chances are good that they will add additional items if prompted. This is one of the main reasons that experiential marketing works. This works especially well when products are featured together. For example, if you are promoting a new pasta sauce, make sure to serve it with another product offered by your brand (pasta, spices, etc.). 

Experiential marketing is great for brand and customer loyalty. The emotional relationship that is formed through a taste sampling works to keep customers coming back for the same product. There is a lot to be said for memory, and when a customer can link a positive experience (the experiential marketing event) with a product, they will continue to purchase that product.

When combined with a promotion (ie. a coupon or a sale), experiential marketing becomes even more effective. Everyone loves a sale, and so being able to try a product and then purchase it at a discount is incredibly appealing.

A good experiential marketing campaign gets people talking. A regular trip to the grocery store doesn’t often stir up much excitement. Instead, leveraging an event that catches peoples’ attention can lead to word-of-mouth advertising. And they are not just talking about the event – they are talking about the product.

Another key benefit of experiential marketing is the research potential it represents. With the right staff, you can easily identify your target market through a campaign. Asking customers what they think about a product after a demonstration or tasting can garner valuable feedback to be used in the future.

Experiential marketing doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does have to be right. Individuals staffing the event need to be knowledgeable about the product, as well as energetic and outgoing enough to get customers to stop. Location is important, as is timing. The right merchandising company, one that specializes in experiential marketing campaigns, is a smart place to start to get your campaign up and running. They can handle everything and you can be sure that the campaign is used to its greatest potential.

For more information about why experiential marketing works, or to get a campaign going, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit us online at www.storesupport.ca.

Online vs. Bricks and Mortar – Visual Merchandising Plan to Battle Competition

It is common knowledge in the retail industry that online shopping is a major competitor for bricks and mortar stores. The ability to price compare and buy online has steadily risen in popularity over the last few years, to the point that many retailers have felt the need to compete through the development and establishment of their own online stores. However, it seems as though the competition is not as stiff as originally predicted – and the expectation that online shopping would lead to the inevitable death of the retail location have not panned out. Canadian customers are still shopping at bricks and mortar locations.

According to research done by global information company The NPD Group, only 4% of all Canadian transactions were made online in 2012 – and this is an increase of 0.5% from 2011. Broken down, NPD reported that approximately 7 online purchases were made by the average Canadian household in 2012, compared to over 150 trips to traditional bricks and mortar stores (3-4 visits per week).

There are many reasons for this staunch refusal by consumers to let online shopping dictate the market – the most important reason being the experience that cannot be had by shopping online. Recognizing this, retailers have started to realize the importance that lies in visual merchandising and how it has to change in order to continue to compete.

As a bricks and mortar store, having a visual merchandising plan in place is crucial to maintain the leverage over online retailers. Consumers like to be able to enter a retail location and visually take in what they cannot over the internet. This includes things like planograms, signage and displays – all of which need to be executed properly (one of the main functions of a merchandising company) to attract customers.

Other factors contribute as well, including a high level of customer experience and interaction – so make sure that when customers leave your store they feel satisfied. This will help safeguard customer loyalty and retention.

Although online shopping has not killed the bricks and mortar store it has resulted in the need to evolve and adapt.  A strong visual merchandising plan is essential in this adaptation, and so make sure that you employ a merchandising company to help ensure that the online competition that does exist does not take over.

For more information about how to ramp up your visual merchandising plan to further battle the competition of online retailers, please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

How Canadian Merchandising Companies Can Solve Your Customer Experience Woes

Customer experience is a complex entity, summed up by the total interaction a client has with your brand. This can include any form of marketing (print/media advertising) and customer service in-store and online. A focus on customer experience needs to play a major role in any company’s (both retailers and brands) plan for success.

Don’t just take our word for it. A recent Business Insider article looked at one of the most profitable companies worldwide, examining why it continues to make a profit year in and year out. The conclusion: a long term focus on customer experience has led to a strong brand reputation and exceptional customer loyalty, and this has equaled major annual profits.

The articles states: “building the desired customer experience requires tools such as (but not limited to) research, operations, brand management, marketing and employee engagement.” You cannot exchange one for the other – you need to maintain a high level with each aspect of the equation.

How can merchandising companies help you raise the bar for customer experience? In various ways. 

Brands: Think about brand management. What approach do you take to ensuring your brand is perceived well? If you are too focused on short term, the long term will suffer. And how can you determine what this perception is? Merchandising companies can help you best understand the customer experience through tools such as mystery shopping (to better gauge the level of a retailer’s employee engagement and knowledge) or quality assurance audits.

Retailers: Employees play a big part in this production. When a customer enters your store, they should feel as though their business is appreciated. We are not suggesting you speak to each person individually, but if a customer has questions about a product or can’t find a product, your employees should be there to offer assistance. In peak seasons, the level of customer experience can be impacted negatively by this, and so merchandising companies can help you maintain high levels of customer satisfaction by providing highly-trained, experienced people support to fill in the gaps.

When you look towards the future of your company, it should be with a long term lens – and the best way to achieve the goals you establish in the process is with an ironclad customer experience policy and by taking advantage of the services of a well-reputed and experienced merchandising company.

For more information about how merchandising companies can assist you with a powerful, long term customer experience plan, please contact Storesupport today by calling 1-877-421-5081.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-amazon-is-one-of-the-most-successful-companies-in-the-world-2012-12

Focus on Customer Retention - Canadian Brands Can Learn Something From Our US Counterparts

When the economy was hit hard in 2008, many retailers in the United States adopted strategies for cutting costs. For many companies, there seemed to be very few options as far keeping costs down and the first place that they looked for savings was in their labour costs. This had a definite impact that is still being felt by consumers.

One of the most popular cost saving methods in the United States was (and often still is) downsizing, or, as many prefer to call it, rightsizing. But this trend has led to major impacts as far as customer retention. Saving profits by cutting the cost of employee overhead can mean gains short term, but what about long term?

A recent Ernst and Young report, Cutting Costs Not Customers, relayed some important things that need to be considered with regard to staff reductions and their impact on customer retention:

1. A retailer’s cost-saving initiatives are likely to reduce the support offered to core customers, thereby reducing customer loyalty.

2. Customers are likely to see staff cost cutting changes, such as staff reductions, as making their lives more difficult.

These two major conclusions say a great deal about the difference in trends between how U.S. and Canadian retailers handle customer retention.  If layoffs mean fewer employees in-store, customers are likely to notice these reductions, thereby feeling a decrease in customer loyalty and customer retention. 

How do staff reductions impact customer retention? Think about it this way, if line ups at one retailer seem to be long every time a customer shops, the decision to shop there may be compromised. What about if product is not stocked, or can’t be found, and there are no employees around to ask for assistance. Profits will inevitably begin to decrease if a customer finds very little satisfaction in their shopping experience.

In Canada however, the trend seems to be very different. One of the main differences, especially more recently, is the fact that Canadian CPG companies are recognizing that layoffs are not the way to go, especially when focusing on customer retention. Instead, Canadian companies tend to focus more on long term goals and how to achieve them. Since sales, realistically, depend solely on consumers, it is common sense to remain focused on them.

So how, then, do Canadian companies focus on customer retention? A strong merchandising plan that accomplishes things like promotional experiential marketing or relies on in-store people support at peak times makes sure that customer experience does not suffer. Although some staff reductions may be called for, they are not the only solution – and are used in a balanced approach.

When you focus on customer retention, layoffs should be the farthest things from your mind. After all, cutting costs now can lead to major losses because of a dwindling customer service experience.

For more information about how a Canadian merchandising company can help you keep costs down while ramping up customer retention, please contact Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca. 

Back it Up: The Customer Service Experience Does Matter!

We all know that bad customer service experiences abound in the retail world, but how influential are they really? Does a consumer really think about those bad experiences when they are making a decision to purchase a product or frequent a certain location? A recent report in the Toronto Star found that they most definitely do!! The customer service experience and customer loyalty go hand in hand…Fail with the former and the latter will undeniably suffer.  

Covering the 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, an international study that looks at customer service experience, the Star reported that over 60% of those surveyed said that a bad customer service experience in the past year had negatively influenced their decision to buy a product or brand. In Canada specifically, the study found that 43% of respondents considered switching to a competitor after a bad customer service experience – clearly this does not bode well for customer loyalty. 

We have all had our own bad customer service experience – and they usually follow a common thread. Customer service representatives with no knowledge base are not going to be very effective when it comes to promoting your product. Poor product merchandising and product placement are not going to increase customer loyalty – they’ll kill it. Any number of things can contribute to a consumer feeling fed up by a bad customer service experience.

Don’t ignore the power of social media. People are not willing to sit idly by and deal with a bad customer service experience anymore. Instead, the study found that 63% of respondents admitted to taking to their social networks to vent about bad service – a stat that seems to be continually growing. And these numbers are influential, since it is also true that people feel heavily influenced by reports on products given by those in their social networks. Facebook and Twitter are used for a lot more than sharing pictures of that weekend getaway and sharing about what you ate for lunch!

So how can you turn that around and ensure that those customers are leaving the store happy with YOUR brand in their bag? Differentiation is key, so setting yourself apart from the competition is going to get you the brand recognition you need – and ensuring a good customer service experience will work to increase customer loyalty. This is where a merchandising company – and merchandising services – come into play.

So what kinds of merchandising services are important? Experiential marketing, including product demonstrations, ensuring correct product placement and planogram execution, as well as making sure that your product is being continually re-stocked, all work towards creating the right customer service experience that is going to increase customer loyalty and get those tweets and status updates working for you!

For more information about how merchandising services offered by an experienced merchandising company can help banish the bad customer service experiences and increase customer loyalty, please contact Storesupport at 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Customer Loyalty and Customer Retention Study - Grocery Store Industry Lags Behind Other Retail Sectors

Customer loyalty and customer retention continue to be two of the cornerstones of a brand being successful in the consumer packaged goods industry and becoming a household name. A recent study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value titled “Why Advocacy Matters to Grocers” has revealed some startling statistics about how customer retention and customer loyalty is lagging behind other retail sectors.  

In the study, consumers reported that they felt widespread dissatisfaction with their primary grocer. In fact, 73% said that they have no loyalty to their supermarket whatsoever which is not a good thing for brands that don’t have wide retail coverage. Only 27% of the customers indicated that they were advocates of their grocery store.

The whole premise around establishing customer loyalty leading to customer retention is to transition a prospect from being a loyal customer to being an advocate. Advocates recommend retailers and brands to others and influence others’ purchasing habits. Because they are advocates, they are also more loyal and more likely not to easily shift their loyalty away from their retailer or brand.

46% of the people polled identified that they have a poor attitude toward their grocer and may be actively causing damage to their grocer’s reputation through sharing their negative thoughts and opinions with others. This is dangerous in a digital age because social media and mobile increase the speed at which words spread and can be detrimental to a business.

Customers surveyed placed a high value on the quality of products sold by retailers, selection of products, availability of products, employee customer service and social responsibility. Specialty stores performed better in the survey because of their focus on customer service, product selection and quality, and a whopping 46% of customers polled were advocates of these specialty stores.

The study revealed that 31% of customers tell multiple other people about their bad experiences and 48% of customers avoid stores based on bad experiences that other people have had.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you represent a brand that offers consumer packaged goods products that are sold in grocery stores or you represent a retailer it is clear that customers who are having a negative experience on the front lines will not only stop doing business with you but will likely impact others’ decisions to shop at your store.

Brands that do not have widespread retail coverage are at great risk because, if their products are being sold at retailers who are not providing a positive customer experience, their brands are likely to lose exposure to many consumers as they decide not to shop at those retailers.

So if you offer a product that is sold in grocery stores how can you impact the customer’s experience at the retail level? There are many things that are out of your control, such as wait times, the store offering a wide range of products in different categories and the customer service that they provide to their customers. What you can control is your brand’s presence at the retail level.

Product availability was a big cause of dissatisfaction for those polled in this survey. You can improve product availability by making the necessary investment in your product merchandising at retailers. You can work with merchandising companies to ensure that your product is always in stock, on the shelf, where your customer expects to find it and properly tagged. You can also run experiential marketing campaigns to give customers more intimate and direct engagement with your brand through product samplings, tastings, demonstrations, and even by having a representative there to share information about your brand and offer coupons.

The stakes are too high for brands that sell in grocery retailers to leave themselves in a position where they are counting on the retailer to deliver a positive customer experience each time.  Empower yourself to improve your own customer retention and brand loyalty by investing in your customers’ experiences with your brand.

For more information about customer loyalty and customer retention or for more information about our experiential marketing solutions please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.