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.

Spread the Love with Your Valentine’s Day Experiential Marketing Campaign

Trying to ramp up your sales and exposure but having trouble figuring out how to engage consumers? Why not leverage an experiential marketing campaign that takes advantage of holidays like Valentine’s Day to influence consumer buying! An effective experiential marketing event that influences individual purchases can yield major results.

It is easy to make the claim that experiential marketing is influential – but that doesn’t mean that you have to believe it. Need more evidence – don’t worry, we’ve got it! Event Marketing Institute’s EventTrack: Event Marketing Industry Annual Forecast & Best Practices Study found some pretty intriguing results with regard to experiential marketing. If you want to know how influential experiential marketing is, just check out the stats that they uncovered: 

-          71% of the study’s respondents reported that they felt more positive about a company or brand after an experiential marketing event.

-          58% of those surveyed said that they ended up purchasing a product after an experiential marketing event.

-          86% of those consumers surveyed said that they became regular customers of a brand or service after en experiential marketing event (That’s HUGE!!!).

So how can you leverage a Valentine’s Day experiential marketing campaign and get the most bang for your buck?? It is easy. An experiential marketing agency that offers a plethora of merchandising services can help you make the most of a Valentine’s Day experiential marketing campaign. Here are just a few examples:

Get people excited about your product. A campaign that allows consumers to interact with your representatives and sample your product is a good start. Presenting your product through a live product demonstration associated with Valentine’s Day will be sure to capture those who are excited about the season and eager to spend to purchase your product and perhaps even shift their brand loyalty. The same technique could be used for food products sold at the retail level.   

Catch those stragglers. Grab those last minute shoppers by setting up as close to Valentine’s Day as possible. An experiential marketing campaign is going to be the most effective if consumers are thinking about the holiday. Those shoppers (ahhem males – sorry guys) that typically leave their Valentine’s Day shopping till the last minute always seem to need help finding the perfect gift, so let your experiential marketing event help them 'discover' exactly what that perfect gift is!

Ensuring that you have the best front line staff is crucial where experiential marketing campaigns are concerned. This is your opportunity to influence shoppers who otherwise way not have considered your product. An experiential marketing agency that can deliver results through their merchandising services can help you achieve results, especially if you are considering a last minute campaign.  

Spread the love this Valentine’s Day by enlisting the expertise of an experienced experiential marketing agency that offers a suite of merchandising services. For more information, please contact Storesupport at 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

The Days of Clips Boards Are Over! How Technology is Improving Brand Management

Staying Informed about your brand at retail is integral if you want to succeed. Effective brand management means keeping on top of product placement, restocking, and product movement. If you find yourself struggling to maintain control over your product, this can be a big problem – so how can you solve it? By leveraging merchandising technology and working with a merchandising company that employs this in their suite of merchandising services is key. 

According to a recent study done by The Parker Avery Institute, only 57% of retailers have a well-formed merchandising strategy, and these are the ones who experience 3% or better sales growth from year to year. Those that don’t have a well-defined brand management/merchandising strategy don’t see these results. Clearly there is something to be said for planning ahead.

What are the benefits that exist when you leverage merchandising technology as part of your brand management strategy?

1.       Speed. What if you sent out a planogram but are unsure whether or not it was executed properly? What if you see that your product is not moving well compared to last month? Knowing the answers to these issues – in real time - is crucial for effective brand management. Merchandising companies that leverage merchandising technology can send out a rep and send you information, before and after pictures, and stock updates right from a mobile device.

2.       Accuracy. Using merchandising technology that uses a store’s ‘store data’ system to report on your brand means that no manual inputs are necessary – ensuring accuracy. The days of clip-boards are over, so relying on them instead of merchandising technology will put you at the bottom of the retail hierarchy!

3.       Competitiveness. Being aware of how the competition is performing is also a crucial part of effective brand management. Merchandising companies use merchandising technology to do this by comparing pricing (which again can be sent to you immediately), checking display execution, and gauging customer satisfaction. Get a leg up on the competition through effective brand management and merchandising technology.

4.       On Demand Access. By syncing store data to a web portal, you can have on demand access to reports and data mined by merchandising companies. Relying on updates from the store (if they will even provide them) can be costly and time consuming, so taking advantage of the services offered by merchandising companies that leverage merchandising technology for on demand access is a really smart idea.

Most of the big brand names leverage merchandising technology to ensure that they maintain control over their own brands. This doesn’t mean though that this kind of brand management has to be expensive. It is actually a smart way to achieve cost savings that allow you to stay in control and always be aware of what is taking place with your brand.

If you are having trouble controlling your product in-store, or if you just want to ramp up that marketing campaign, a merchandising company that leverages merchandising technology as a part of their merchandising services is the way to go. An effective brand management strategy should include technology which will ultimately make your life a lot easier.

For more information about leveraging merchandising technology for effective brand management, or any other merchandising services you may need, please contact Storesupport at 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

B and C Level Brands on the Cusp

If you are just making your way in the retail world, you are no doubt aware that there are many challenges that you will need to overcome. If you are a brand on the cusp of success, you know that you need all of the help you can get to ensure that your product gets to where you want it to be. 

You know that there are several goals you want to meet and a common challenge is being able to meet those goals even when sometimes dealing with a constrained budget. Your goals may include beefing up profits, becoming number 1 in your category, and achieving prime product placement.

Working with an experienced merchandising company can help you reach these goals, as well as ensuring that once there, you stay there.

How can this be done? There are a number of ways that you can breach that barrier and work your way up.

Experiential marketing: Experiential marketing refers to the strategies that engage the customer through sensory experience – product demonstrations or taste testing for example. These methods allow the customer to not only hear about the benefits of your brand but to experience them as well. A study done by the Event Marketing Institute found that experiential marketing can have dramatic impacts on your bottom line: on average, 58% of consumers said that they purchased a product or brand after an experiential marketing event that let them experience the product for themselves, while 86% revealed that they became a regular customer afterwards. Furthermore, 71% said that they felt a stronger connection with the brand after the campaign, resulting in further brand loyalty.

Merchandising: developing a well thought out merchandising strategy takes knowledge, and working with an experienced merchandising company lets you see the benefits of the various options available. Merchandising strategies may include various tactics such as experiential marketing and coupon distribution. These allow you to gain crucial brand recognition while ensuring that customers remain loyal. Merchandising strategies also work to implement effective product placement schemes, ensuring that your diagrams are as you want them and in the right location in-store.

People Support: When you are on the cusp of success, working with an experienced merchandising company can also provide you with the staff to ensure that your products are being demonstrated and placed properly in-store. They can also make sure that your product is being continually stocked and that retail employees are providing the correct information to consumers.

How can you ensure that your merchandising company will be able to achieve the best for you? There are a few things to look for. Make sure that they offer a suite of services such as those mentioned above. A merchandising company with national experience will have a wide range of practice and strategies that can help you reach your goals. Furthermore, for the best results, work with a company that specializes in one industry – the retail food industry for example – rather than one that tries to cater to all – that way your issues are never lost in the shuffle.

In order to break into and stay in the incredibly competitive retail food industry, keeping up with product distribution and retail merchandising is key. By working with a merchandising company that offers a wide array of services to meet your needs you can ensure that your brand is receiving the attention it requires at retail, achieving prime product placement and thereby increasing customer retention and loyalty.

For more information about merchandising services offered by an experienced merchandising company and how these services can help you break into the top rungs of the competitive retail food industry, please contact Storesupport at 877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

What to Look for in Merchandising Companies

Making your way in the retail world can be tough – but doing it properly can mean the difference between whether you sink or swim. Making sure that your customers are getting the best retail experience possible is crucial. The role of merchandising companies is to combat this and increase your brand recognition and brand loyalty. But what should you be looking for in merchandising companies to ensure that you are working with the right one? 

There are several criteria that you should look for when seeking out merchandising companies and enlisting their services. Make sure that they provide: 

National coverage - Working with merchandising companies who offer national coverage is very important and for different reasons. Typically merchandising companies who offer national coverage have experience working with national brands which bodes to a merchandising company’s credibility. Also, if you sell a brand nation-wide it is important to look for merchandising companies that can accommodate you nationally because this will greatly reduce cost and confusion, providing you with a single point of contact. Another reason seeking out merchandising companies that offer national coverage is important is because they are there to support your growth.

A skilled team – Merchandising companies that offer a highly skilled team is important. Whether the service you need is merchandising, distribution support or an experiential marketing campaign, a major benefit to working with good merchandising companies is that their staff have a high level of expertise in the retail industry so there needn't be a substantial learning curve. Working with an experienced and skilled team means that your projects will run smoothly and more efficiently.

A wide range of services – This is huge because working with merchandising companies who offer a wide range of services will mean that you don’t have to look far for help when a project comes up. This often keeps costs down and makes it easier to implement your projects. Merchandising companies who offer a wide range of services should offer services that include: merchandising services, experiential marketing, retail intelligence, staff support and emergency response services.

So how can you evaluate merchandising companies to choose the right one?

1.       First, look at the company’s case studies. What types of brands do they work with? What types of projects have they worked on that have had successful outcomes?

2.       Check references. Ask for references and call them. When contacting references, inquire about bumps that may have occurred on a project and how the merchandising company overcame challenges.

3.       Check their social presences. Look them up on LinkedIn and see how active they are in social media. This will give you insight into the culture at the merchandising company and reviewing the content they release will attest to the depth of their expertise.

There are many different merchandising companies available out there that may promise you quick results. However, the right one needs to employ an effective strategy that involves a multi-pronged approach to retail merchandising. The criteria listed here are crucial if you want your brand to be successful at retail.

For more information about merchandising companies, what they can offer, and how to choose the best, please contact Storesupport at 877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Forbes Online Reports on How the Customer Experience In-Store Now Matters More with the Uptake in Consumers Shopping Online

Online e-commerce sites like Amazon have given retailers who sell their product in retail stores a real run for their money. From clothing retail to the sale of consumer packaged goods at retail, the online shopping boom has forever changed the way many people shop. For brands that only have in-store retail coverage, sites like grocery gateway and netgrocer are posing a major threat, leaving brands needing to be more aggressive at the point of purchase to capture and retain customers.

What commonly causes consumers to switch their allegiance to online retailers?

1.       The online shopping experience in many ways increases convenience. Consumers don’t have to leave their homes, shop in congested stores or wait in line ups.

2.       Online shopping usually results in increased product availability. Online there are no shelves to go out of stock. If a product is listed, you can get it. 

Forbes Online recently reported in an article “Clicks and Mortar: Why In-Store Experience Matters” that it is more important than ever for brands to ensure that customers have a positive in-store brand experience.

There are limitations to online shopping that leave brands that sell in bricks and mortar retail stores a massive opportunity to compete. These limitations include:

1.       Removal of social interaction – both with those you shop with and the interactions you have with others when out and about.

2.       The inability so see, touch and smell products that you are thinking about purchasing.

3.       Takes longer to receive products – you have to wait for your products to be delivered.

4.       Where grocery shopping is concerned it is often more expensive. 

 

The Forbes Online article highlights the importance of brands and bricks and mortar retailers not to shy away from mobile and social media and to look at mobile and social media as ways to drive customers through the door. Creating online communities of brand loyal customers who can share their positive customer experiences can influence the buying habits of others in their social network. Embracing mobile apps to make the customer’s in-store experience smoother is a great way to boost loyalty. In the Forbes Online article Target was mentioned as an innovator who has created apps with list-making tools, product finders, daily deals and more.

The retail store is the ultimate advertising opportunity for brands. Leveraging experiential marketing campaigns is an excellent way to engage new customers through providing them with the opportunity to sample product which in almost all cases results in a boost in product sales. Let’s face it, employees in retail stores work for the retailer. They are busy and do not have the depth of product knowledge that your staff does. Experiential marketing helps you to improve the experience that customers have with your brand by allowing the opportunity to interact with your representatives, ask questions and be more informed about your offerings.

With regard to the employees of the retailer, another huge way to take more control over your customer’s experience with your brand is to take more control over your merchandising and distribution. Having your own feet on the ground will enable you to ensure that product is always in stock, on the shelf, planogram compliant and properly priced. This will mean that your customers will always have the smoothest possible experience when being faced with the choice to purchase your product or someone else’s.

Once a customer is in-store – what occurs at the point of sale is critical. By working to ensure the best customer experiences will increase brand loyalty and the probability that a customer will venture off to the store to buy your product, as opposed to buying a competitor’s product online.

For more information about how you can improve your customers experience through our merchandising services please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

JD Power and Associates Substantiates the Importance of Mystery Shopping Through the 2012 Market Research Bulletin – Information is Power

Retail intelligence is one of the only ways that brands can find out what their customers are experiencing when they visit retail outlets. Most national brands have mechanisms in place to gather consumer information. We have long advocated mystery shopping as the best way to gather this information and a recent research bulletin from JD Power and Associates backs up this position. 

The 2012 JD Power and Associates Market Research Bulletin “Information is Power” looked at some common methods that organizations are using to gather and analyze consumer information and feedback.

In the JD Power and Associates summary, one critical point that is made is that getting the “right” information means “asking,” “listening,” and “watching,” and that gathering the “right” information is key to achieving market differentiation and sustainable growth in a competitive environment.

In the paper, mystery shopping was identified as the central means to watch what customers are doing and experiencing when having an interaction or dealing with a brand. Mystery shopping is by far the most effective way to watch what occurs at the retail level because it gives brands a window into the direct experiences that their customer is having and how they feel about their experience.

Mystery shopping is by far the most effective when administered by a third party. Brands that hire a third party to facilitate mystery shopping are able to receive impartial data that reflects the true happenings at the retail level based on the criteria provided to them.

Mystery shopping can not only be deployed to learn more about your customers but also to learn more about how retailers are managing your brand’s presence at the retail level. This is almost more important than gathering direct customer feedback because in many cases the way that a retailer manages your brand’s presence directly impacts how a customer feels about their experience when purchasing or trying to purchase your products.

Here are some examples:

1.       You sell diapers and your diapers are on sale. A customer attends a retailer and is looking for the best deal on diapers. The retailer was delayed tagging your product as being on sale, resulting in the customer choosing to purchase a different diaper brand because it appears to be the best deal.

a.       Impact to customer – very little because they didn’t even have an opportunity to learn that your product was on sale.

b.      Cost to you – loss of business and an opportunity to have leveraged your sale price to shift brand loyalty to your product

2.       You sell pasta sauce. A loyal customer attends the grocery store to pick up some groceries. They plan to prepare a pasta dinner, a staple in their recipe being your sauce. When they attend the retailer it appears as though your sauce is sold out. Really, more of your sauce is available in the back but the retailer’s employee hasn’t gotten around to restocking the shelf. The customer is in a hurry and decides to purchase a different brand of sauce.

a.       Impact to your customer – a frustrating experience.

b.      Cost to you – loss of business and an opportunity to have leveraged your sale price to shift brand loyalty to your product

3.       You sell beans. A loyal customer attends the grocery store to find that they have moved some products. Some beans, including yours, have been moved to the international isle while others remain with the other beans and corn. Your customer is unable to find your product, and ends up searching for help. They encounter an employee at the retailer who is unaware of where your product is and assumed it was where it always is placed. After spending 20 minutes looking around your customer manages to find your product.

a.       Impact to your customer – a frustrating experience.

b.      Cost to you – in this case you would have been lucky because most customers will not search for your product and will simply shift loyalty.

These types of issues cannot be identified unless you have boots on the ground and the best way to become aware of these types of very common occurrences that can be devastating to a brand is to invest in mystery shopping.

Leveraging the techniques (that includes mystery shopping) addressed in the JD Power and Associates 2012 Market Research Bulletin “Information is Power” will enable you to identify areas within your business that you can strengthen to increase retention, profitability and business growth.

For more information about mystery shopping or for more information about our mystery shopping services please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.