A Wellness Marketing Strategy That Works Well

Wellness is alive and well in consumers’ minds, but what does that mean for retailers? And what do consumers mean when they shop with wellness on their mind?

According to research firm The Hartman Group, people have a broad view of the definition of wellness. When polled, 67 percent of participants defined wellness as “not being ill” and “being able to deal with stress.” More than 70 percent described wellness as “being physically fit” and “feeling good about myself.”

In an interview with Adweek, Shelley Balanko, VP of Ethnographic Research at The Hartman Group explains what retailers can take away from this study‘s results.

“While the notion of quality of life is very broad, consumers are still looking to markers of quality on a category-by-category basis.” Balanko said. “Consumers are becoming more attuned to authenticity cues to discern the ‘real’ from the ‘fake.’ Authenticity is communicated through compelling product/company narratives with products containing whole, real and clean ingredients created by knowledgeable people who genuinely care.”

In short, consumers largely base wellness on coming first from the notion of “you are what you eat.” Food companies, especially, take note. Brand development and marketing strategies should focus on promoting wellness, but just making a sticker for a product that exclaims, “Promotes wellness!” won’t convince a consumer that the product is worth buying. Instead, companies must convince consumers their product is real and authentically good. Be warned: consumers do not like being treated like children. Food companies should stay away from being preachy or overly complimentary: You don’t know how amazing you are! If only you knew after trying our product!

“When spoken to as a peer, and presented with high-quality products (regardless of health-and-wellness positioning), consumers respond with interest as they seek high-quality experiences for a quality life.”

Target Sells a Service Experience with its Electronics

Even during the recession, the electronics business continues to be hot as customers consider things like cell phones a necessity.

As the electronics business gets more competitive with discount stores like Target and Walmart fighting specialized stores like Best Buy for a larger customer base, stores realize they need to do a lot more than just stock shelves with the products customers want–and need. In an effort to become more of a destination electronic store, Target announced new services for electronics shoppers.

Among the new offerings, Target is adding a free telephone technical support service for purchases, an electronics recycling program that offers store gift cards and more wireless phone choices.

“Electronics are getting more complicated and more of us are connected to the Internet and wireless,” Senior Vice President Mark Schindele said. “Guests want a seamless experience.”

Like Best Buy’s Geek Squad and Apple’s Genius Bar, Target’s new services hope to bring more traffic to the store. Time will tell whether consumers will buy what Target is selling.

Women Pay Full Price at Ann Taylor

It’s no secret customers like a good sale, but a recent finding from Ann Taylor shows items can still sell–even with a full-price sticker.

Ann Taylor reported a second-quarter profit and rising sales that even bested their lower-priced namesake Loft chain, which used to be a superstar during the recession. MarketWatch quotes the company saying gross-margin comps “dramatically outpaced” sales performance because of “the strength of the full-priced offering.”

It’s an encouraging report for women retailers. Often, women retailers feel the effects of a recession harder than other companies. When women oversee the household finances, they tend to cut back their own spending first. Plus, Ann Taylor, a retailer known for supplying professional clothing, found itself in a tricky situation trying to sell business clothes amidst job layoffs and potential job layoffs.

While the economy still isn’t in great shape, it’s nice to hear that retailers can do well in the present situation.

Recession Resets Consumers’ Priorities

What does the customer want? It’s a question retailers ask themselves all the time.

According to a recent study done by the Pew Research Center, consumer needs aren’t the same as they once were. According to the study, just 42 percent of Americans say they consider a television set a necessity, down from 52 percent just last year and 64 percent in 2006. The landline telephone also saw a dip in numbers. Of those polled, 62 percent still consider the landline phone a necessity, down from 68 percent in 2009.

“It’s true that in the digital era, consumers know they can watch a lot of television programming on their computers or smartphones,” Pew said. They also can make calls from their cell phones, a belief young people especially share. Fewer than half of those in the 18-29 age range consider a landline phone a necessity, but almost 60 percent think a cell phone is a must have item.

The report also shows people consider cars, clothes dryers, microwaves, home air conditioners and home PCs as less of a necessity than years prior.

“This suggests that the psyche of the American consumer is in a much different place now than it had been in the heady days before the recession.”

Still, just because more people categorize certain goods as a luxury over a necessity doesn’t mean the products aren’t selling. Retailers can take this information and apply what they know to their future marketing strategies.

Consumers Procrastinate Back-to-School Shopping

Retailers, take notes. American families are putting off their back-to-school shopping in an effort to make sure they’re getting the best deals.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with the NPD Group, told msnbc.com, “The consumer is not in any rush.”

An earnings call from Walmart indicated more shoppers are making their school supply purchases closer to their schools’ start dates. The National Retail Federation also predicted a quarter of school shoppers won’t begin their back-to-school shopping until one or two weeks before school begins. In some cases, families may even put the shopping off until later in the fall after seeing what’s in style and what students really need.

Still, the National Retail Federation predicts American families will eventually spend more on back-to-school supplies and clothes than last year. Back-to-college spending should remain about the same.

Meanwhile, retailers are offering deals for the customers now. Abercrombie & Fitch’s jeans are currently 40 percent off, Target is offering free shipping on $50 online purchases and Amazon.com has bargains on coffee makers, printers, microwaves and textbooks for college students.

Sam’s Club to Gift Wi-Fi This Holiday Season

When Sam’s Club begins offering free Wi-Fi in its stores this November, the retailer hopes shoppers will be more likely to purchase electronics, specifically new Internet-connected television sets.

“It is an intimidating category with lots of complexity,” said Sam’s Club Chief Executive Brain Cornell in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “This will allow a member to walk up to a Samsung LCD Internet-enabled TV and see how to find his Facebook page or stream video from Vudu.”

Wi-Fi will also improve customers’ in-store Internet access on their smart phones and will allow them to easily find more information about a product and do comparison shopping within the store. Sam’s Club isn’t concerned about its customers doing price comparisons with its competitors. Consumer electronic analyst Stephen Baker from NPD Group, a market research firm, confirmed Sam’s Club has little to worry about in that respect. “[Retailers] know they are not going to lose customers over a few dollars, and many retailers have price-match programs.”

Retail analysts agree Wi-Fi access is especially important in stores like Sam’s Club, a place that is known for low prices and not necessarily for its customer service. One of Sam’s Club’s competitors, Best Buy, is also developing a mobile application for its customers this holiday season. Many other stores are sure to follow suit.

The Real Customer Service Story

Upon entering a retail store, the customer knows what’s coming next: it’s the standard greeting, followed by the current sales promotion and then the question, “Anything I can help you with today?” According to recent research published in the Harvard Business Review, that answer is often, “No.”

Corporate leaders dramatically overestimate how much the customer wants to talk to a customer service representative. They believe customers value live service twice as much as self-service. HBR’s data shows customers are significantly indifferent to that claim, and they value self-service just as much as they value using the phone. More interestingly, that indifference doesn’t change across their demographic, issue type or urgency.

It’s an interesting predicament: what should your company do to improve its customer service when the customer prefers self-service? And what’s compelling the customer to repel real-life interaction? It could be argued that with the rise in social networks, people don’t like to engage in as many face-to-face conversations with others. Maybe fascination with technology has won out and the lure of fancy, powerful machines are more attractive than the sales associates. Or, now, everyone considers themselves a control freak and dislikes relying on other people to get something done.

Or maybe, customers haven’t wanted the relationships companies have been pushing all along and this rise in self-service finally gives them the easy way out. That’s not a comforting thought for retailers who build their company on the promises of quality customer service. So, what should those retailers do?

It’s a simple task in the world of automated customer service recordings, information computer stations and high tech self-service cash registers: have customer service reps be real people. Too often, customers blow off the sales associates because they sound like robots reading from a script. If customer service practices create authentic experiences by individualizing how each customer gets served, it’s a good bet that customers will again appreciate that friendly face that greets them right when they walk through the door.

A Modern Day Customer Service Parable

Too often you hear stories about people’s customer service nightmares and commiserate with them as you talk of similar experiences. The Virgin Group founder Richard Branson recently shared a story about customer service himself, but the story ended with a satisfied customer and not a disgruntled one.

A Virgin Atlantic customer’s free limo failed to pick him up at his hotel (apparently the customer waited at the wrong door). So, he called a cab and arrived at the airport angry, running late and nervous he would miss his flight. A Virgin agent spotted him and tried to calm him down, apologized for the limo mix up and rushed him through the security staff lane to get him to his gate. She even reimbursed his taxi fare out of her own pocket. The passenger boarded the plane on time thanks to the Virgin agent’s ability to turn a negative customer experience into a positive one.

Unfortunately, when the agent later recounted this story to her supervisor and asked to be reimbursed for the $70 taxi fare, her supervisor asked if she had a receipt and refused to repay her without one. Branson pointed out that had any Virgin employees learned of the agent’s trouble with the supervisor, they would be unlikely to act in similar manners when other potential customer service issues arise. Agents would hesitate to steer from procedure to help customers if they knew their jobs would be at risk. That’s definitely not a good thing for Virgin’s customers, and therefore, not a good thing for Virgin.

Luckily, the airport manager heard about this story and intervened. He informed the finance team that he approved the reimbursement and educated the supervisor on the merits of “catching people doing something right.”

Branson writes, “Good customer service on the shop floor begins at the very top. If your senior people don’t get it, even the strongest links further down the line can become compromised, as the story shows.”

Train your employees well enough and instill faith in them that they can always act in a way where they’re “doing as they would be done by.” When your employees are happy, your customers are happy, and therefore, your company is happy as well.

Do Location-Based Social Networks Work for Your Company?

Should retailers check out location-based social networks and let their customers check in to their stores? An AdAge.com post on Forrester Research’s recently released study advises companies to take a second look as to whether LBSNs are right to include in their current marketing mix.

The study reports that only four percent of U.S. online adults use location-based mobile apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt. Only one percent update these services more than once a week. Even more, a good majority of respondents—84 percent—claimed they were unfamiliar with the apps, a number to surely make companies rethink how necessary it is to start a marketing campaign using LBSNs.

Those numbers may seem like LBSNs aren’t a great investment at this time, but the report calls for another look. Among location-based service users, almost 80 percent of them are male and about 70 percent of them have a college degree and are between the ages of 19 and 35. Even more importantly, Forrester discovered these users are highly influential. They are far more likely to research products and read customer reviews and frequently have family and friends coming to them for advice before purchasing a product. In this sense, companies in the gaming, electronics and sportswear industry that target their marketing plan to men may want to include an early adoption of LBSNs.

Still, plenty of companies have launched marketing plans with location-based apps that aren’t just for the guys, including PepsiCo and Starbucks. When deciding whether LBSNs are right for you brand, consider your demographic and marketing plan’s goals. Weigh whether you want to establish yourself early in the location-based marketing playing field or whether you’d rather sit in the bullpen and wait until the user numbers grow to give it a try. Like every other marketing plan for a retailer, whether it be holding a sweepstakes, advertising or social networking, location-based mobile apps can be just another tool in a well-stocked toolbox.

Mobile Applications Can Do More for a Retailer

Shoppers are on the move, and they’re taking their mobile phones with them.

Forbes Insights published a study that surveyed leading U.S. retailers’ use of mobile applications in enhancing consumer’s shopping experiences. Researchers discovered many retailers–almost fifty percent–are hoping to capture first-mover advantage as their customers go mobile. The levels of sophistication in mobile design and application vary depending on the retailer and its goals. For many, the mobile features are a scaled-back version of their website. Others have ventured into offering transaction-based and customer-oriented applications that use powerful GPS technology to pinpoint an individual customer’s needs.

Whether you want to try to increase e-commerce sales, give out coupons or suggest products to your customer, mobile applications must be molded to fit your store’s demographic and mission in order to be effective. American Eagle Outfitters, a specialty retailer that caters to 15-25 year olds, was one of the earliest adopters of mobile technology when they launched their mobile website in August 2008. They recognized their customer base was highly engaged in mobile technology and made sure to capitalize on that activity by going to where there customers spent their time: on their mobile phones. Since the experiment began, the store has seen several hundred thousand customers opt in and contribute to sales through the mobile site. Vice President Michael Dupuis cites their success to consistency across all channels. Customers can access all the same information on their mobile phone that is on American Eagle’s website. Similarly, The North Face built applications that use GPS technology to determine the location of skiers, bikers, rock climbers, runners, and more. The mobile phone users can then access information about terrain they soon will face and read suggestions for how to tackle the trails. The possibilities for what kind of mobile application a retailer develops are endless, and it’s important to figure out what your customers want in their hands.

Retailers should know that mobile technology is not a passing fad. Soon, customers will expect stores to have mobile applications. Like a website, mobile technology will be just another part of the shopping experience.