In any business, it can be tempting to give people what they want. After all, if they’re coming to you asking for something that you can deliver — even if it’s not what you do — and you can make a transaction. Every business likes revenue, but you’ve also got to stick to your core values or you are going to lose your image outright.

David Rich, CEO of ICC/Decision Services, left a comment on this article using Costco as a great example. He said that Costco simply wouldn’t be Costco if they offered to bag your purchases because it’s not who they are. Costco manages to keep costs and labor low by avoiding offering these services, and if they made changes to those things, they’d be straying far away from their whole business model. Sure, at the threat of losing one customer they could theoretically offer up a plastic bag — but then it’s a slippery slope when everyone starts demanding it. The next thing you know, Costco’s prices will be on par with a major department store or specialty grocery store because they’ve had to change the core of who they are.

If customers don’t know what to expect from a business, they’re also never going to be satisfied. Their expectations need to be aligned up front. While there can be some leniency, too much “give” from a retailer is only going to lead to disaster.

You’ve got to set the standards of your business. If you’re going to make changes to your model, do it across the board based on demand. Otherwise, you’re going to lose your image, have no core values to abide by, and have a very confused and generally distressed clientelle.

Using Short and Sweet Social Media Communication

It’s no secret that the majority of people have limited attention spans. We’re all busy and have dozens of things running through our heads at any given time. People want to get the most information in the shortest period of time in order to digest it and act on it.

The fact that there are character limits with many forms of social media communication is one of the reasons that it has become so popular. Individuals have had to learn to get straight to the point, and followers of their social media accounts don’t have to devote a whole lot of time or energy in learning from the business. It’s simply there, in your face.

My presentation at this week’s event was not among the longer ones, but the feedback I received was many people took away more information from my shorter talk than from ones that were much longer. Getting to the point quickly and concisely works in social media and in real life. Stick to this rule in the retail industry. Your customers will appreciate that you value their valuable time.

Sharing Resourceful Information Works for Brand and Self-Promotion

I was surprised at the number of people who approached me to chat after I finished my talk. While I gave some background about myself during the process, I primarily focused on social media in the food and retail industry. As with social media, the presentation of useful information that an audience or followers require generated more interest about my brand and my personal background.

This is exactly what you should hope to accomplish when using social media effectively. Pushy sales tactics are not always well-received, but if you pique their interest enough so they’re inspired to learn more, you’ve got a captive audience for brand marketing.

Here are a few points that the talk will cover that you should be prepared to take note of:

1. Social media is still social - it may say it in the name, but that doesn’t mean we always remember what social media is all about. Some businesses focus too much on using it for self-promotion, and that whole personal connection aspect goes out the window.
2. Social media has leveled the playing field - Frito-Lay and Snikkidy find themselves on equal playing field thanks to social media, because it’s no longer just about brand power, it’s also about exposure and connection – things all brands receive and offer when they use Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media.
3. Social media is about relevancy – it’s not hard for retail businesses to use social media the ‘wrong ways’. If you’re not sharing information relevant to your target market, quite simply, no one is going to care about what you have to say.
4. Social media matters – to quote David with an excerpt from tomorrow’s talk,  “the person/business using social media gets more attention from one tweet than she does from her neighbors, The PTA, heck maybe even her husband, son or daughter! And that is why she does it…It makes her feel important, it makes her feel significant, it makes her feel relevant.”

If you’re not able to listen to David Rich’s talk tomorrow and this preview has piqued your interest, not to worry; we’ll catch you up tomorrow!

Wal-Mart continues to heavily dominate the list with an 11.7% increase from 2005 to $348.65 billion in 2006. Home Depot and Kroger are 2nd and 3rd and, although both companies saw good increases, both are surrounded by talks of changes or takeovers of late. Costco and Target hang on to spots #4 and #5, with both giants sweating it out to reinvent themselves to ensure future appeal. Bringing up the rear are Sears, Walgreens and CVS, Loew’s and Safeway at number ten.
SAP America, who sponsored STORES Top 100 List, recognizes the importance of growth and innovation to retail. Senior VP and General Manager Jim Mattecheck stated, “”Successful companies continuously find ways to offer a differentiated shopping experience that inspires customers to shop with that retailer again and again. SAP has a proven track record of helping retailers achieve their goals. In fact, more than 4,300 retailers worldwide are SAP customers.”

This year’s list included restaurants for the first time, including McDonald’s (at #16), Yum! Brands (at #35), Starbucks (at #42), Darden Restaurants (at #53), Brinker International (at #73), and Outback Steakhouse (at #80). STORES’ Reda commented that while “consumers may have changed, their needs have not. Americans still have to put dinner on the table every night, but now they are looking to restaurants to fill a larger portion of that need rather than relying exclusively on traditional supermarkets. Successful restaurants understand how to cater to today’s consumers, and there are some ideas they’re trying that traditional retailers may want to borrow.”

With women responsible for more than 46% of all cars purchase, translating into $80 billion of business, you think car dealers would wake up and smell the pleather. But the truth is, this scenario can be applied to any business, anywhere. Word of mouth can make or break your success and the public’s image of your brand. In this example, it was only 3 people talking in the group. But what happens when those 3 people tell three others, and so forth? The damage could be irreparable. And yet, so many companies continue to avoid the strategies that could boost their image simply because of cost.
At the end of the day, isn’t it much less costly to do the things necessary to foster excellent customer experiences, from training to customer feedback and mystery shopping, (just to name a few), rather than risk the tarnished image of bad word of mouth?

So pleasant in fact, even Jon Basalone, senior VP of Trader Joe’s is intrigued, telling The Times, “It’s very impressive.”
Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, explained that consumers rate time management as extremely important. Therefore, it’s critical for retailers to help customers get out of the store as quickly as possible. People typically will describe their wait periods as being much longer than they actually are, simply due to the frustration of waiting.
“We have good clocks in our heads for roughly three minutes,” said Mr. Underhill. “Once we get beyond that, time expands wildly.”
Whole Foods’ success has been so great that slower lines at competitors are driving increased business to Whole Foods. People simply do not have the time or inclination to wait in long lines, especially when an alternative is presented.
How does your customer experience measure up when it comes to the Frustration Factor? Are you making use of every available strategy to make it easy for your customers to buy and keep moving?

By contrast, many shoppers feel that Circuit City’s stores are not well-organized, it’s difficult to find help from a store associate, and product displays are poor.
According to Stephen Baker, analyst at market researcher NPD Group, “Circuit City has spent a lot of time catching up, and right now, they’re not catching up fast enough.”

While some consumers decide where to shop based on location or specific weekly advertisements, the article continues points out that most consumers spend their money where they feel comfortable. Although Best Buy and Circuit City both offer good discounts, Best Buy is winning the race with friendly greeters stationed at the doors, available and knowledgeable sales staff in every department, product displays that allows consumers to test-drive various models, and plentiful stock. Isn’t this exactly what we all want when we go shopping?

Mystery shopping is one component of your overall Customer Experience Management Program. Best Buy has figured out, through much trial and error, what the customer really wants. And they’re giving it to them. But they did not figure it out in a week or even a year. Best Buy saw the big picture, and realized it would take an investment of time and money to be #1 in their industry. They involved their entire corporation, chain-wide, in an ongoing mystery shopping program that championed their strengths and highlighted areas that needed improvement.

Was it expensive to take on such a comprehensive program? Purely from a dollars and sense viewpoint, some might say it was. However, Best Buy was able to weight the expense of the program vs. the investment value of their dollars. They could see down the line that such a program could pay them back ten times over. They realized that what would be truly “˜expensive’ would be to do nothing. Unfortunately for Circuit City, Best Buy’s visionary leadership made an excellent investment decision.

Best Buy embedded the total customer experience into their corporate culture to assure their brand was driven, and they’re reaping the results ten-fold of sticking with the program.