With YOUR Permission: April 2007

Friday, April 20, 2007

Who's in the driving seat of YOUR Retail Success?

History tells us that the smart business person knows how to get to their customer base, attract them and keep them coming back for more.

But history is history! Since it's formalisation a mere 12 (yes, twelve) years ago the Internet has dramatically changed the way customers / consumers go about purchasing goods. Access to this medium has enabled individual consumers to search faster, reach wider, be more informed, less susceptible to clever sales pitches. So what is a consumer? Wiki has it as follows - A consumer.

What is really interesting here is this :

"Typically when businesspeople and economists talk of consumers they are talking about person as consumer, an aggregated commodity item with little individuality other than that expressed in the buy/not-buy decision. However there is a trend in marketing to individualize the concept. Instead of generating broad demographic profile and psychographic profiles of market segments, marketers are engaging in personalized marketing, permission marketing, and mass customization.[1]"

Look at how the role reversal take place from the second sentence! But it goes much further than this.

Take a look at what Doc Searls had to say about "The Intention Economy" and how about Mass Class!?

Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Challenge Of Attracting RETAIL Consumer Traffic

Trevor writes:

What's the biggest problem facing retailers? Attracting consumers to their stores!

How is this discussued on the web? Here are some insights:

Why do some malls fail while others survive and even thrive? Are there lessons that we can learn from the raving successes of malls like Parco Bugis Junction, Ngee Ann City and the evergreen Plaza Singapura?

First, you need to advertise and promote your mall aggressively. Sounds pretty obvious? Well, it isn't just about sales all year round, but special tie-ups, loyalty programmes, festive deals, lucky draws, mall-wide promotions and other specials to attract the finicky consumer dollar. In the dog-eat-dog world of retailing, its all about generating the greatest top-of-mind-recall and mindshare as shopping tend to be a rather impromptu, spur-of-the-moment decision.

Second, you need to have a certain theme that can be easily identified with. What is your mall's unique selling proposition? Convenience? Hip and funky stores (Eg Heeren)? Family friendliness (Eg Ngee Ann City and Raffles City)? Music and private schools (Plaza Singapura)?

Third, you need to collaborate with your tenants on mutually beneficial activities. Develop joint promotions and activities that boost customer traffic and earnings. Parco Bugis Junction does this exceedingly well, and have a performance-based element in their monthly rentals. This incentivises both landlord and tenant to work hard in attracting customers.

Fourth, you need to frequently organise mall events. Theme them according to the festive seasons - Christmas, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, National Day, School Holidays etc. You will be surprised at how effective meet and greet sessions with Mickey Mouse or Pokemon are in attracting the masses!