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WHILE EVERYONE IS excited about e-commerce, shoppers still appreciate a good instore experience, it seems.
A study examining behaviours and perceptions of over 1,000 Irish shoppers has shown that their feelings about grocery shopping are particularly influenced by the environment you give them when they step over the threshold.
While large supermarket chains often have extensive research behind their decisions for their template stores, smaller and independent retailers do not always have that information at their fingertips.
The report – the second in three from the Shopper Nation 2014 series by shopping marketing specialists Visualise - is called In-Store Experience.
The demographic surveyed had a wide geographical, age, family structure and gender range:
Some of the findings show where smaller retailers might be able to capitalise on the gap left by the larger supermarkets:
- activities for kids
- clear signs
- better music
- friendlier staff and better customer service
- competitions
- improve decor and add instore demos/sampling tables
The conclusion Shopper Nation comes to is that people are time-poor and appreciate help from retail outlets to address the reason why they are shopping with them. As the report says:
They are on the lookout for easy solutions to shopping needs. These needs may consist of trying to prepare daily dinners for the family, organise a dinner party for friends, and create simple lunch ideas or perhaps something as simple as snacks for a night in…It is not as simple as just grouping together what appear to be complementary products and expecting shoppers to buy them both. Shopper solutions must inspire shoppers and deliver real value to them.
How do you serve shopper needs? Have you trialled any new methods to keep customers coming back for a unique experience in your shop? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below…
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I have worked in retail for over 15 years. I loved dealing with people,helping customers with their queries and feeling like I made a difference. Then,you know what happened? People happened. Grumpy SOB’s that come into the shop at 7.30 in the morning,throwing coins at me for a paper without so much as a hello, people complaining that the coffee machine is on a cleaning cycle and walking off in a huff or when you don’t activate petrol pumps within 2 seconds,you get an earful.. People completely ruined my love for retail so….rant over
What’s the difference between people now and 15 years ago?
Experience and 15 years full of taking cr@p from people. Most retail staff can be unprofessional as well,I understand that but I’ve put up with and seen a fair amount of abuse from people over the years and it’s made me want to just get out of it altogether. A nice office somewhere away from people
But you just said in your first comment you loved dealing with people and then you contradicted yourself that you hate dealing with people?
You get ass###es in all walks of life and in every job. It’s just the way the world is. I have learnt over the years to take these people in my stride and realise it’s not my fault they’re unpleasant. If you stand up to them they usually back down quite quickly. They usually pray on the weak.
I realise giving lip to unpleasant people isn’t easy when your in customer services but you can make life more difficult for them. Get some pleasure from that.
Your mistake was staying in retail for 15 years.
I used to like people before I worked in retail, four years of idiocy and snide remarks when you’re trying to do your utmost best for them takes its toll..
Yes I LOVED dealing with people when I first started out but people’s attitude changed my opinion on the job. I don’t hate dealing with people at work but they don’t make the job any easier. Most customers are lovely but you will ALWAYS get at least 3 in any shift that will cause a problem when there is none there. Asking a customer if they have any fuel outside can be a nightmare. IT IS MY JOB TO ASK THIS!! Yet when I ask some people,it’s like I’ve committed the worst atrocity towards them
They’re 15 years older
How do people get offended when asked ‘did you get fuel’ is beyond me?. There is a few people round here like that. The whole community think they’re ass###es so be safe in the knowledge that most people think the same.
One of the bullet points says, “Only 27% of shoppers found their main supermarket to be fun and exciting.”
Whenever I have roller-skated through the Tesco aisles, expertly lobbing everything I need into a basket as I go and usually without dropping anything, I was always stopped by security and abruptly asked to leave :/
Shopping isn’t exciting for me anymore, I am one of the disgruntled 27%. Sort it out Tesco!
In retail, the public think they have a right to walk in and completely ruin anything you have, whether it be a display, cleanliness or dignity. They will shout and ball at you for the littlest things imaginable. Families with kids are the worst horror of all, spoiling peoples day with their disregard of other people, so they don’t have to look after the kids. The elderly are split into 2 groups, really nice and pleasant or real S.O.B.’s
I still get amazed how people walk into penny’s and destroy the stores on a daily basis.
Retail workers are usually on minimum wage and deserve a medal for what they have to put up with!
You sir, I salute you. Do you work or have you worked in retail? Because you know what you’re on about. If you haven’t, I’m amazed at your consideration – something that the majority of the non retail experienced public seem to lack.
He’s dead right, parents that don’t keep control of their kids while enquiring about a product and the children wreck the shop then you spend an hour fixing for it only for it to happen again and again and again…
Once this little brat walked around the whole perimeter of the store, held his arm out to his level and knocked over EVERYTHING at arms level. Needless to say i was fit to kill the mother…
He’s dead right, parents that don’t keep control of their kids while enquiring about a product and the children wreck the shop then you spend an hour fixing for it only for it to happen again and again and again…
Once this little brat walked around the whole perimeter of the store, held his arm out to his level and knocked over EVERYTHING at arms level. Needless to say i was fit to kill the mother…
Sell blue moulded chocolate eclairs,that’s how Tescos got me to go back to them yesterday
I can’t understand then, how lidl and aldi have taken the Irish and British markets by storm, since their interiors look like a warehouse. Does not compute….
Both Aldi and Lidl are bright and airy – Aldi more so, in my opinion. Walk in the door, you can see from one side of the shop to the other. No clutter. Flow around nicely with your trolley. It’s always clean. Get to the checkout and be dealt with quicker than in any of the other supermarkets. They pay their staff a considerable amount more than any other chain and it pays off.
And you can walk into any Aldi in Ireland and find exactly what you went in for in 10 seconds unlike the big names where your a half an hour trying to find a bag of sugar.Aldi may not be fancy but they are functional and cheap.
That’s bollox about the queues. You often spend 20 minutes queuing in the German shops.
I’m always amazed at the speed of the person on check out in Lidl /Aldi. It’s so fast. They also say hi to you maybe have a very brief chat. Then I go to Tesco. About 99% of the times I’ve been in there there’s always a grumpy sod on checkout that sighs before beginning to checkout your goods. Never smiles at you but if one of their colleagues comes over it’s all shits and giggles. The 1% is usually a new person or a needle in a haystack.
That’s because they’re terrified they’ll lose their jobs if they fail to smile the requisite 4.5 inches and scan one item every 2.7 micro-seconds. At least Tesco lets them have an off-day.
Has anyone found that you’re almost taken aback when you get a friendly checkout operator in these stores? And that when you do come across one they are almost always foreign?? Its almost funny how downright rude some of the miserable Irish biddies (they are ALWAYS girls/women) are, say hello and they point blank ignore you, through change at you like you have leporasy and ignored again when you say “thank you”. Or leave you standing there while they b*tch & moan to a colleague for 5 mins. Dunnes Stores staff are the worst!!
Not exactly retail but I went into burgerking on Grafton street yesterday and encountered two surly slow Irish people employed there. Long queue. Gave up went next door to the much busier but queueless McDonald’s and got served instantly with a smile by a charming Polish person.
Can’t beat a shop with a clear, attractive layout. I honestly think this is a huge part of where Tesco fell down in recent years; shops with little order, dirty and unkept shelves etc. Good visual displays, friendly staff and organisation across the shop floor…that’s what retailers need to focus on.
I recently came across a small clothes shop in Charleville, Co. Cork. Contrary to popular belief that these shops are dying out, the shop was doing roaring trade. Why? The lady that owned the shop was passionate about clothes and buys a very wide range of styles that are appealing to young and old. She also used vintage couches and chairs to add to the boutique vibe she wanted to create. And she utilised social media very well, using case studies of ladies who came to her looking for a dress for a wedding or special occasion, along with competitions etc (she has over 27k FB fans…not bad going).
If small retailers want to survive, they have to interact as much as they can with the customer and not underestimate the importance of visual impact and genuine enthusiasm for their products.
What is the name of the shop?
Cherish, on the Cork side as you’re coming into town…well worth a look.
The rudeness of staff in most shops here in the town where I live is a disgrace.And in a restaurant you cannot complain if there is an issue with your food.Oh no.People accept every shyte .The customer is not king in Ireland.
The customer should be king.In shops.In pubs.In restaurants.Just like in America. Unfortunately the customer is far from being king here.The shopkeeper rules the waves.And since nobody complains..
Never ever go to the male checkout staff, slow as snails. Proof that women are multi-taskers and we men are not!
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