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Plan the Customer’s Journey

Customers are creatures of habit, they may not have been to your baby store before, but they have a plan in their mind on how they want to
experience your store, break their rules at your peril.

But, what are the rules?

1) Make Them Go WOW

Your shop window is your focus on the world, it is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd and make them go WOW. Do not just merchandise it with parents in mind; create a window that everyone will notice. It is your opportunity to get “word of mouth“ marketing established. We all know somebody that has a baby and if your window stands out from the crowd we will talk about your window to our friends who have a need to visit a baby store.

Baby shops I have visited in Spain are an experience, and this is what you need to create with your shop window. You can be adventurous and humorous, but above all, dare to be different. Be bold and be a bit crazy, your consumers will love you for it.

2) The Transition Zone is Critical

The aim of the shop window is to entice the customer into your store. They want to walk in and experience the environment in a positive way. Their first four steps into your store are vitally important. Give them the space to absorb the new environment they have just walked into. I visit baby stores that put so much clutter at the entrance that the customer has a negative experience rather than a great experience.

3) Power to the People

The first display that the customer focuses on is called the power display. Research indicates that sales from this display can be 540% higher than anywhere else in the store. This means product will sell 5.4 times quicker in any given time frame. This is as long as we abide by some basic rules. The display, in my experience, must be topical, circular, and cone shaped to be the most effective in generating sales. Plus, remember a display is not completed until a sign has been placed on the display. Sonia Larsen from Michigan University will tell you that sign should give the name of the product, three benefits and the price if you are to maximize sales.

4) Get Your Customers to Walk Your Store

Your objective is to get the customer to walk the entire store and be exposed to all of the products you have to offer. As I mentioned, we are creatures of habit and subconsciously we want to walk counterclockwise around the store; this is based on the fact that we are used to driving on the right hand side of the road. Do not make it difficult for the customer; create a layout that is easy for them to shop. The position of your point of purchase is critically important, place it in the wrong position and the sales per square foot can drop off dramatically.

5) Product Placement is the Next Challenge

Walk around your local supermarket and you will find they have strategically placed the toilet paper, dog food and coffee to ensure that you walk the majority of the store. The same applies in your store. You have purpose products that can be strategically placed to generate extra sales. I recently worked with a baby shop in Australia where they located the disposable diapers next to the front door. When I commented on this, I was told that they sold exceptionally well, but at the same time he had employed me because sales across the store were not as high as he was expecting. We moved the diapers and exposed more products to more consumers and as a result the average sale per customer went up. We can learn a lot from category placement from the supermarkets, they have studied this over many years. Make a list of the purpose items that you sell and then place them strategically around the store to encourage the consumer to shop the shop.

Remember there are ideas for effective retailing all around you. Take a look at other retail stores that do not sell baby items and look for ideas you can adapt for your store. The world is full of exciting ideas you can implement to make your customers go WOW.

Editorial provided by John Stanley. John is the WA Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 and his business JSA is WA Small Business Champion – Education 2009. He is an acclaimed conference speaker, retail consultant and author. For more information on how he can help your business grow, visit his website www.johnstanley.com.au or email info@johnstanley.cc.