November 12, 2021
Position Yourself Strategically for the Return to In-Person Shopping
The durable goods industry continued to do well throughout the pandemic as consumers flocked to online retailers, buying big-ticket items to use while staying at home. Now, with vaccination rates rising and people more willing to leave their homes and spend money, we are seeing a shift in consumer behavior – durable goods purchases are slowing as travel, dining and in-person services begin to soar.
Because of this shift in consumer behavior, and to stay relevant and profitable in today’s marketplace, the durable goods industry must continue to reinvent itself and evolve as we learn more about this new consumer. Now is an ideal time for marketers to reconsider your in-store/point-of-sale strategies to take advantage of shoppers returning to brick-and-mortar stores. Here are a few tips:
- Understand your target audience. Specifically, develop demographic and psychographic understandings of who your customers are including what your audience values, their motivations, how they prefer to communicate, etc. This understanding will help dictate marketing communication to help guide the shopper from awareness to the cash register.
- Be flexible – retailers/channels/layouts can dictate drastic differences from location to location/store to store. The population-dense metropolitan areas of the Northeast are at stark contrast to the agricultural rolling fields in the Midwest. Identifying with customers where they are is the first step to leading them through the purchase process.
- Design objectives around a far, near and in-hand visual system. (We applied a 30’, 10’, 3’ strategy for STIHL, each distance had its own objective.) From a distance, draw the customer’s attention and increase your identity with high-end graphics to represent the quality of the brand. Guide the customer through solutions-oriented visuals that will help them self-qualify for a specific type of product. Provide dynamic infographics that help sell the benefits of your product and to help finalize the sale.
- Use interactive screens to complement your in-store messaging. Not only can they act as silent salesmen while other sales associates are busy, utilizing in-store technology can help lead the customer more quickly along the product selection journey.
- Remember to always take advantage of add-on sales opportunities. Positioning complementary consumables next to your consumer goods displays increases your ability to not only add value and convenience for your customer – it will also positively affect your bottom line.
One thing is certain, the consumer landscape is ever-changing. Post-pandemic trends are still in the making, and it drives us to continue improving upon how we can be of service to this new brand of consumer. Being nimble in your approach to reaching these new customers will be fundamental to your success.
Click below if you’d like to see how Red Letter Communications helped STIHL refresh their retail display to attract younger and more suburban customers. Our “store-within-a-store” concept was a flexible, modular design for over 9,000 independent STIHL retailers.