Positive Shopping Experiences Need to be Branded
Positive shopping experiences need to be branded . . . even if they only represent a smile, or a gesture because they can all add up to what a shopper defines as an experience. Positive shopping experiences need to be part of the brand and systematically incorporated into the customer’s shopping experience through the delivery of commanding sales presentations and compelling product demonstrations. Consider positive expressions in branding and how jewelry customers react to positive dialogue. The real world dynamics of competing in the jewelry industry with all of its “me too” products and services do more to confuse shoppers than brand buyers. The focus clearly has to be on the brand’s promise . . . what it proclaims to provide in benefits for the customer. In these recessionary times shoppers are inundated with price discounts which are all used to suggest better value. But we all know that true value has more to do with what the product does for the customer than the discount attached to the item at the time of sale. Today’s buyers know too well that just because something is on sale does not mean that they have to have it. In fact, some buyers think these tough times warrant not purchasing luxury items. Jewelry marketers need to brand the excitement of wearing their jewelry, and the aesthetic appeal of the design and style of the brand’s motif, and all of the visual rhetoric you can symbolize for their markets. Tell us about how you brand and your company and products. What sort of brand promise does your brand offer . . . and deliver?
Tim Malone commented:
I feel your pain. None of us like to be judged and yes, too many
sales associates are allowed to make some very gross assumptions
regarding which shoppers are qualified to buy. What I don't
understand is what jewelry store managers would rather have the
sales associates do instead of make sales presentations and product
demonstrations? Too often I find sales associates browsing print
materials, checking their cell phones and hanging out in the back
room or carrying on private conversations. I am amazed when I am
doing consulting and the sales associates know I am in the store to
observe their selling actions and they still ignore shoppers! They
often defend their actions by saying that the shopper could never
afford what they are looking at. My responses include: how do you
know? And perhaps they were just looking at those items waiting for
you to help them? When I ask them how they think shoppers might
feel when they are ignored the responses really get interesting. .
. Not the sort of customer relationship that a brand can be built
on. That's for sure!
Mall Jewelry Boy commented:
Unfortunately just this past weekend I had a very bad shopping
experience (and this from someone who has spent WAY too many hours
scoping out jewelry stores). Too often, the jewelry shopping
experience is uncomfortable and downright unpleasant, and not
because of price (though haggling gives me a stomachache and
migraine). I was in an AGS pseudo-guild-type store the other day
and felt SO extremely uncomfortable. The salespeople were very cold
and unwelcoming. I pointedly stared, admired, and gazed at a
particular watch (that I've been in love with for years and was
recently researching on the internet) and never once did they
encourage me to try it on or offer to take it out of the case, even
after I asked about servicing a similarly branded watch. I gave the
watch of my affections one last sad long look before I left,
feeling much too uncomfortable to ask to try it on. Would I buy the
watch from their location? Probably not after that experience, I
can just drive ten minutes and find the same watch elsewhere.
Jewelry people need to get over their hatred of browsers and
assumption that young people don't have money. Browsers and "just
looking" people are called SHOPPERS! Young people manytimes have
very high disposable income! Be pleasant! Smile! Crack some jokes
and make them laugh! Make it fun and interesting! Crafting a warm,
welcoming environment complete with warm, happy people will make
people comfortable enough to come in and shop. Salespeople need to
not hold themselves above potential customers but simply be normal
people talking to normal people. I still love that watch, and
hopefully I will get to try it someday so that I can fall in love
with it...
