Last Word

By Erinn Morgan

The Ultimate Consumer Experience

Today, shoppers want the stores they frequent to provide them with a contagious energy through store design, merchandise, and atmosphere. And they want it at a reasonable price, according to Pam Danziger, author and founder of Unity Marketing, which specializes in consumer insights.

In Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience (Kaplan Publishing, 2006), Danziger explains how retailers of all shapes and styles can create a �shop that pops� and engage loyal customers. She also looks at the principles for future retailing success.

Here, we gain Danziger�s unique insight on today�s retail trends and retailing strategies.

EB: Can you explain how and why  the psychology of today�s shopper

is changing?

Pam Danziger: Our whole culture has been one long, incredible shopping spree. But now we have everything, and most of us truly don�t need to go shopping ever again. Shopping has turned from need based to experiential based. Emotion is the primary driver in the shopping equation today.

Do we need food? Yes. Do we need Whole Foods food? Maybe not. But we want it.

EB: How can retailers target this growing demand?

Danziger: The most important thing for retailers to recognize is that today it is truly not a product business; it is a people business.

EB:  What are some of the principles retailers can follow for success as shoppers become more experiential?

Danziger: You (the store owner) and the people you hire create the experience. People principles are the most fundamental and the most important.

In the optical industry, ODs have to have some sort of education. You have got to be a retailer, too.

While you can learn a business, you can�t train people knowledge, It�s what people have inside themselves. Look for someone who loves retail, but may not necessarily have optical retail experience.

The POP Equation

Pleasing customers can be a simple formula that adds up to great results.

�The pop equation is seven factors that transform a retailer from ordinary to extraordinary,� says Pam Danziger.

�It�s really all about people and what makes them excited and happy,� the marketing expert adds.

1. High levels of customer involvement and interaction.

2. Evocation of shopper curiosity.

3. A contagious, electric quality.

4. Convergence between atmosphere, store design, and merchandise.

5. An authentic concept.

6. Right price/value proposition.

7. Accessibility, no exclusivity, and freedom from pretensions.