The latest study by the Journal of Marketing Research shows the more relaxed you are when you enter a store, the more money you’ll spend.
Relaxed customers were found to be willing to pay about 15% more for a variety of goods and services than less-relaxed people.
10 tips to increase your bottom line:
1. Practice Storefront Hospitality
Soften the exterior of your storefront with flowers, plants and other welcoming décor and signs.
2. Cool Colors Calm
Create a comfortable relaxing store space that includes calming colors: green, blue, lavender, white, gray and silver. Remember how theaters and television studios have a “green room” to quiet the nerves of anxious performers?
3. Background Music
Have soft background music playing to keep customers in your store longer like Muzak. There are also many royalty free music resources available online which require just a one-time purchase for a group of songs. Slow music makes people take their time and spend more money. Classical music encourages people to buy more expensive merchandise.
4. Great Smells Sell
Unless you are a bakery or candle shop, make sure your store has a pleasant scent when customers step in the door by using candles or other fragrance. Research shows this will increase your customers’ browsing time and makes for a happier staff. This is why grocery stores often put the bakery and flower shop at the front of the store, and realtors recommend home sellers to bake a pumpkin pie right before showing their house.
5. Mood Lighting
Add warm lighting to highlight featured products and give a homey feel to your store so it’s not too bright or too dark. Visit a Williams-Sonoma store to see an excellent example of this.
6. A Warm Welcome & Goodbye
Greet each customer as they enter your shop with a warm welcome and grateful goodbye when they leave, even if they don’t buy anything. You never know they might return or tell their friends about your business.
7. Unclutter the Aisles
Provide ample walking space between your displays and racks so customers will want to spend more time browsing, putting high-end items on the right where most people start looking and best sellers at the back of the store. When your store is crowded customers will be less social and feel cramped and do less impulse shopping, or worse be afraid they might break something and leave.
8. Check Out Impulse Items
Partner with your local gourmet shop or bath and body shop to offer cozy point-of-purchase items like bags of cookies or spa products at the check out. Cross-selling with other business is a win-win for you both.
9. Hire Friendly Help
Hire upbeat, but not hyper, employees who will genuinely care about your customers’ needs. Too many shops these days have disinterested employees who spend their time on their cell phones rather than acknowledging and helping customers. Encourage your staff through positive feedback and by listening to their ideas about making your business better to increase their own commitment and investment level in the store.
10. Know Your Customers
People like to go where everybody knows their name, as the Cheers’ song goes. Learn from bank tellers, who often repeat customers’ names. Once you see their debit or credit card or check, personalize their shopping experience by looking them in eye and saying, “Thank you, Ms. Smith, for shopping with us today.” Or you can ask them to be your Facebook friend or “Like” your store page, so you can put a face with a name for regular customers.
Although warm colors might attract people to your store from the outside, cool colors will encourage more contemplation and higher sales inside. Remember to entice all the senses when decorating your shop. Finally, show that you genuinely care about your customers and employees. A happy employee makes for a happy customer, which can lead to bigger sales for you.
Buffie Baril
Internet Advertising Manager
NashvilleWraps.com
Read the Journal of Marketing Research study: Relaxation Increases Monetary Valuations
Great post! Been reading a lot about designing my store. Thanks for the info here!
This is a great article! All of these points are important and they definitely hit the reasons why I continue to frequent local restaurants, stores, etc. Very imporant: “A warm welcome and goodbye.” Staff that hover or act “salesy” (and it’s a fine line, I know) are more apt to scare me away, but friendly makes the entire experience more enjoyable.
Loved the article, even if I do work for Nashville Wraps. On a more personal note, my home is mostly decorated with warm soothing colors such as sage greens and plums. I have been told by my friends that it makes them feel at home and I always have a candle burning or some scent plugged into my wall. Being in customer service, I always look to see if the store personnel is smiling and friendly. This absolutely, makes you want to shop there. I am really not a shopper per say and really do not like to have to dig through stuff to find a good deal. I like open spaces which makes it easier to see and shop with less clutter. This article is me to the tee that I just had to share!
Yes, they do. I always keep my store clean, cool, smelling nice, but not too strong, with nice music and windchimes in the background! Makes them come in, take a breath, and get ready to shop!!!
Those ideas will fit in any business!!!
When I had a gift shopi in Virginia Beach, my partner and I disagreed on this concept all the time. She wanted to pounce on people the minute they walked in the door,…showing them what we had to sell. I had a more laid back approach since they were tourists on vacation at the beach, and I thought they wanted a more relaxing experience to browse in a leisurely manner. I still find that appraoch works the best for me with my Willow House and Farmer’s Market businesses!
Thanks for sharing all these wonderful ideas. I think these thoughts would also work for those creating events such as fundraisers that have auctions and raffles. 🙂
Great words to live by if someone is starting a business.