INTERACTIONAL TRANSACTIONS

By now, it’s apparent that we shop … or, at least, spend lots of time in visual retail contemplation.

[That’s online and off, if it matters.]

So we creatures of habit were slightly intrigued by Square CEO Jack Dorsey’s suggestion that we do more with purchase receipts than stuff them in shopping bags.  Others have followed up on that recommendation, with ideas ranging from talking receipts to those that extend the conversation via tone, brand, and voice.

Notice we said “slightly.”  Those little pieces of paper are, in our hands, annoying; we collect them in one place, then file for the annual IRS drudgery (and accountants’ delight).  If we belong to a frequent buyers’ club, we’ll note the points – and, perhaps, the rewards.  Then crumple them up.  Other than that, they’re a legally required nuisance mandated for all U.S. retailers.

What would it take for us to pay attention to our transaction?  Here are a few of our brainy-isms:

• Make it pretty.  Seriously, we’re like magpies, attracted to glitz and glitter.
• Make it useful.  That might include an embedded chip or flash drive, ready to input into our QuickBooks or waveaccounting or other records management.  [Then again, there’d probably be an upcharge for this … ]
• Make it memorable.  Gift cards, especially from the majors, are usually well packaged.  Tiffany’s lovely blue box, Starbucks’ pick-your-own plastics, Neiman’s always-smart ‘you’ve got a gift’:  Why not the receipt?

Or:  We’d easily be swayed to go the other way, giving our salespeople a memory stick and asking them to upload our receipts.  Period.

Too much brand conversation is, at times, simply too much brand talk.

FUTURE SHOCK REVISITED

Grrrrrr …

That’s our reaction when well-intentioned marketing futurists start thinking broadly, dis-remembering some communications 101 principles.

The latest example:  The 2025 grocery store, debuting at Food Marketing Institute 2014 (the association for nearly 40,000 U.S. food retailers), sponsored by some big-name powerhouses. 

In ten years, or so the presentation goes, we’ll experience frictionless checkout (read:  a ready-to-charge-it app); micropersonalization, or the customization of products based on our purchase history; and stores that physically transform, depending on the seasons, the times of day, the weather, even traffic patterns.

All cool and not unexpected.  Many of us already swipe our smartphones at Starbucks and other foodie outlets.  Get mailings from fave stores that feature products we just bought.  And, no sleight of hand:  Watch as movable partitions and other ingenuities help merchandise the goods.

So what frosted us?  The mention of lifestyle advisors, store employees who’ll now help people shop (they’re moving on from the check-out aisle).  Why?  Because that involves a new talent profile, a huge investment in learning and development, and a positioning that – except maybe for Whole Foods and occasional store nutritionists – just doesn’t register with us.  At least right now.

Consider your most recent interaction with a supermarket clerk.  Did you ask where a certain product is shelved?  [And how many people did it take to get the answer?]  Inquire about a special order – only to wait for weeks until someone picks up the phone and says, “it’s here.”  Request a quickie course on cooking, say, a Copper River salmon versus the regular kind?  How long will it take for our helpers to respond to these shopper queries, let alone the more proactive kind?

No cynicism, just common sense:  Hey, is this a job for newly retired boomers?

BREAKING BREAD (not bad)

Retailers have re-discovered their mate:  Restaurants.  Until its meatball mess, Ikea was known for its café-home furnishings combo.  Walmart and Target, for their snacks-while-shopping lures.  Now, Tommy Bahama claims its recently introduced in-store eateries generate twice the sales per square foot of apparel.

Another duo follows:  News organizations and politicians (and anyone else who’s got a soapbox).  Today, frequent breakfasts with Paul or Larry or Bob, when combined with The Wall Street Journal or The Christian Science Monitor, have a certain panache and appeal.  Not to mention frequent business conversations and occasional deals.

Once upon a time, though, establishments like the late-great Marshall Field’s as well as Neiman Marcus built dining places inside.  The Walnut Room and Zodiac restaurant were, respectively, part of the experience.  Then, hours-long in-store shopping was the norm.  There were no cyber worlds, no flash sales.  It was a time to relax, to be with friends, reflect on the day, and, oh yes, buy what you needed as well as feed your selves.

The power of a meal to begin (and continue) relationships is one we all acknowledge.   Inside organizations, especially in buildings with cafeterias, many leaders do take the opportunity of a mid-day snack or lunch or break to sit and listen to colleagues and employees.    All good.

But why not more often, more off-the-cuff dialogues over a meal or a cuppa?   Sure, there’s always a tendency to clam up when a C-suite executive meanders in and sits at a table.  Or to resort to small talk.  Or to studiously avoid the table or make excuses about getting back to work.  Yet many workers are yearning for just that kind of connection, to understand leaders and their motivations.  Study after study shows a real need to personalize the workplace, to forget a relationship with their managers and executives

A bit of orchestration, at first, might be necessary.  Creating natural venues to have a conversation can be staged, first (especially around food!).   Later, more natural and impromptu opportunities occur as colleagues and coworkers and chiefs get to know each other. 

After all, it started with the Old and the New Testament:  Breaking bread is about the food and the fellowship. 

AISLING FOR IDEAS

Pardon us while we indulge in one of our favorite pastimes:  Visual stimulation (also known as retail therapy).

Seriously.  Contrary to our loved ones’ opinions, we’re not exercising our shopping jones.  Rather, we’ve been deliberately spending time in our favorite retailers in search of something, well, inspiring. 

Today, our visual stimulation hobby has turned into a cache of ideas, many of which are extraordinarily relevant to the issues we’re solving today. 

Take some recent statistics about women buyers, for one, hailing from a Surrey, England, retail consultant.   Shoppers who use fitting rooms have a conversion rate of 67 percent; in other words, they eventually buy what they try.  Compare that rate with consumers who don’t try on clothes in store (10%).   [No chauvinism intended since men buy without using fitting rooms, for the most part.] 

Those findings have prompted the likes of Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, Bloomingdale’s, Ann Taylor and others to spiff up back-of-store dressing areas, adding;

• Comfortable communal areas for waiting companions. 

•  Spacious rooms and great lighting. 

•  Buttons that alert ever-hovering sales associates to a specific request and call for one-on-one assistance.

Getting employees to engage with change – and the company - is not so dissimilar.  [Though we don’t advocate sprucing up media for design’s sake alone.]  Try these on … if you haven’t already: 

• Installing channels to answer requests and acknowledge concerns. 

• Ensuring that managers and influencers get the kind of help (read: information and face time) they need to inspire their staff and colleagues. 

• Showing them the change – not just in flattering light, but also from all angles, up, down, and sideways – so they make the right decisions. 

Our analogies can continue.  Old Navy now features quick-change areas and labels – e.g., “I love it” and “Not for me” – to help overloaded shoppers organize their haul during try-ons.  Finally, one we especially like:  Anthropologie writes consumers’ first names on the fitting room doors, so sales staff can start to engage more personally.

Next time you’re strolling in any aisle – supermarket or department store, warehouse club or discounter – compare those stimuli to your employees’ experiences.  Do they register?