8 ideas for retailers in our crappy economy

The days of Americans spending more than we make may have come and gone officially. Not only are Americans driving less and thinking of fuel economy more, which many feel is a permanent shift in people’s core beliefs, we are *gasp!* saving more, another shift which many believe will be permanent. I agree with that one. How much longer do you really think we could go on spending as much money as we made?

I know it states in the article that the average person saved just under 1% of their earnings. We all know the average person was really racking up debt while the more frugal saved just enough. For a few years I saved nothing and eventually had nothing. What did I do? I kept my cost of living as low as I could and now I have some savings again. A lot more people are doing the same thing. What does this mean?

Walk with me a moment. Literally.

If you follow me on Twitter I tweeted about an empty Burlington mall yesterday. You see, I sometimes walk around the Burlington mall at lunch. I’m not doing it to shop as much as I like the exercise for both my body and my mind (and I like to sample the food in the food court, too, you got me there). I’ve noticed drastic differences in the number of sales and the size of these sales. More items are on sale, the discounts are deeper, and they’re more frequent. I used to wonder when I could pick something up on sale, and now I know it’s going to happen much sooner than it used to. Want that sweater you’ve had your eye on? Wait a week or two. It’ll be 30-50% in no time.

Stores are closing, too. Lots of stores, from a pair of bar accessory stores in the Burlington Mall (two of practically the same store, selling stuff you’d find in a bar?) to every Circuit City in the country. Now I’ll answer my question of “what does this mean?” – it means people are less likely to buy crap they don’t really need.

How can retailers gain more business? Here are some ideas:

1) Focus on selling products which make people’s lives easier. Apple stores never run a sale. You know why? Because they only sell things which make your life easier. An iPod carries an entire music collection on one portable device, which you can play in the car, through speakers, or through headphones. I wish more stores had one product as brilliant as the iPod. What do you have which makes my life easier?

2) Treat customers like people. Stop using used-car salesman tactics. Trust me, we can typically tell if you care about us or if you just want money. Especially the people at the island stations – we know the only thing you care about it money. Strangely enough, I’m more likely to stop at an island if something catches my eye, not if you want to “ask me a question.” How do you treat your customers?

Which brings me to my third point….

3) Why are you asking the same tired questions? Come up with something more original. Show me you’re at least interested in making the conversation, well, INTERESTING. Otherwise go sit in the corner until I’m done, and ring me up quickly if I find something I like on sale.

4) Show me something which will stand the test of time. Most people don’t want fads, don’t want crappily made crap, and don’t want something which we’ll never use. I never understood why massive companies spent time designing stuff nobody will ever rave about. Lands End guarantees their products forever, and I’ve taken them up on their return policy before. They also make stuff which lasts a while. Two good ideas to put together. Are you going out of business faster than your products are going out of style?

5) Sales should be used to clear merchandise out. If you’re putting tons of stuff on sale all the time, eventually we’ll figure out everything you sell is overpriced crap. Why are you having all those sales?

6) Sell beautiful things. If no one thinks it’s beautiful, no one is going to talk about it. Who’s talking about you?

7) If it’s something I can buy online and do not need to look at in person, and these items are what you mainly sell, your retail locations had better offer the experience of a lifetime. One of my hobbies is yo-yoing. I can buy any yo-yo I want and anything I need for them, like string, online at a steep discount. I buy nearly every yo-yo item from one store in Northampton, Massachusetts, because they have yo-yo classes and club meetings, which have helped me to meet new people, learn tricks, and make friends. I pay FULL PRICE and have to drive two hours to this store, and I love doing it. Who’s willing to do something like that for your store?

8) Spend more money on the seven things listed above and less on marketing. We live in an age where I can tell everyone I want to how crappy your crap is faster than you can swipe my credit card. My voice is worth more than your advertisement, because people trust me more than they trust your company. Are customers saying the same things about you that your ads claim?

I worked in retail throughout high school and college, and those businesses never thrived on mere commodities. They weren’t chains and did not have huge marketing budgets, they simply offered better products, better service, and better experiences than someone else, and that’s what kept them in business.

Philosophy: people are spending less money, so make sure if they spend it with you they’ll come back. With a friend.