A general rule for making changes in retailing is to lead your customers gradually. This reduces the possibilities that you’ll lose your loyal customers.
Here are tips about applying that general rule:
- Determine where you want to end up, and if this ending point is quite different from where you are now, then introduce at least one intermediate step. If you currently sell paint and you want to end up adding draperies, consider introducing wallpaper first. If you plan to phase out your entire stock of draperies, reduce the product assortment for a while before eliminating the product category completely.
- There are some changes where intermediate steps are unrealistic. For instance, if you want to close down your current store and open up for business across town, it wouldn’t work to open up a store halfway across town for a while as an intermediate step. Here the principle becomes “Ease your customers into making the changes.” Is it realistic to keep the old location open for a while after opening up the new location? Can you announce the change at least a month in advance of making it and show a map of how to get from the old store to the new store? Can you post large drawings of the new store in the old store?
- Recognize that customers like some changes. It makes shopping less tedious. It’s the large changes that can lead to customer discomfort. Research at University of California-Los Angeles, University of Cincinnati, and Miami University indicates that you can make an extreme change seem like a moderate change by clearly pointing out ways in which the new is similar to the old.
- Cultures differ in their receptivity to change. Consumers in individualistic cultures (U.S., Canada, Australia) tend to welcome changes more than do consumers in collectivist cultures (Turkey, Greece, China).
Click below for more:
Change Brand Loyalty Habits Gradually
Minimize Switching Costs
Use Customer Life Changes to Switch Brands
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