Make It Easy to Buy from You

Special events are a wonderful way to draw footsteps into your store. But check that the special events don’t impede people buying from you.

• When street fairs were held in downtown Patterson, California, some of the merchants found that the configuration of the booths blocked access to their main entry doors.
• Arriving early for a “Sully” Sullenberger book signing at my local Borders, I decided to ask for help finding a paperback I’d heard had come out recently, but I stopped searching when it appeared that every single staff member except for the busy cashiers was occupied in moving things to prepare for the celebrity’s arrival.
• After the September 2009 Fashion’s Night Out—a worldwide special event designed to build interest in clothes and accessories purchases at a time of flagging sales—a number of attendees said that when they asked to make a purchase, they were told the clothes being modeled were not for sale at that time.

     These are only three examples I’ve encountered of a store making it unnecessarily difficult for shoppers to buy from them. A recent Global Toy News posting points out that the problem for bricks-and-mortar retailers is getting greater because the iPad cadre of shoppers are accustomed to instant downloads of apps. Ecommerce brains get impatient with any delays or obstacles. They don’t want to hear “No, you can’t” or “No, we can’t.”
     Get the physical and personnel barriers out of the way of the customer consummating the transaction. Then avoid saying no. Say yes, and set a price on it. “Yes, we can deliver and set up the exercise machine at your remote mountain cabin. Here’s what it would cost….”
     Instead of no, guide the shopper through the search and purchase. Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab who studied shopping behavior found that psychological barriers can occur as the consumer moves through five sorts of questions:

• “Why am I here?” “Is it to make a repeat purchase, consider changing to a new item, gather information for future use? Was I brought here by an ad that promised me a discount or other distinctive shopping advantage?”
• “What are my options?” “Now that I’m here, what can I do? Are there attractive possibilities I didn’t know about?”
• “Which options should I choose and why?”
• “How do I do it?” “Is that the button to push?”
• “What should I do next?”

Click below for more:
Stage Special Events to Build Sales
It Takes Two to Say No
Design Store Operations for Ecommerce Brains
Set Store Searches for Ecommerce Mentalities