Do You Really Know Your Customers?
I shop at two health food stores. I am a frequent customer, stopping by at least once if not twice a week. Nearly every time I stand at the checkout, I end up having a conversation with the clerk.
In Store No. 1, the clerks are nice. As they ring me up, we might chat for a moment about the weather or something from the morning newspaper. They’ll throw a couple of samples into my bag and send me off with, “Have a nice day.” Pleasant enough. The next time I go in, they’re still hospitable, but don’t offer a hint of recognition of me as a regular shopper. It’s as if they’ve never seen me before in their lives.
As I approach the cash register at Store No. 2, the clerks ask me how I liked that new protein powder I bought last week, or how my husband reacted to the smell of that macadamia nut lotion they saw me testing. They’ll remember the special diet I’m on and recommend a product that just arrived in the store. They, too, give me samples and tell me to have a nice day, but this time when I leave, I feel they just might ask me how that day went the next time they see me.
Guess which store just opened a fourth location to meet customer demand?
Photo by LotusHead.
Angela on August 4th, 2008 12:53 pm
It’s easy to understand which one would do so well and why, but that makes me wonder how big Store #2 is. Going by my own memory, I would never be able to remember each and every person I came in contact with to have that same familiarity with.
It is a nice touch, but I don’t even expect to be remembered each time I walk into a store.
cassy on August 4th, 2008 5:57 pm
Store no. 2 is really a nice store. Maybe its not that big store. I think the clerks can recognize a buyer if he/she always come in that store.
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