This year’s January sales began in, er… December. In fact several stores, whilst obviously closed on Christmas day, used their 24/7 web marketing capacity to launch online sales on Christmas Day. Why the manic push for retail sales? Well, what with the credit crunch and an obsession with shareholder value, big retailers spent the last quarter of 2007 at battle-stations.
In week 1 of 2008, the state of play was revealed (incidentally, if you’re interested in retail information, I strongly recommend you do a quick web search for Richard Ratner, retail analyst at Seymour Pierce: his expertise is unrivalled). Department store John Lewis was a shining beacon of achievement with like-for-like sales up around 8%; compared with many other high street retailers’ gloomy reports.
Officially, John Lewis said that electronics had bolstered their sales. I’m sure that’s true; but DSG (the group which used to be Dixons) is in the home electronics business, and they were one of the least satisfactory performers.
So here’s my entirely un-expert take on things:
Even in a down-turning economy, there will always be a market for luxury.
John Lewis charges a reasonably small premium against its lower-cost competitors, in exchange for which it offers visibly better service and improved products. Even in unpredictable times, there will always be a type of person who is prepared to pay for a top-notch product. Indeed this sort of person is less likely to be influenced by price, and therefore goes some way to immunising the retailer against the vagaries of the market.
There’s a lesson here for small businesses too. If you sell on the basis of price, you’ll always be pushed to the lowest price possible in your chosen market. If you sell on the basis of service, you can both charge more and have happier customers into the bargain: the sort of customers who keep coming back.
Late last year, I was lucky enough to meet Paul Dunn (http://www.stuffthatsizzles.com/paul/) , an Australian who calls himself either “The Wizard Of Wow” or “The Sultan of Sizzle”. Once you’ve picked yourself up from the floor and re-composed yourself, you’ll just have to believe me that he’s one of the most interesting people I’ve met. He’s an expert in finding interesting low-cost ways for businesses to improve the service they provide to their clients.
He tells a great story of one small Australian company of accountants who wanted to provide a better customer experience. So they gave some money to their receptionist: the first person a potential customer was likely to see. She didn’t spend it all, but she spent it in some interesting ways.
For example, every client through the door is now presented with a restaurant-style menu of services. It’s something to read while they’re waiting, it upsells additional products, it’s an amusing and memorable approach, and it cost practically nothing.
He also mentioned to me that Virgin Atlantic doesn’t call its passengers… passengers. They’re not customers either. They are guests. Every form, every manifest and every training manual calls them guests. This simple change builds a culture of service into every customer interaction.
All these techniques can be built into your business, and without any great cost to you. If you spend your time thinking service, there’s every chance that you too can be a John Lewis; and reap the considerable financial rewards.
Filed under: marketing, retail, sales, tips | Tagged: dsg, john lewis, marketing, paul dunn, retail, sales, service, seymour pierce, virgin
