Bit of a ranting thread but how long do you think it can take for the average consumer to change their habits?
Having had a 20+ career in retail, mostly behind the scenes, I attended a seminar on this at the beginning of my career, can't remember by who or why, but I thought at the time the 7yr+ time line given by the presenter to change a customers habits sounded like rather excessively long time.
However after now running my own little village shop for 6years I completely agree. I still have customers, who live locally and use the shop regularly, that think we shut on a Wednesday afternoon (which the previous owners did for their last year or so of ownership), others ask for products the shop hasn't stocked for well over a decade.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I hate running out of stock of items as I think it could be 7yrs before that customer comes back.....</span>
Anyway that's my rant for the day.....
They don't. HTH.
They don’t. HTH.
Unless you really p*ss them off, then they add you to "The List" and do not ever use you again.
It seems to be a one way sreet.
[i]products the shop hasn’t stocked for well over a decade[/i]
I never have that problem at Woolworths
I popped in for some custard last Wednesday afternoon and you were shut!
See the Stif customer service thread. People not using them because of something that happened before some of the current staff were born.
Depends on your customer demographic. Young shoppers change their habits quickly whereas older ones tend to hate change. Just look at the uptake of Chip and Pin use, contactless payment adoption and online/click and collect ordering to see examples.
I popped in for some custard last Wednesday afternoon and you were shut!
It wasn't just shut, it was desserted.
That must've been a trifle annoying.
I don't think the issue is consumer habits so much as peoples behavior in general. I have a fifty something year old staff member who absolutely refuses to use the barcode scanner attached to the till because 'it doesn't work'. This is as a result of a couple of hours of issues when it was first installed four years ago. Every other employee since has used it with no issues.
On the other hand my mum (in her 70's) has been using supermarket self scanners and paying via an iphone for years.
I popped in for some
custardSmash and a packet of Opal Fruits last Wednesday afternoon and you were shut!
I don’t think the issue is consumer habits so much as peoples behavior in general.
Agree. But there is the argument that humans increasingly identify and behave as ‘consumers’ first and foremost. ie who we are is what we buy/drive/wear etc.
‘Human-habits’ have (increasingly) become ‘consumer habits’? To the point of fetishism/obsession. And at the likely cost of all else (in the bigger picture)
(I will say though, that Terry’s walked away from the chocolate orange before I changed my chocolate orange buying habits)
Brand-loyalty is a fierce drug for us chimps.
I have a fifty something year old staff member who absolutely refuses to use the barcode scanner attached to the till because ‘it doesn’t work’.
Have you considered replacing them with someone less gormless? (More gormfull?)
We are creatures of habit.
I think the older generation are more likely to avoid change, but we all risk assess when wondering if trying a different brand or flavour in something is worth it... what happens if i dont like it?!?!?.... lets stick to the tried and tested!
what happens if i dont like it
What if you prefer it and realise you've been avoiding something preferable for years?
Look, I'm not gonna use the self-service till so just shut up about it already.
“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
Douglas Adams.
You could apply this to shopping habits and all sorts of other things
(More gormfull?)
I am whelmed by that description.
popped in for some custard last Wednesday afternoon and you were shut!
From a discustard customer.
Cougar
Full Member
I popped in for some custard last Wednesday afternoon and you were shut!It wasn’t just shut, it was desserted.
That must’ve been a trifle annoying.
Customer loyalty has crumbled. The tarts.
But there is the argument that humans increasingly identify and behave as ‘consumers’ first and foremost. ie who we are is what we buy/drive/wear etc.
Increasingly? I'm not sure about that. Think about the 50s curtain twitching suburban stereotype, where the phrase 'keeping up with the Joneses' originated.
My mum's family in the 50s wasn't rich so my Grandma used to cut the labels out of the cheap clothes and sew in labels salvaged from other more expensive brands. Not only is that inconceivable today, people have figured out how to take pride in shopping at Primark etc by way of inverse snobbery.
I don’t think the issue is consumer habits so much as peoples behavior in general. I have a fifty something year old staff member who absolutely refuses to use the barcode scanner attached to the till because ‘it doesn’t work’.
How on earth do they sell anything? Surely they don't type the number by hand in each time?
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Damn straight
Have you considered replacing them with someone less gormless? (More gormfull?)
Yes, on a regular basis. However, this might not be the thread to go in to the issues (or benefits) thrown up by workers rights legislation in these sorts of situations!!
How on earth do they sell anything? Surely they don’t type the number by hand in each time?
I have a till system (Zettle) where all the stock is listed under different categories on an ipad. There is a fair amount of stock though so finding each item takes an awful lot of scrolling back and forward between pages to find the correct icon on the screen and then pressing the correct choice where the are multiple styles of each item.
Imagine the process for finding non barcoded fruit & veg or bakery on a self scan checkout but for every item, a lot of which looks very similar.
Douglas Adams.
He has something quotable for everything, but that's a particularly great one.
I am whelmed by that description.
I'm pretty plussed.
pressing the correct choice where the are multiple styles of each item
Make them do the stocktaking on their own, citing that barcodes are the way to make that job easier. Do the stocktake on a Sunday, and invite all the other staff out for lunch... send photos to lone stocktaker of you all having a wonderful time.
What if you prefer it and realise you’ve been avoiding something preferable for years?
If you don't try it you'll never have to cope with realising you've been missing out all those years!
I like what I know and I know what I like.....
How on earth do they sell anything? Surely they don’t type the number by hand in each time?
Didn't one of the big discounters (Aldi or Lidl) rely on their staff memorising all the prices and didn't use smart tills? Sure I read that somewhere.
Never having shopped in either I have no first hand experience.
Having owned a shop in a village for nearly 16 years i hate to say it takes a really long time.
The old ones have mostly passed on now from when we originally took over and things have changed massively from who they are to what they buy. It’s a long old process.
I’ve no doubt there are probably many people who don’t step foot in the shop for one reason or another too, that’s always irritated me somewhat, eventually new faces appear in their place. But changing people habits is next to impossible, however the pandemic did upto a point.
Sure I read that somewhere.
If it was here or facebook I’d take it with a pinch of salt
Didn’t one of the big discounters (Aldi or Lidl) rely on their staff memorising all the prices and didn’t use smart tills? Sure I read that somewhere.
Aldi ... about 20 years ago
(proving the point perhaps :P)
Apparently 30 years ago!
The checkout assistants, who had been trained to memorise the price of every item in the store, were so fast that shoppers experienced what some would come to call “Aldi panic” – the fear that you cannot pack your goods quickly enough. The store accepted cash but not cheques or cards. Customers seeking itemised receipts left disappointed.
“Aldi panic” – the fear that you cannot pack your goods quickly enough.
Yes! Get that in Lidl! My bike trailer's bag gets around it though, cos it sits perfectly in the bottom of the trolley and I just lob everything in.
Way back in the mists of time when I was a teenager I did occasional shifts in a local supermarket. I must have had at least 1 customer every week ask me where the batteries had been moved to. As did lots of the other shift workers, there was even a fake notice on the staff board about where the batteries had been and where they where now (In customer's minds) The supermarket had never sold batteries as far as anyone working there knew, and yet regardless, the customers kept asking and most of them seemed convinced that the place used to sell them.( it never did)
Eventually it started to sell batteries, we'd triumphantly take shoppers to the end aisle where they were now, and shoppers would invariably say something like "Why have you moved them?"
I’ve no doubt there are probably many people who don’t step foot in the shop for one reason or another too, that’s always irritated me somewhat, eventually new faces appear in their place.
Oh, we cirtainly have that issue - there are many that won't or rarely use our shop. But then, I rarely use the village pub (I don't drink, and the food is rubbish in comparison to the local competition). I hope that as we have no real local competition it's not a poor quality of service or product that has kept some away for years.
We've one customer who cheerfully cites that it's great to support the village shop, what a good job we do, lost with out you, isn't it a shame there aren't more village shops etc. as he buys his Sunday paper - but that's all he buys (ever), but passes every day as he lives and works locally.
Many many villager's have the same option of the post office in the shop - not realising it's the retail end of the buisness that keeps it there as they take their pension out, again that's all they use us for. We make 10x more money selling a 10p refresher bar than a £300 cash withdrawal from the postoffice.
I'd be interested to see what studies will be done by the various retail groups regards the pandemic. That should really show how and if we able to change habits - our trade was increased massively last year & as a result we managed to reinvest in the buisness so we are in a much better possition than 2yrs ago. However that increase in trade has new dropped back down to just about 2019 levels and the increase I have is primarily down to that investment - not consumer habit change.
The checkout assistants, who had been trained to memorise the price of every item in the store, were so fast that shoppers experienced what some would come to call “Aldi panic” – the fear that you cannot pack your goods quickly enough. The store accepted cash but not cheques or cards. Customers seeking itemised receipts left disappointed.
Aye and I bet they couldn't/wouldn't establish the error rate and how much it actually cost them (or made them I suppose)...
Aye and I bet they couldn’t/wouldn’t establish the error rate and how much it actually cost them (or made them I suppose)…
They will have done tha maths, their whole USP was running a supermarket super efficiently on margins of 2-3% when, at the time, 7-10% was the norm.
Oh, we cirtainly have that issue – there are many that won’t or rarely use our shop. But then, I rarely use the village pub (I don’t drink, and the food is rubbish in comparison to the local competition). I hope that as we have no real local competition it’s not a poor quality of service or product that has kept some away for years.
We’ve one customer who cheerfully cites that it’s great to support the village shop, what a good job we do, lost with out you, isn’t it a shame there aren’t more village shops etc. as he buys his Sunday paper – but that’s all he buys (ever), but passes every day as he lives and works locally.
Many many villager’s have the same option of the post office in the shop – not realising it’s the retail end of the buisness that keeps it there as they take their pension out, again that’s all they use us for. We make 10x more money selling a 10p refresher bar than a £300 cash withdrawal from the postoffice.
Does the customer pay with a prepaid voucher to?
Used to have loads of people that would make those sorts of comments.
Don’t get me started on the post office!
Isn’t marketing all about influencing consumer habits and basically overriding our human instincts to avoid new things?
Also if flipping Nestle and Nike can still sell people things after the unspeakable things they’ve done in the past, then you should be able to figure out how to tell the village your new opening hours with a positive message that makes them remember 🤓
If anyone is interested, there is a great book on retail marketing, quite old now but all the science is just the same.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3730.The_Hidden_Persuaders
^^^remember reading that in the seventies and is excellent but not sure if suggesting a book from 60 years ago proves the Op's point possibly
I think its fascinating how little has changed in 60 years (in terms of where you stick Corflakes on a shelf if you want to promote it etc).
Plus, being old, I can't even remember what the OP's point actually was.....
Look, I’m not gonna use the self-service till so just shut up about it already.
No problem with that but if you choose not to use the self serve tills, please don't tut at me as I queue jump you to use them myself. I always use them in Coop and more often then not, people harrumph at me when I step past them to do so.
Didn’t one of the big discounters (Aldi or Lidl) rely on their staff memorising all the prices and didn’t use smart tills? Sure I read that somewhere.
Never having shopped in either I have no first hand experience.
We have a local discount store called "Barry's" and at least 1/3 of the stuff isn't marked with the price, the tills are old school calculator style, and they change stock lines quickly as its all end of line/going out of date. Staff never get the price wrong and Ive never had one have to check it. Not quite sure how Barry trains them so well....
I always use them in Coop
Our local Coop has 12 self serve tills and 3 normal tills but rarely has more than one member of staff on the normal tills, so 95% or people use the self serve.
What's odd is how they all differ, even though they're the same kit in theory. Having used them all I have favourite ones which are faster / more reliable and there is the odd one which is really slow, so I rarely use as it's just painful....
quite old now but all the science is just the same.
Is it even still in print?
Hidden pursuaders...
Is it even still in print?
I thought The Hidden Persuaders was, his other books are very hard to get hold of. I lost my original HP (leant to someone and can't recall who) and bought a new one a few years ago to replace it.
If anyone is interested, there is a great book on retail marketing, quite old now but all the science is just the same.
There's something deliciously meta / ironic with you pimping a book on retail marketing on a thread about retail marketing...
No problem with that but if you choose not to use the self serve tills, please don’t tut at me as I queue jump you to use them myself. I always use them in Coop and more often then not, people harrumph at me when I step past them to do so.
That wasn't me mate, honest.
Having used them all I have favourite ones which are faster / more reliable and there is the odd one which is really slow, so I rarely use as it’s just painful….
Do some of them give better chat than others, like the cashiers at my local Lidl?
"Had any good unexpected items in your baggage area lately?"
Is it even still in print?
Available 2nd hand if anyone is interested....
I’ve no doubt there are probably many people who don’t step foot in the shop for one reason or another too, that’s always irritated me somewhat, eventually new faces appear in their place.
Oh, we cirtainly have that issue – there are many that won’t or rarely use our shop
You've just reminded of moving to Dartmoor (Haytor) in 1988. We needed bread, milk, stuff like that, so wandered up to the village shop to be told that bread needed to be ordered in advance. As I wandered out, breadless, I noticed that they had stock of aubergines. Aubergines weren't exactly an everyday item to a young student from south Wales, and even now it may be weeks at a time between needing one, mainly for a rather delicious soup that I make. Bread on the other hand is a daily necessity, especially if I'm making that soup. I don't think we ever used the shop again, probably reinforcing the point you are making. 😀
