Tips and techniques you can use in the retail outlet to appeal to your female customer

In the last blog posting I initiated the discussion about attracting and appealing to your primary customer, the female in the household. Certainly, agricultural businesses do not want to ignore the male consumer but research clearly demonstrates that appealing to the female in the household can have a strong positive impact on sales. The purpose of this blog is to make the retail outlet more comfortable for shopping.

First, consider “who” will be shopping with your female customer. Will she have a female, male, or child in tow? The situation that will benefit your business the most is if she brings a female companion. She will probably shop the longest (in terms of minutes) when shopping with a friend, and possibly spend more. How much of an effort would it be for you to clear some space near the entrance and create a waiting area for reluctant shopping companions? The issue becomes trickier when your female customer is shopping with young children, which would require a retailer to provide babysitting services, but for an older child or adult companion placing comfortable chairs, a television, and magazines near the entrance could be the perfect place for the female shopper to “park” her companion.

Continuing on through the store, how cluttered is your retail outlet? In general, more floor space should be devoted to browsing than merchandising. This allows customers to pass each other without touching each other, especially if carts are used in the outlet, and makes the space look less confusing. If a space is arranged and cluttered in such a way that the customer cannot see a clear path to navigate they may become overwhelmed and decide not to walk forward but rather walk to the door and exit.

A few other things to consider include using color at key places (on back walls or areas where consumers don’t tend to walk to naturally) to draw attention and encourage customers to walk throughout the space. Color should be used strategically to draw customers to particular areas within the space. Along with using color on the walls, use different textures of wallpaper, paneling, and other material to catch the eye. Choose colors that correspond to the theme of your outlet and that works with the merchandise you sell. For a winery tasting room that is trying to convey a sophisticated feel and where a fair number of glass wine bottles align the walls – colors such as terracotta, a warm soothing yellow, or another complementary color should be considered.

How you use these tips and techniques is up to you but keep in mind that these strategies can only improve a retail space and make it more comfortable for your customer, which should be your goal.

Using Facebook as an online storefront

Do you use Facebook in your business? If so, you are probably seeing the benefits of this quick and easy way of communicating with your customers. Some businesses are taking their Facebook presence to another level. Retailers are now using Facebook as an online storefront. Customers can make purchases without ever leaving Facebook.

According to the article "Retailers working to turn Facebook into marketplace before holiday shopping season" by Maria Halkias, this phenomenon is referred to as "social retailing". How does it work? "Best Buy is an example of a large retailer with a "shop" tab on its Facebook page. Its entire inventory is on Facebook, and users are encouraged to share items they're considering with their friends and read what others think about a product."


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As an ag entrepreneur, how has your Facebook presence helped you reach customers? Would you consider selling your products on Facebook? Why or why not?

Marketing to women: Strategies to attract her to your store and keep her there

In the horticultural retail business management class I teach and during extension presentations I deliver to green industry and produce industry growers and retailers, I talk quite a bit about identifying the primary customer and using proven strategies to meet their needs and wants. Most likely your primary customer, who is the gatekeeper for what is purchased for the household, is female – just as it is for the audiences I help educate. A fair number of resources are available, ranging from books to websites, which provide tips and describe techniques on how to best appeal to females, who on average make 80% to 85% of the purchasing decisions for the household.

So, with such valuable information available what can an agricultural business owner/operator do to turn shopping into an exceptional retail experience? Let’s take a “walk” through the outlet and consider some easy and quick fixes that will encourage her to walk throughout the store and shop as long as possible. According to Paco Underhill, a cultural anthropologist and author, it takes a woman only 3 seconds to determine whether or not the store she has entered is the right store for her. Three seconds for her to walk through the doorway, look right, look left, and either continue forward or turnaround and leave. Think about what you can do just around your entrance to encourage her to stay, rather than flee.

Take a look around your parking lot. Would containers with flowering plants add value to your outdoor space? What else could you consider adding to make the space inviting? Consumers find the sound of running water to be soothing – is there space to add a fountain or water feature?

Now that she is approaching the door to come into the outlet is the entrance and exit clearly marked? Is there ample space in the “decompression zone” (area just beyond the door) where customers can take off their sunglasses and coat and adjust to the inside setting before moving into the store? Keep this area clutter free so that customers have ample room to make any adjustments but also keep in mind that customers tend to overlook merchandise placed here.
Stay tuned until next time when we talk about merchandising tips and techniques to use in the retail outlet.

Can YouTube be used to help you market your ag. business? Part II

As with other social networking sites, it is necessary for an agricultural business to post frequently, though the number of videos produced may increase and/or decrease based on the seasonality of the business. To tie-in with other social networking tools you may be using, consider posting a video based on content posted in a blog, Facebook, Twitter, or other social network. Don’t forget to let consumers know when a new video available by sending them emails, placing an announcement on your website, putting a sign in your retail outlet, and posting on your other social networks.

YouTube can serve as a marketing and customer relationship tool for agricultural businesses. Since many people respond to visuals and absorb more information through their eyes than their ears, it has been suggested that “video is much more engaging than text” and it is possible that consumers will remain on a website for a longer period of time if video is available for them to watch (http://www.youtube.com/youtubeonyoursite). Whether videos are created to promote a business, new products for the season, helpful tips, or how-to’s, posting videos on YouTube is just another creative way to reach current and potential customers and inform, remind, and persuade them to purchase your goods and services. Allowing consumers to view videos you produce adds another dimension to your website or emails.

As intimidating as posting a video on YouTube may be, consult the YouTube help pages where you can find videos and directions on numerous topics ranging from capturing sound to compressing video. Other resources can be found online through keyword searches. Once a process is developed, the number of videos and the content is only limited by your imagination.

Can YouTube be used to help you market your ag. business? Part I

As I read through the many email newsletters I receive each morning, it sure is apparent that topics pertaining to social networking, for beginner or experienced users, occupy a fair amount of space in each piece I read. A good deal of attention is given to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but an agricultural business should consider the benefits of using YouTube to inform, reach, and build relationships with consumers.

Why use YouTube? Since many people are “visual”, this tool may better help convey benefits and features of your goods and services compared to “still” images that are just two-dimensional. Also, based on statistics, YouTube, in terms of “revenue and audience use,” is projected to increase 51% between 2009 and 2013 and in audiences between ages 18 and 34 (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112137).

What is YouTube exactly? YouTube is a website where viewers can watch programming such as movie trailers, clips, and full episodes of news programs, special interest shows, and videos that amateur videographers create. Videos can vary from less than a minute to over an hour in length. Viewers can find videos by:
• looking through videos arranged by pre-determined categories (e.g., How-to & Style),
• entering keywords into the search box (e.g., gardening, grilling vegetables), and
• clicking on links for related videos.
Viewers can also create a YouTube account and “subscribe” to “channels” that are specific to the source/person who posts the video (e.g., Garden Girl TV) or topic (e.g., how to make wine). By subscribing, viewers receive weekly emails that alert them when a new video is posted to their account.

Check back next week where I’ll describe how YouTube can be used for marketing goods and services.

Tailgating- a new merchandising opportunity?

On the eve of a Penn State football game, I have been thinking about the monetary impact tailgating has on State College, PA (and other towns with a large football following). I believe that many retailers are missing out on profits by not merchandising for tailgating season.

A tailgating study conducted by the Weber grilling company reports that over the past 12 months, 1 in 8 Americans has tailgated 3.4 times. Tailgaters also reported their main tailgating purchases. "The ‘basics’ tailgaters rank their top four foods: hamburgers (70%), brats (45%), chicken (42%) and hot dogs (42%) to the tune of $106 per tailgate or $441 in groceries per year for this activity. Another group, the ‘gourmet’ tailgaters, prefer chicken (43%), ribs (39%), brats (37%) and steak (33%) to the tune of $165 per event or $1,001 per year."

Meat is not the only merchandise tailgaters need. Other items may include veggies for grilling, wine, beer, snacks, condiments, ice, sauces, desserts, drinks, serveware, etc. Why not set up a tailgate merchandise area in your retail space? Tailgaters will appreciate the convenience of a "one-stop-shop" and you may see your sales increase because of this. Use your creativity to design a space centered around your local team and advertise, advertise, advertise!

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As an ag entrepreneur, have you done any merchandising for tailgating? Have you seen any increase in sales for certain products during football season?

Honing your negotiating skills

As an entrepreneur, you will need to negotiate with suppliers and clients. Many people hate negotiating because they feel it leads to tense situations and unhappiness (for possibly both parties). In an article on The Customer Collective (a forum for sales and marketing executives), author and CEO of Top Sales Associates, Johnathan Farrington, gives tips on making negotiating as painless as possible.

1. Manage your emotional state- Build rapport by matching the other person’s style, pace, and approach until you have achieved a ‘connection’. Personalize the negotiation by using “I” rather than your organization’s name. This demonstrates your belief in your proposal and highlights your credibility.

2. Look for quick mutual wins to build the belief “we can agree”- Seek to address the easy/quickest areas of agreement first to reinforce the process of agreement is simple and straightforward. If you discover an area where agreement may not be reached quickly, then agree to leave it until later.

3. Use active listening skills and ask questions to give you a greater understanding of the other person’s viewpoint- The goal of active listening is for you to hear and understand other people – their words, thoughts, and feelings, and to let them know you’ve heard and understood them. Acknowledge their motivations, feelings, and point of view, even when you don’t agree with what they are saying. Your goal is to understand the message, not judge the validity of what they say.

4. Build trust by negotiating fairly- Act with integrity and hold a healthy respect for the intentions of the individual you are negotiating with. There is always a reason why a point of negotiation is important to the buyer and if we can appreciate more about their underlying reasons, this knowledge can be used and acted upon.

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As an ag entrepreneur, how often do you negotiate? How do you feel about negotiating? Do you find these tips to be helpful? Do you have any other tips to make negotiating less stressful?