Understand How Your Customers Shop

Published: 06 Sep, 2010

Understanding customers, how they think, how they shop and what drives their buying behaviour is something Garden Centres can capitalise on in their approach to retailing, says Bill Brett. One of our Australian customers increased their average customer sale by $8 instantly, following a few simple changes. An increase in customer numbers followed.

Let's first acknowledge that everyone is different. People’s reaction to such things as colours, pathways, signs, lighting, displays and so on, will vary. To some extent this will also vary according to expectation in different types of retail. However, we do know that based on research and experience, most customers have certain preferences relating to the ambience and layout of premises.

We also know the location, merchandising and signage of each product group have a huge influence on what customers buy.

In  combination, these two factors – the premises and the presentation – influence where customers prefer to shop (your garden centre or your competitors) and also what they buy (their planned purchase only, or a whole lot more)

At this point some of you might ask- “what about the range and quality?”
In my view this is a given. It is the start point. Without a range and quality that meets customers’ expectation; you are not even in the race.

Where customers shop is determined by a combination of a number of factors 

• Convenience of location
• Quality & range
• Light, bright, easy to shop premises
• Perception of value
• Advertising and promotion

How customers shop is also determined by a combination of many factors.
We can start by listing the three ways in which customers make a decision to buy.

1. A planned purchase is one where the decision to buy was made before the customer entered the garden centre.
2. An impulse purchase is where the customer makes the decision to buy, in the garden centre, based on what the customer has seen and liked, while browsing.
3. A third way the customer makes a decision to buy, is where the customer seeks advice from a staff member, and as a result of the advice given, the decision to buy is made.

Quoted research from supermarkets is that impulse purchases vary between 35% and 65% of the total shop. This is surprisingly high considering most customers visit a supermarket with a planned ‘list’.
Experience in garden centres suggests that impulse purchases vary between 75% - 85% of the total shop.

Let's clearly define "impulse purchase".

1. An impulse purchase can be a product the customer had no intention of buying.
2. There are some situations where a customer may have had a situation in mind that they required a plant for. They may even have had something in mind, but were influenced and changed their mind, because they saw something else while browsing. This is still defined as an impulse sale because the decision to buy that particular product was made in store while browsing.

Having established that most decisions to buy are made in the garden centre based on what the customer has seen while browsing, we can now look to maximise impulse purchases by ensuring that the customer has seen and been tempted to buy as much of your offering as possible, but particularly, the best most attractive product, the seasonal demand product, promoted product, ideas and inspiration product.

Methods and techniques to ensure customers see as much as possible and are tempted to buy, include:

• The main pathway – customers like space, room to pass with trolleys, a smooth flat surface, and a path that clearly leads past all parts of the garden centre.
• By placing demand products such as punnet bedding plants towards the back of the garden centre, creates an opportunity to mass attractive seasonal plants adjacent to the path on the way to the bedding, thereby maximising impulse sales.
• Correct purpose built fixtures – especially end-caps, colour plant stands, and promotion fixtures, will maximise the visibility and appeal of products.
• Customers have a natural order of shopping in their mind, starting with – the planned purchase (usually bedding), a plant for a  purpose, anything else looking good, garden care products to look after the plants, and finally when their mind is clear, they can be tempted to buy house plants and giftware, before reaching the check out which should be close to the exit door.
• Customers tend not to be tempted to buy something they don’t need early in the visit – these products should be later, closer to the check out. If the check out is in the centre of the showroom, customers tend to do very little shopping between the check out and exit door.

 

When customers are browsing, you can attract their attention to a product by the use of

• Co-ordinated or contrasted colour blocking
• Vertical colour blocking
• Multi-facing
• Best sellers at waist to eye level in showrooms
• Plants at knee to waist level
• Colourful customer friendly signage and shelf talkers.
   

Few customers these days come in and ask for a specific plant by name. Most customers are looking for, or ask for a plant for a purpose or situation. In addition to this our customer focus groups have established that over 60% of customers prefer to browse and self serve, rather than be assisted by a sales person. (Customers will however ask for help if they need it as they get close to the final decision). The following techniques will make it easy for customers to self serve:

• Purpose or situation layout of plants rather than species layout – well signed          
• Purpose or benefit signs on all key product, in all departments
• Inspiration concepts
• Large sample plants to inspire
• Simple straight forward information brochures.
• Good housekeeping – tidy, end-caps full and faced up at all times

The need to be more customer friendly with layout and signs cannot be emphasised enough. For example, one of our clients increased sales of lavender four fold, by merchandising them in four different places under four different signs – Cottage garden; Fragrant Garden; Hot & Dry; and under Lavenders. A combination of all the above, correctly implemented, has proven to dramatically increase impulse purchases,

It is so important to understand how your customers shop but It is also important to note that it is how well all of these techniques are implemented that determines the success.

Garden Retail Success consultants are experienced in helping garden centres get the implementation right.   Click for more information about our On Site Consultancy Service
 

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