Originally published October 2009, Today's Garden Center
Just the facts, Maam.
I just saved $25 using my phone! Recently I went shopping for a digital video camera. I researched it online, checked the review, shopper’s comments and found the model I liked. I could have bought it online, but I was too excited to wait for something to ship so I buzzed down to Best Buy where I met Craig, the Best Buy salesperson. I asked him questions and settled on a camera. Like any good salesperson he asked for the sale. ‘Can I ring that out for you?’ “Well”, I said, “I want to check a few other stores.” He then explained that Best Buy has a 14 day price matching guarantee. Just bring in a competitor’s best price and they’ll match it. Great, but I didn’t want to wait. I wanted immediate gratification.
I think that the folks at Best Buy feel that after the purchase most shoppers won’t continue to look for a lower price. Probably true, but this time I pulled out my Blackberry and Googled ‘lowest price on Sony 40XR’. Up popped a few links. I clicked the first and there it was, a price $25 lower than Best Buy. Hey Craig look why I found! I met with some resistance, but eventually he gave me the discounted price.
Bingo! Saved 25 bucks. Felt kind of cool too. Then I flashed on it. Wow, this is where shopping is going these days. Forget about the lowest price games. These guys are busted. Power to the People! I was (as I figured out afterwards) mobile surfing… and I wasn’t alone.
I know you thought the ‘Information Age’ was game changing, but that was just the first wave. Here comes personal computing and information sharing on a level you could never have imagined.
Here’s a few facts for you to chew on:
Here’s how long it took to 50 reach million users:
- Radio – 38 years
- TV 13 years
- Internet 4 years
- Ipods 3 years
- 100 million users of Facebook in less than 9 months.
Facebook now has over 300 million users
1.5 million pieces of content (links, news stories, blog posts, notes. Photos, etc) are shared on Facebook DAILY
Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more twitter followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama
80% of twitter use in on mobile device
YouTube is the second largest search engine – there are over 100,000,000 videos on YouTube alone
There are over 200,000,000 blogs. 54% of bloggers post or tweet daily
25% of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to use-generated content (reviews, yelps, forwards, etc.)
34% of bloggers offer opinions on products and services
And then there is Yelp! Bad customer experience? Used to be that one bad experience could impact 26 people; now try about 260 (or more) people! Back in the good old days shoppers might have searched Google to find a local store or service. These days it is more likely that they will Yelp it.
Yelp allows businesses to build out profiles complete with photos, hours, website links and more, as well as providing an outlet for patrons to grade the business or experience.
What does this mean for your business? It means that now, more than ever, the most important thing you is customer relations. But how can you do that when you can’t remember their name, or when they shopped, or what they like. Sunrise Marketing has worked with hundreds of retailers across the country for over 15 years, but it still surprises me that many retailers still don’t have a customer list. How are you supposed to develop a relationship strong enough to move someone to become a Facebook ‘Fan’ if you have never recognized them as a customer? No mail, no e-mail, no nothing!
I know you think that you can just keep doing what you’ve always done, but those days are gone. Here are a few more fun facts to consider:
Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI.
90% of people that can Tivo ads (i.e. skip them) do
70% of 18-34 demographic have watched TV on the web
Only 33% have viewed the show on DVR/Tivo
24 of the largest 25 newspapers are experiencing declines in circulation.
The reality is that newsprint is dead, TV is fractionized and getting worse and your customers might have a greater YouTube presence than you do.
Increase in mobile web-surfers is up 34% to 42.5 million – over 2/3 women
25% of Americans (in a month) said they watched a short video on their PHONE
Best Buy reports that 40% of all non-smart phone users plan to purchase smart-phones within the year – usually in the 4th quarter (holiday)
When you consider that over 75% of your customers are women and women are the larger segment moving to smart phones, then you need to pay attention. So what are they going to experience when the ‘Google’ or ‘Yelp’ your business.
I have always recommended that garden center retailers experience shopping at successful retail operations. When you shop a Whole Foods, a Target, Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel you get a sense of best retail practices for display, merchandising and marketing. Now I am going to ask you to invest some time in experiencing Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and others in order to get a sense of how your customers might experience your business.
If you need help bringing your business up to speed, or you just want to talk more about what it might mean to your business, I invite you to call, e-mail, twitter and post onto the Sunrise Marketing Facebook page.
Source: Socialnomics.com, AdAge, Best Buy
Kurt Fromherz is the owner of Sunrise Marketing. For more information about building your marketing strategy, contact Kurt directly by phone: 1-888-393-4443, online: www.sunrisemarketing.com, by email: kurt@sunrisemarketing.com, or you can follow our Twitter feed at twitter.com/sunrisetweet. Visit our website for additional links for Kurt’s Blog, Facebook and an archive of all previously published TGC articles.
