Page 5 - Griffin Gazette Winter 2016

STORE
THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE AWAKENS
WARS
By John Johnston,
Retail Education
Manager
Your store may be
dark for the winter, The overwhelming majority of consumers
but it’s never too
early to think about if a product is out of stock, unavailable
the light of spring
and opportunities
to improve within your store. Take note of
how many national retailers are making
capital improvements, altering product
assortments and brands, employing more
part-time staff, trying new promotional
tactics, and modifying services including
store hours. Are you thinking of making
changes to retain your best customers?
Are you considering taking control of some
operational costs? Is there a dark side to
your retail environment?
Retail shopping survives today because
it has evolved. Retail has morphed into
a blend of displays, services, events,
category-specific brands, exclusivity,
location and, most importantly, customer
satisfaction! It’s more than the thrill of the
hunt for a great bargain; it’s an experience.
Are you striving to offer a “good to great”
retail environment that entices today’s
consumer to shop your store? Who will
spread the word?
People Power
Today’s retail report card (so to speak)
is found in the smartphones used by
millions of consumers young and old.
The smartphone shopper has the upper
hand on obtaining information in great
detail including product descriptions,
specifications, weights, where-to-buy
locators and consumer ratings. These
ratings, mostly written by the customers
themselves, carry a lot of weight in
purchasing decisions. The mobile app and
Google have forever changed the way we
communicate, research and ultimately buy.
Price is the culmination of the customer
quest, but if we didn’t consider life’s
experiences, then we’d all shop at Amazon.
want the experience. Price means nothing
or located miles away. Shopping is a life
experience whether it’s inside brick-and-
mortar stores or online.
Developing your own mobile app is a worthy
consideration only if you’re devoting the
time and effort to change and update your
store’s events and news at least weekly.
You are just a tap or a push notification
away from being noticed.
Retail shopping survives today because it has evolved.
Are you striving to offer a “good to great” retail experience?
Bright Lights
LED lighting and solar energy can save
hundreds of dollars on your store’s electric
bill. Almost every store renovation that
I’ve seen recently deploys some type of
LED lighting. This lighting uses, by rough
estimates, one-eighth the energy versus
traditional incandescent bulbs.
The average life of LED is well over 20,000
hours. Think of how many times you’ve
changed out the track-lighting bulbs in your
store. They last approximately 1,600 hours
maximum. That’s about 133 days when lit
for 12 hours a day in your store. Just count
the lights up, folks. If you have 20 bulbs of
60w in the ceiling, that’s the equivalent of
running a hair dryer non-stop all day. If you
Griffin Gazette winter 2016
want both long-term and short-term return
on your investment, think about upgrading
your electrics, inside and outside. You
might save some considerable money and
put off upgrading your electrical panel that
might be currently overloaded.
Another area of your retail space that may
need lighting is your display cabinets. Are
there dark shelves and products due to the
depth of the shelves? Do you see shadows
surrounding the displayed product? If you
can’t position your track lighting into the
display zone, you may look into newer LED
strip lighting. These are the same style
shown in many refrigeration cases in food
stores. These strips illuminate when the
doors open and go off when they close, and
typically use about 11 watts each. Another
benefit is that they emit no heat! Check
incandescent display spotlights located
close to flammable materials and products
for clearance and replace with LED.
In the Apple App Store, there’s a unique
app called Lightmeter by White Goods;
it measures LUX reading. Try it out in
your store to determine if you need more
brightness in your display areas.
Knowledge (The Force)
Our responsibility as good stewards of
the garden industry begins with sound
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