You are a retailer or trade marketer, and you operate in Europe.
Your customers are today’s spoiled, rushed consumers.
Do you ever wonder: am I making it easy enough for my customers to choose and buy? Do I help them save time and energy? Are the different items clearly signposted, categorized, priced?
Do I ensure that customers can take the products in hand, try them if desired? Do I explain to them what they can do with it? Are my store personnel sufficiently informed about the products to be sold?
A correct answer to these questions can increase the profitability of your business or product.
Why difficult when it can be easy?
Suppose you want to increase the sales of your store or product in the store. Then there is a danger that you will act as the electrical dealer who wanted to provide his business with … a coffee shop.
How did he get there?
He had consulted an American marketing book. Its author had also given a sensational lecture at the marketing conference here in town. His thesis was that everything revolved around the experience. It had also been on the TV, the mall in Dubai.
Camels wandered around against a backdrop of ferociously crashing waterfalls.
Yes, the shopkeeper mused, that was it all, a coffee shop.
To complete the “experience” of the device buying customer. And to chase its sales to astronomical heights.
Didn’t that Swedish furniture giant also have a restaurant in the middle of its self-service store?
The coffee shop opened, but no one approached.
Not even a camel.
The people did not buy an electrical appliance more or less … their coffee, however, they stayed at home or in the cafe, or God knows where.
What had gone wrong here?
Easy is so difficult because it seems so simple
Retailers and trade marketers tend to get complicated, because an easy approach is not that … easy.
The electrical dealer in our story had not considered the fact that there are fundamentally different types of store concepts.
You have store concepts where the hasty and spoiled customer gets their groceries in a purely functional way. Fast, for a good price, with perfect service. These sober, sleek store concepts are sales successes.
There are plenty of examples here.
The choice for the experience lies at the other end of the spectrum. There it is no longer about functional purchases, but about satisfying aspirations.
The customer receives a reward for their time, in the form of a wow experience.
The experience idea originally comes from America.
Where everything is great, where all marketing books are written in American style, where a visit to the mall is the way of life.
Experience is therefore a concept that is suitable for retailers who see it big.
It works perfectly in Dubai. Where people fly especially to go shopping.
Where the crowd is treated to ski slopes, waterfalls, basketball courts, a circus … in the middle of the shopping center.
But experience, no matter how spectacular and enticing, is not all-inclusive. For example, experience does not necessarily lead to more sales.
Witness the story of our uncle who first went to look at the shop with all the bells and whistles, but finally bought from a competitor who kept it simpler … and was therefore cheaper.
Europe is not America, Dubai is not in Flanders or Catalonia. Here, a successful store concept must be based on local conditions – and rely on the right analysis …
Why is easy needed?
Not so long ago, buying a TV was a purchase that you first thought about for 10 days, compared prices, looking at models with a magnifying glass. Nowadays, consumers have so little time that they quickly go and buy a car at noon.
There is also an increasing number of products in the store. Just look at electric toothbrushes, bread makers, Ultra HD / 4K TV, bluetooth speakers. All articles whose mass penetration was unthinkable 10 years ago.
In addition, there are more and more models within the product categories: 16 electric shavers, 20 kettles, 40 different cheeses …
What doesn’t make things any easier is the packaging. Often invented by people without any idea of shop design, illegible, in crazy colors. You go crazy in a store like that. We call it “visual pollution”.
Because of all this, the consumer is not only spoiled, but also confused. He is so overwhelmed with information that he is mentally tired.
He responds, “don’t make me think”.
If you want to get through to him, you really have to bring the information to him with the spoon.
In short: if you want to achieve more turnover during these times, then preferably look for an easy concept.
What is an easy concept?
Easy means: generating more turnover by making shopping as easy as possible. It is the highest form of satisfaction you have today for the spoiled consumer. “Easy Concepts” is a concept introduced by the European retail design agency IMAGINIF.
Easy is not the same as simple
Someone who wants to lose 10 kg goes through a “simple” step-by-step plan in 10 points, but losing weight is not “easy”!
Easy can be that easy
The premise of easy is: don’t look for the solution until you’ve found the problem.
We once asked reception staff in an amusement park: what are the most frequently asked questions here?
Surprising bottlenecks emerged, for which the solution was also obvious. People were looking for the toilet in the first place. This was quickly resolved by better signage.
Question two turned out to be: “Where is a ATM here?”
Better yet, it was in the center of the village, a few miles away! Since then, there have been a few ATMs in the park, visitors feel more comfortable … and spend more.
The checkout with the two shopping carts at supermarket Colruyt is also typically easy. So time-saving and customer-friendly that everyone wonders how he did not come up with it himself.
On behalf of AB Inbev, against the background of declining beer sales, IMAGINIF made the traditionally messy beer division at a number of large department stores easy. The beers were clearly and attractively categorized and signaled.
The beer drinker now found his comfort, and the beer turnover increased.
For Philips, we designed presentation furniture in which the shavers are no longer behind glass and are still protected. Above it hangs information about important points when purchasing. The result was less space – and the confused mother looking for a Father’s Day gift will find what she’s looking for right away.
Easy can be this easy: listen to what your customers really need. Don’t create problems where there are none. And if they are there, come up with an easy solution.
You can also easily sell emotions
Also companies that transcend the purely rational can make it easy for their customers. See, for example, the trend to increasingly work in restaurants with a limited menu. That makes it easier to choose and also immediately ventilates the emotional aspect: “everything is fresh, and the chef made this especially for me.”
Just as homely and authentic is the Mamma Roma concept in Brussels of the “pizza al taglio”. You take exactly as many small pieces of pizza as you can; you choose easily and quickly from a series of freshly baked pizzas on the serving buffet; you pay per gram. The Bongo stores’ sober chic is an easy solution for those who don’t know which gift to choose. You give someone a weekend away, choosing from a surprising, constantly renewed offer. It couldn’t be more emotional and easier.
Starter’s Tip: Flower shops have not changed in the last 100 years and are not easy at all.
Take it easy in the beginning … and end spectacularly.
European retailers and trade marketers! Don’t let the lure of the experience economy drive you away. Do you want to realize an experience tailored to the customers of 80% of the European stores?
Then start finding the problem – the real problem.
Think of a series of easy solutions for this. Nothing prevents you from bringing in the total experience bit by bit. A well-thought-out series of “easy” interventions will eventually lead to an all-encompassing experience.
Finally, if you do something, do it right. Do it so that it stands out. Make your customer see and feel it – and you will feel it in your return.
“Omni-Channel Easy Concept?”
With Omni-Channel, it can be even better. But that’s another story, for next time 😉
IMAGINIF: design that pays off
Our entire corporate culture is permeated by the concept of easy, both internally and for our customers.
You are a retailer or trade marketer, and you operate in Europe.
Your customers are today’s spoiled, rushed consumers.
Do you ever wonder: am I making it easy enough for my customers to choose and buy? Do I help them save time and energy? Are the different items clearly signposted, categorized, priced?
Do I ensure that customers can take the products in hand, try them if desired? Do I explain to them what they can do with it? Are my store personnel sufficiently informed about the products to be sold?
A correct answer to these questions can increase the profitability of your business or product.
Why difficult when it can be easy?
Suppose you want to increase the sales of your store or product in the store. Then there is a danger that you will act as the electrical dealer who wanted to provide his business with … a coffee shop.
How did he get there?
He had consulted an American marketing book. Its author had also given a sensational lecture at the marketing conference here in town. His thesis was that everything revolved around the experience. It had also been on the TV, the mall in Dubai.
Camels wandered around against a backdrop of ferociously crashing waterfalls.
Yes, the shopkeeper mused, that was it all, a coffee shop.
To complete the “experience” of the device buying customer. And to chase its sales to astronomical heights.
Didn’t that Swedish furniture giant also have a restaurant in the middle of its self-service store?
The coffee shop opened, but no one approached.
Not even a camel.
The people did not buy an electrical appliance more or less … their coffee, however, they stayed at home or in the cafe, or God knows where.
What had gone wrong here?
Easy is so difficult because it seems so simple
Retailers and trade marketers tend to get complicated, because an easy approach is not that … easy.
The electrical dealer in our story had not considered the fact that there are fundamentally different types of store concepts.
You have store concepts where the hasty and spoiled customer gets their groceries in a purely functional way. Fast, for a good price, with perfect service. These sober, sleek store concepts are sales successes.
There are plenty of examples here.
The choice for the experience lies at the other end of the spectrum. There it is no longer about functional purchases, but about satisfying aspirations.
The customer receives a reward for their time, in the form of a wow experience.
The experience idea originally comes from America.
Where everything is great, where all marketing books are written in American style, where a visit to the mall is the way of life.
Experience is therefore a concept that is suitable for retailers who see it big.
It works perfectly in Dubai. Where people fly especially to go shopping.
Where the crowd is treated to ski slopes, waterfalls, basketball courts, a circus … in the middle of the shopping center.
But experience, no matter how spectacular and enticing, is not all-inclusive. For example, experience does not necessarily lead to more sales.
Witness the story of our uncle who first went to look at the shop with all the bells and whistles, but finally bought from a competitor who kept it simpler … and was therefore cheaper.
Europe is not America, Dubai is not in Flanders or Catalonia. Here, a successful store concept must be based on local conditions – and rely on the right analysis …
Why is easy needed?
Not so long ago, buying a TV was a purchase that you first thought about for 10 days, compared prices, looking at models with a magnifying glass. Nowadays, consumers have so little time that they quickly go and buy a car at noon.
There is also an increasing number of products in the store. Just look at electric toothbrushes, bread makers, Ultra HD / 4K TV, bluetooth speakers. All articles whose mass penetration was unthinkable 10 years ago.
In addition, there are more and more models within the product categories: 16 electric shavers, 20 kettles, 40 different cheeses …
What doesn’t make things any easier is the packaging. Often invented by people without any idea of shop design, illegible, in crazy colors. You go crazy in a store like that. We call it “visual pollution”.
Because of all this, the consumer is not only spoiled, but also confused. He is so overwhelmed with information that he is mentally tired.
He responds, “don’t make me think”.
If you want to get through to him, you really have to bring the information to him with the spoon.
In short: if you want to achieve more turnover during these times, then preferably look for an easy concept.
What is an easy concept?
Easy means: generating more turnover by making shopping as easy as possible. It is the highest form of satisfaction you have today for the spoiled consumer. “Easy Concepts” is a concept introduced by the European retail design agency IMAGINIF.
Easy is not the same as simple
Someone who wants to lose 10 kg goes through a “simple” step-by-step plan in 10 points, but losing weight is not “easy”!
Easy can be that easy
The premise of easy is: don’t look for the solution until you’ve found the problem.
We once asked reception staff in an amusement park: what are the most frequently asked questions here?
Surprising bottlenecks emerged, for which the solution was also obvious. People were looking for the toilet in the first place. This was quickly resolved by better signage.
Question two turned out to be: “Where is a ATM here?”
Better yet, it was in the center of the village, a few miles away! Since then, there have been a few ATMs in the park, visitors feel more comfortable … and spend more.
The checkout with the two shopping carts at supermarket Colruyt is also typically easy. So time-saving and customer-friendly that everyone wonders how he did not come up with it himself.
On behalf of AB Inbev, against the background of declining beer sales, IMAGINIF made the traditionally messy beer division at a number of large department stores easy. The beers were clearly and attractively categorized and signaled.
The beer drinker now found his comfort, and the beer turnover increased.
For Philips, we designed presentation furniture in which the shavers are no longer behind glass and are still protected. Above it hangs information about important points when purchasing. The result was less space – and the confused mother looking for a Father’s Day gift will find what she’s looking for right away.
Easy can be this easy: listen to what your customers really need. Don’t create problems where there are none. And if they are there, come up with an easy solution.
You can also easily sell emotions
Also companies that transcend the purely rational can make it easy for their customers. See, for example, the trend to increasingly work in restaurants with a limited menu. That makes it easier to choose and also immediately ventilates the emotional aspect: “everything is fresh, and the chef made this especially for me.”
Just as homely and authentic is the Mamma Roma concept in Brussels of the “pizza al taglio”. You take exactly as many small pieces of pizza as you can; you choose easily and quickly from a series of freshly baked pizzas on the serving buffet; you pay per gram. The Bongo stores’ sober chic is an easy solution for those who don’t know which gift to choose. You give someone a weekend away, choosing from a surprising, constantly renewed offer. It couldn’t be more emotional and easier.
Starter’s Tip: Flower shops have not changed in the last 100 years and are not easy at all.
Take it easy in the beginning … and end spectacularly.
European retailers and trade marketers! Don’t let the lure of the experience economy drive you away. Do you want to realize an experience tailored to the customers of 80% of the European stores?
Then start finding the problem – the real problem.
Think of a series of easy solutions for this. Nothing prevents you from bringing in the total experience bit by bit. A well-thought-out series of “easy” interventions will eventually lead to an all-encompassing experience.
Finally, if you do something, do it right. Do it so that it stands out. Make your customer see and feel it – and you will feel it in your return.
“Omni-Channel Easy Concept?”
With Omni-Channel, it can be even better. But that’s another story, for next time 😉
IMAGINIF: design that pays off
Our entire corporate culture is permeated by the concept of easy, both internally and for our customers.
Do you want an “Easy Concepts” audit? Contact us now.