Behaviours are driven by a combination of a person’s needs and the circumstances they are in.
Habits are formed by behaviours which are repeated.
If a persons needs and circumstances remain the same, research shows that it takes about 9 weeks for a behaviour to become a habit.
That said how long have your circumstances and needs stayed the same? Customer needs constantly change and evolve and so will customers behaviours and new habits will start to form.
The Covid lockdown is a good example. Customers change in circumstances caused a very rapid change in behaviours (normally behaviour changes are slower). Things were stable for a while until the lock down started to be lifted and then we saw further changes in behaviour as circumstances changed.
During this time, the smart retailer was not expecting to return to “business as normal” (pre-lockdown habits), nor were they gearing up for the “New Normal” (post lockdown), based on how customers were shopping during lockdown.
Instead Smart Retailers understand that customer behaviours change constantly, so they continue to track and monitor their customers’ behaviours on a regular basis, reacting and responding to their customers changing needs, no matter what the circumstances. So it becomes habitual for customers of smart retailers to go to the retailer that always understands and meets their needs.
This type of success needs knowledge, so what is the smart retailer looking at?
1/ How are my current customers behaving and how has this changed over time – by behaviours they are looking at Average spend, penetration and frequency of purchasing at all levels from full shop down through to product level and understanding what is causing any changes
2/ What customer behaviours do I like and what behaviours do I want to develop – am I prepared to reward the good behaviour or encourage development?
3/ Can I use the good changes in current customer behaviours to help re-engage with recently lapsed customers – Smart retailers know that it is easier (and cheaper) to re-engage a recently lapsed customer than convert a new customer. The key to success is how similar were their current customers and their lapsed customers at the time they were last both seen in store and have any general behaviours changed in either group since then.
If you are a smart retailer, you’re probably feeling content right now, because you are doing all this, already.
If you feel you’re missing out on something, we can help you – we have Smart Reports to help our clients become Smart Retailers. Please contact us for prices and more information
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