Signs Sell: How to Entice Shoppers

As retail marketers, we often refer to consumers within our target demographic. This is true in most marketing circumstances, like TV, social media, web, radio, etc. When it comes to at-store marketing, we must consider consumers as well as shoppers. What’s the difference, you might ask. A consumer is the end user of the product being sold, whereas the shopper may or may not actually consume the product. The shopper is most important in at-store marketing because they are making the purchase decisions. To better illustrate how to determine the characteristics of a shopper, let’s look at the different shopper archetypes.

1. The Hunter – Price, price, price! This shopper will hunt for the best price no matter what. He will visit multiple stores and compare prices online. The bottom line is all that matters.
2. Arctic Chill – This shopper is scary for marketers. She doesn’t like to be bothered in the store and ignores all attempts at catching her attention. She doesn’t enjoy shopping and is on a mission to get in and get out.
3. Millennial – This shopper archetype doesn’t just refer to the millennial generation. Millennials like to be immersed in the culture and experience of shopping. They may look up products on social media or online while they shop. They care a lot about the intangible things like customer service and ease of shopping. If you live up to their expectations, they will tell their friends about this great shopping experience.
4. The Super Mom – This shopper is always focused on other people, shopping for their needs. Her priority is finding value. She won’t sacrifice quality but will find the best price for quality match. Sometimes she will splurge to make others happy.
5. The Impulsonator – This is a great shopper for marketers. The Impulsonator has no real task at hand and are open to the marketing efforts around them. They will make purchases based on what seems like the best buy. Even if they do have a need for their shopping trip, they are likely to be influenced by marketing efforts and buy things outside of their original intent.
6. The Illustrator – This shopper has a purpose but is looking for help while shopping. They aren’t easily swayed liked the Impulsonator but they are looking for external cues to guide them with their purchase.

Now let’s look at how to influence the different shoppers along their path-to-purchase.

Therefore, it is vital that retail marketers seriously consider who their shoppers are and develop at-store marketing that appeals directly to them.

What kind of shopper are you? Which retailers do a good job influencing you during your shopping journeys?