51% of customers chose a product they thought was on offer but wasn’t. This finding was the result of a survey just carried out by Which? magazine. It’s very evident that customers want offers that are clear, simple and easy to understand and many of the offers made are not meeting their criteria.
It’s time to burst the myth that it’s only price that matters. The Which? survey also stated that 45% of customers haven’t claimed the extra item in a multi-buy because they don’t need the extra item and/or don’t like being pressured into buying more than they need.
It’s time to think differently about offers. Customers need to able to clearly see and understand all of the information they need to be able to make a good buying decision for them. They need that information to be available right in front of them at the shelf edge.
Of course this creates some challenges for retailers. Making point of sale information simple is actually quite hard to do and moving to “better” price tickets and offers takes commitment. But if that commitment is not found the unhappy customers identified by Which? will undoubtedly go elsewhere.
We have been talking to several retailers lately who understand this and have plans to introduce better tickets or, as we prefer to call them, tickets that sell. The vast majority of tickets that sell will be better designed tickets and printed in-store. They will be created using only the most current information and capable of being changed quickly. Watch out too for the use of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL’s) at last taking off in the UK. We have never had so many retailers talking to us about ESL’s before.
Tickets that sell will be on paper and various electronic devices including ESL’s, screens and kiosks. BUT We must all put ourselves into our customers shoes and ensure that we use this technology to help them make the best decisions from their point of view.
The goal for all of us in retail is to ensure that our customers give us a vastly improved score when Which? carry out another survey like this one.
