How can small retailers encourage customer loyalty?

Technology has allowed us to open up so many new paths to engaging with the customer, whether face-to-face, via qr codes in-store or outside the store, on the mobile device, twitter, or geolocation services, yet so many in-store staff are poorly educated on conversations and promotions happening on the multiple levels. Small retailers should monitor and respond to conversations happening both online and inside the store and encourage their staff to embrace these platforms as well.

Along with that comes competitive pricing, unique goods, and a two-way dialogue encouraging feedback and suggestions from the consumer.

There are no mysteries Craig. Retail in its simplest form is be nice to people. There are a lot of reasons why this doesn't happen but the simplest explanation I use in my keynotes is this.

Your store is the amusement park; your products are the souvenirs.

We get into trouble thinking its about the souvenirs.

Mouse ears don't need to go on sale because people want to repeat that experience.

See Container Store, Lululemon and several others. It starts with who you let on the floor, how you train and if they are having fun. The loyalty follows.

Loyalty = devotion, faithfulness. To earn this from customers a retailer has to be "famous" for one or more of the following attributes - convenience, product range, price or service.

While being brilliant in these areas is difficult, all successful retailers are significantly better in one of these critical areas than their competition. To do this a retailer needs to target a particular type of customer and a particular product niche and deliver a tangible point-of-difference.

So loyalty is more about superb execution of a smart strategy than any particular technology or marketing tactic.

Be the un-Walmart. Know them by name if you can, let them know if you've just received some merchandise they might like, be the best at service, be competitive / close on price, and if applicable, carry unique products not easily found.

Go out of your way for every customer. Believe me, the largest retailers wish they could indulge their customers that way...their cost structures just don't always allow it.

The ability to form a personal relationship with the customer is a distinct competitive advantage for the small retailer. Make the experience of doing business a special one for the customer. A great technique to use is to place yourself in the shoes of the customer and actually experience a visit at your store.

Make sure that your staff has the same commitment to great customer service that you do. Great customer service hinges on having good employee relationships. Make sure your reward system encourages great customer service.

In our work as retail consultants, we are in retail stores every day. And you would be amazed at the vast number of pedestrian greetings and attempts to connect with customers that we see and hear.

The key here is to convert the adversarial "customer vs. salesperson" relationship into a realationship of "friends shopping together." That's how you build special relationships, and that's how you build customer loyalty.

I live in a small rural village in Ireland, our nearest convenience stores are 3 miles east and 5 miles west. A neighbour asked me recently if I knew the guy who owned the store 5 miles away, Yes I replied, very nice man. "Yes" my neighbour replied I was there on saturday morning and wanted to buy some croissants but there were none on the shelf, I asked the owner if they had any, he replied "they're in the oven and will be ready in ten minutes and then gave me a coffee (free) and said take a seat outside and I'll bring them to you as soon as they are ready. He subsequently spent almost 40 eauo on other goods, all he went to buy was croissants and a newspaper and he now says that because of the pleasant experience he will happily travel the extra distance every saturday for his croissants. Loyalty can be as easy as that!!!!!

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I've been updating myself on this issue (loyalty) and have been reading www.colloquy.com/