Incorporate Family Values into Your Retailing

In Somerset County, Pennsylvania—population about 77,000 and shrinking—the fourth generation of the Frank B. Thomas, Sr. family has taken the reins of Thomas Drug Store in Meyersdale. The drug store first opened in the town in 1896.
     To persevere as a retail business owned and operated by one family generation after another requires a convergence of the right ingredients. Being in a community too small to interest a large retailer or a chain does help. Owning your own building helps.
     From a psychological perspective, one other ingredient is to cultivate a life outside your store. If the children grow up seeing their parents’ imprisoned by the business, unable to do what they love doing and not being with family often enough, odds are the children won’t want any part of it.
     At the same time, a distinctive marketing advantage of a business like Thomas Drug Store is that the business projects an authentic sense of family to customers and prospective customers. Some retailers say, “Make our customers feel like family.” I prefer, “Give a sense of family” because research findings seem clear that for maximum profitability, you want to be sure to keep the interactions as a business relationship. Don’t promise more than you’ll deliver. That wouldn’t be authentic.
     About twenty years ago, Thomas Drug Store demonstrated with a flair how they care about their customers as they would about family members: Adrian Thomas instructed that the store’s entire stock of tobacco products be carted to the back parking lot, where Mr. Thomas set fire to it. He was subsequently asked to speak at American Cancer Society and American Heart Association events.
     Giving a sense of family is valuable not only for retailer-to-consumer relationships, but also for retailer-to-business (B2B) relationships. According to research at University of Geneva, there are two dimensions to a business-to-business expectation. The researchers called the first type “secure business attachment.” Your B2B customer may want to rely on you for quick answers to questions about purchases made from your business and for quick solutions to problems with purchases. Very businesslike.
     The researchers called the other type “close business attachment.” Your B2B customers may want to develop close personal bonds with you or with your outside sales agent, exchanging information about family and friends. Something like family members would do.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Cultivate a Life Outside Your Business
Give a Sense of Family for Emotional Attachment
Offer Family-Oriented Experiences