Fly Your Retailing to Stressful Settings

A recent New York Times piece discusses the successes retailers are having at airports. Anchor Brewing Company’s store at San Francisco International Airport, selling locally-branded beer glasses. Earth Spirit featuring handmade items at Denver International Airport.
     Consumers are attracted to these stores for their distinctive merchandise. But these and other airport shops also offer opportunities to relieve the stresses associated with air travel. Retail stores in hospitals serve a similar function.
     Researchers from London’s Imperial College Business School and Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre surveyed more than 3,000 visitors and outpatients at a total of seven hospitals. About 70% of their respondents said that retail businesses in a hospital added great value to the consumers’ experiences under difficult circumstances. Around the same percentage said that a retailer’s presence at a hospital would make it more likely they’d purchase from that business at another location and speak positively to others about the retailer.
     What types of stores did the visitors and patients want? The types of places you could browse in: Clothing, electronics, bookstores. Hairdressers, where you can let yourself go and primp yourself up. Banks and grocery stores, where you can pass the time without feeling you’re wasting time.
     Here are a few tips for retailing in stressful settings:

• Offer the consumer options for when to complete the purchase. This gives a sense of control that can in itself ease stress. If the customer who is told, “I can check out your purchases over here,” responds with, “I can wait,” the store staff response should be an understanding nod rather than a puzzled or irritated look. 
• Graciously answer the same questions more than once. Some people deal with their anxiety by seeking more information or developing a plan for making a purchase. However, if the questioning seems to become a never-ending waste of your time, say, “You might want to think about it some more on your own and then get back to me.” 
• Be ready for delay to become sudden action. Some people shiver at the side of the pool and then suddenly grit their teeth, think a happy thought, and jump into the freezing water. When that happens, let your customer quickly get into the swim and get it over with. At the Orlando International Airport Build-A-Bear store, limited edition souvenir items can be purchased by the shopper who runs out of time to construct a toy. 

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