Ascertain Motivations for Shopper Habits

Georgia State University researchers find that repeat purchasing is only one among a group of habits consumers can form in interactions with retailers. Others include the rituals a person follows when seeking low-margin items, buying an item offered at a discount, and returning products.
     Nourish the in-store habits which create purchase opportunities benefitting both the shopper and you. To maintain good will with your customers, tolerate the other habits and rituals which do little or no harm.
     Shopper habits may become rigid rituals. Some are deep-seated in the personality because they were introduced early in life as the child watched peers shop and was coached by parents and by merchants the child trusted. In other cases, the rituals came before the habits, having their origins pre-birth as they were hardwired during development inside the womb.
     At the other extreme are habits exercised consciously by the shopper in ways that could undercut your profitability. Ascertain motivations for the habits:
     As the shopkeeper spots the ten-year-old boy coming through the door, he says to a customer, “I know this is the first time you’ve shopped here. As a welcoming treat, I want you to see probably the dumbest kid you will ever encounter in your life.”
     While the customer watches, the shopkeeper opens the cash register, takes out some money, places a dollar bill in one open palm and two quarters in the other, and says to the kid, “Okay, which do you want?”
     The boy hesitates for a moment before pointing to the hand with the two quarters. The shopkeeper shakes his head, chuckles, hands him the coins, and returns the dollar bill to the register. The boy picks up items from the shelves, comes to the counter, plunks down the two quarters, and pulls more coins out of his pocket to pay for the rest that’s due.
     This entire episode without the kid saying one word. Nothing.
     The customer who’d watched all this is intrigued. She quickly makes her purchase and follows the boy out the door. When they’re both outside, she asks, “A few minutes ago, why did you choose the two quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
     “The day I take the dollar, that’s the day I stop getting fifty cents every time I come by.”
     That kid was far from dumb. The shopkeeper was on to something, too, even if not realizing it consciously. The boy had become a reliable repeat customer.

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

Click below for more: 
Nourish Good Shopper Rituals 
Nudge Shoppers Toward Profitable Habits 
Acknowledge Inertia in Consumer Behavior 
Lead Your Customers Through Changes Gradually 
Turn Customer Habits Into Rituals