Shy Away from Frightening Off Introverts

Some shoppers don’t want to be bothered interacting with you. They’re shy. A bricks-and-mortar retailer can catch sales dollars from these introverts by maintaining an ecommerce presence. But study results from Temple University suggest a better strategy is to make in-store experiences more pleasant for shy shoppers.
     Those studies found that when online shoppers come to the store, such as to pick up items, they buy more. Impulse items, and tactile-appeal goods such as shoes and cosmetics sell better there. Exclusively online shoppers who were convinced to come to the physical store with a discount coupon yielded from two to eight times as much profit from sales. Contrast that with what happened for customers who lived a distance from the store and had shopped exclusively in the store. When these customers were incentivized to shop online, profits from those online sales were only half as much as with store sales.
     But this was with all customers, not just the introverted ones. How do we make the introverts more comfortable? Researchers at Université Paris Dauphine and PSL Research University suggest you begin by recognizing the situations the shy tend to shy away from:

• Purchases of a type the shopper hasn’t made recently 
• Purchases in which the shopper isn’t sure how long the transaction will take or how many subsequent visits will be required 
• Situations in which the salesperson comes toward the shopper quickly, especially if the store layout makes it difficult for the shopper to move away 
• Situations in which the shopper is offered special treatment that singles them out 

     Look for signs of social anxiety in someone considering an unfamiliar purchase. If you do spot those signs, tell the shopper your estimate of how long a typical transaction takes and how many, if any, repeat visits to the store they should expect. Physically step away from the shopper briefly. If feasible, move to a less crowded shopping area or an area in which there is a large selection of products. Researchers at Columbia University and University of British Columbia found that crowded store spaces and limited product assortment heighten shopper discomfort. Verbally step back by softening the rhetoric. Researchers at University of Illinois and University of Louisiana found more sales resistance when using phrasing like, “It’s impossible to deny all the evidence that the TMX-890 is the only choice for you,” than with, “Purchasing the TMX-890 makes the best sense for you.”

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

Click below for more: 
Utilize Multichannel with Hedonic Selling
Unbox the Resistant Customer
Intercept Shoppers Fruitfully
Beware Open Sell