Flush Out How Store Toilets Matter

Leave it to the Finns. University of Turku researchers in Finland noticed how few studies have been published on the role of restrooms in retail shopping experiences. The researchers decided to deposit their own contribution to this literature based on surveying 655 shoppers in a suburban Finnish department store over the course of one summer weekend.
     I present the results to you realizing that what’s true in Finland might be less true in other cultures, what matters in a department store might be a bit different than what matters in other retail settings, and what people tell researchers regarding their in-store toilet habits suffers a bias because of taboos regarding discussion of urination and defecation.
     Still, I think the findings serve to remind us how store amenities matter. The same bias that leads shoppers to avoid discussion of their use of restrooms can lead merchants to neglect adequate restroom maintenance. Moreover, many merchants consider restrooms as an invitation for store visitors who those merchants would prefer not come into the store.
     But even if your customers want to avoid proximity to riffraff, they want their own natural urges relieved. On a four-point scale of importance, study participants gave a 3.4 to the cleanliness, availability, and locational convenience of restrooms. Females placed higher importance than males. Among shoppers aged 60 and over, the importance of restrooms was rated above that for customer service. For those stores having a toilet easily available, those who used it spent about 25% more time in the store, opening opportunities for more browsing. Although in the study, the amount of money spent was not significantly higher among those using the toilet than among those not, the research findings suggest that stores with easy accessibility to clean restrooms do draw larger customer spends than those without.
     Toilets matter especially since they relate to avoiding disease and caring for family, two of the most basic sales pitches of all—the consumer motivations which lead to propagation of the human species. There are other ways these show themselves. When activated, the evolution-developed trigger for a fear of disease results in consumers becoming less interested in foreign products, ideas, and people. Have a hand sanitizer dispenser available in the area of merchandise from less-developed countries. Just the presence of the dispenser can ease the prejudice. And to help in family care, check that each restroom includes a diaper changing table.

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

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