Business is not only about the transactions; it is also important to know and understand the people going in and out of your store. Customers have their differences. Businesses must be aware of these differences to know how to deal with every shopper and cease the opportunity of pushing for purchases.
The main types of customers include the Impulse, Loyal, Need-Based, Discount, and the Wandering. Each one of these types differ in their perception and behavior towards your brand.
The loyal and impulse buyers bring in the largest portion of your sales while the other three makes up the remaining parts. The first two is what you need to focus on if you are determined with the success of your business.
For further understanding on each customer type, here are some further explanation:
- Impulse buyers provide a large amount of customer insight and knowledge. Using the right strategy, they can easily be persuaded. Since they are those who do not have particular products in mind, you can give them recommendations on what products are good for grabs at a particular time.
- Loyal customers play an important role in your buying and merchandising decisions. They make up only a small part of your customer base but they provide a large part of your revenue. As their name suggests, they give the most value to your products and they are more likely to recommend you to other people. So, you need to treat them with heavy emphasis by improving your service and products based on their perspective.
- Discount shoppers shop frequently but, they most likely to depend their buying decisions on low markdowns. They cannot be easily turned into loyal customers as they opt to look for the best markdown so they are most likely to return products.
- Need-Based customers spend the least time in your shop. They just come in, buy what they need and go out. It is hard to push for upsells for these people just like discount shoppers and they are also likely to be drawn to other brands. That’s why it is important to engage them with positive personal interaction if you want to retain them.
- Wandering shoppers gives you the least amount of revenue but they make up the largest amount of traffic. They are those who don’t need or want anything and doesn’t have any particular product in mind. Usually they just find your store location interesting so they drop by and look around. But you can still stimulate their interest and turn it into purchase. This is by providing them insightful information about your available products.
For many stores, this is the largest segment in terms of traffic but the smallest in terms of sales percentage. There is not a whole lot you can do about this group because the number of wanderers you have is driven more by your store location than anything else.
Understanding these descriptions leads you to your first step in turning the four other types of customers into loyal ones. Ensure that you give them positive experience while doing so, as this will encourage them to come back and contribute more for the success of your business.