Retail
Growing Peer Influence at the Retail Level?
While I don’t shop a whole lot, I have noted that my retail experiences lately have been unusual…not because of the stores or the brands I’m buying…but because of the behavior of my fellow shoppers.
On a visit to a home improvement center, I was stopped in the parking lot by a puzzled looking lady who had a cart full of cabinet and tile samples. “What do you think,?” she asked me. This question turned into a quarter hour conversation as we compared our remodeling experiences and design preferences. Apparently just talking things through eased her mind and she left more confident of her choices.
Then there was the group of ladies I saw huddled around the yogurt at the grocery store yesterday. Pretending to consider which egg brand was worthy of a trip home with me, I eavesdropped on their discussion. They covered probiotic vs. Greek vs. store brand yogurts…concluding with one woman’s endorsement of a yogurt available at Trader Joe’s. To my amusement, the advice of one shopper had two of the ladies decide to forego their yogurt purchase entirely.
Later that day at the mall, a fellow shopper conspiratorially advised me that, if I wasn’t in a hurry, the book I was considering was available from Amazon for a fraction of the cost.
Peer influence can make or break the sale, and most of this influence happens offline. Interactions with fellow retail shoppers seems to be happening much more frequently for me, lately. It has got me wondering…what has changed? Could it be that our fluency with online social networks is reshaping our offline shopping behavior in a significant way? Is the ease with which we solicit peer opinions at the retail level growing? If so, how should savvy retailers harness this at the store level?
Target redefines value brands
image source: mypbrand.com
Target has gone and changed the game in what I have always seen as a bit of a mystery in the retail space—value brands. Their new up&up rebrand puts a new face on their typically bland value brand product line. This clean and modern rebrand instantly elevates the perceived quality of these products.
The interesting part of this rebrand, to me, is the potential to change consumers’ opinion on value brands across the board. If up&up stays perceived as a value brand, Target now has a substantial leg up. In a time where lots of consumers are actively seeking better prices and value, up&up now looks like a better quality brand priced at the same low price. Given the choice between this and any other similarly priced value brand, I would always choose the better presented up&up brand.
I look forward to seeing what kind of success Target sees with the re-brand—more interestingly if other value brands will follow suit.
See more pictures after the jump.
