Unlocking Retail: Navigating Shopping Convenience and the Hidden Costs

Chapters

• 0:00 The Future of Consumer Convenience
• 13:34 Simplified Shopping for Increased Convenience

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast where I can't say NerdBrand Podcast and we talk about convenience because everything needs to be convenient. And I have a story and you'll laugh or you won't, and then you'll never listen again. But please do so Up next. Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast where I'm going to talk about convenience. And the reason is is because I went to the store and I forgot there's still things behind glass panes and you're probably wondering, like, what's this got to do with anything, jason? It's like hang with me. You know we chase rabbits here, but there's a point. So you know, there's nothing more exciting in one's life at this age that I'm approaching, which is that of 50. Oh, my God, I got really.

Speaker 1: 1:10

I don't drink, but I tell you what, if I did, I would take one now mart and stand in an aisle of items that are behind glass and you have to push a button that sends off a siren of some sort to let people know somewhere, if not everywhere, around you that hey, there's a person here that's going to buy things out of this contain, out of this case. So please come on over, unlock the case and let's talk about it. Now, for those of you are thinking like jason, were you in, like like the night? Like no, you know there's nothing more exciting than, on a tuesday, to let everybody know in walmart that you know you need haynes large underwear. Like there's just nothing great. There's nothing great about that, you know. So you just push the button, you stand there and you just wait for sarah to come over on a t in Walmart and be like, can I help you? Like, yeah, I want that packet. Cause for some reason it's behind glass and this is what I thought I would be doing with my life on a Tuesday afternoon and it just gives me all kinds of you know, confidence in myself and I guess I'll see you over in all 17. Cause I'm going to go and buy some Pert Plus or something later, some soaps and things, and so you can just walk over with me and and or I can just hit a button that alerts everybody to know around that aisle that once again, I have need of assistance for an item that should be easy to pick up off the shelf and convenient to purchase.

Speaker 1: 2:43

Now, I understand, not everybody has these experiences. This is probably just me. I have a very strange life. I think I'm a weird crap magnet, but you know what? This is sort of what the gist of the show is for today. And if it's hard to buy, if the entry point is difficult, it doesn't matter what the price is. People are just going to figure out a way to buy it online later somewhere else.

Speaker 1: 3:10

So in-store experiences are as important as the experience they have online with your brand. See, that's how we dovetail that, or whatever it is right. So, anyways, a little shop talk on that. We dive into every evolving world of retail and consumer behavior. So it's a topic that's on everyone's mind, is it really? Was this topic on your mind today?

Speaker 1: 3:36

Anyway, in a world where no one sleeps, it seems like time is a precious commodity, but the demand for convenience is kind of an experience that's skyrocketed. I mean, let's let's face it, Not all of us want to be standing in an aisle with a bunch of things behind a glass case waiting for somebody to come along and unlock it so that we can take the one thing that we used to be able to just pick up. Um, all right, I think I'm getting off my soapbox now. So where are we going with this? Well, shopping was getting the thing hopping in your car, going to the store, browsing the aisles, waiting in line, adhering to store hours, and then you can order groceries from your couch at 2 am and have them delivered before breakfast. I don't know of anybody that really does that, but if you're out there, I guess it's good for you.

Speaker 1: 4:20

But this is shifting. Factors have happened. First, the technology no-transcript. If it's not there, it's sort of that's the luxury item. Now it's not so much what you're buying anymore, it's the look, it's, it's the ease of getting it. So you know, spending hours at a grocery store and ordering everything online during your lunch break, it's a, it's a changer, it's, it's something that you can do and then move on because it's going to be brought to you.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Now, this shouldn't be a thing I would think you would want to be a hat habitually do, but sometimes you just have to, and so it comes in many forms, though. That is convenience, online shopping and lightning fast delivery, subscription boxes, and they can curate products for you and collect, click and collect services that help you skip the shipping fees. I mean, you got a meal kit out there that you can get, and it takes the guesswork out of whatever you're going to cook that night and you got drone deliveries, you got packages and, oh my God, there's so many things, um, but sometimes you just want to go to the store and peruse but everything's behind a glass. Soon it won't be, but still, convenience even matters if you're just window shopping, okay.

Speaker 1: 5:47

So what's the dark side of all of this as I rant? Well, is convenience a good thing? Is all of this stuff a good thing? So there's concerns I have, perhaps the impact on local businesses, for example. You know, there, your brick and mortars are designed for you to come in and peruse and hopefully buy something before you leave, or to schedule an appointment, or to book something for an event. So you know this kind of convenience could take money off the street and, you know, deliver directly to your door. But it offsets that into.

Speaker 1: 6:24

Now we have, you know, more Amazons, this and that going on, and so you have data privacy issues that increase because retailers are collecting information about your shopping habits. There's a reason why that squared section on the shelf one day was $5 for your favorite root beer, which only has four bottles, and I remember when it had six, but I digress and now it's like six or seven dollars for that root beer. For those of you listening and know me, it's IBC root beer. It's in the glass bottles and it's in the Kroger aisle right around the things, but anyways, moving on.

Speaker 1: 7:04

So what's going to be the future of convenience? Well, you know you can. I don't know if I would risk 100% of the time wanting my glass root beer bottles delivered, any more than my ice cream, and I'm just divulging all my bad habits on this show today, but you know where do you go from. Here, though, it has to be considered the future of convenience. It's going to involve more personalization, so AI will anticipate your needs before you know them. Maybe an order gets pre-built and made and loaded in your cart and you get a notification to just hit the button to say yes, I want that. And next thing, you know, $120 worth of items show up to your house and you don't remember what there are. It's happened Not to me personally, just saying so.

Speaker 1: 7:49

We'll see more integration of online and offline shopping experiences. Technologies will augment reality. Perhaps It'll blur the lines between physical and digital worlds. Can we all wait for that? I know, I'm excited. Hopefully you'll find ways to balance that convenience with sustainability, because, see, that's really what you want. You know it's not a bad thing when you know you need um. You know toilet paper pretty regularly, like you know everybody. Remember 2020, hey, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, um, you know, now you can just order it. And you know, like, hey, every I don't know what your all's personal habits are, I'm just putting a number out. I'm not hinting about my own, but let's say, every eight weeks you need to order some rolls and it does it automatically. I mean, that's a great experience online, because you know, we all know what it's like to buy toilet paper through the checkout lane. Some of us have anxiety problems with that. I personally don't, because I don't really give a crap what you think idea Hence pushing a button and buying in Walmart and all that. If you don't want to know what I'm talking about, you're going to have to listen to the beginning of this episode. Anyhow, we'll find a way to balance this.

Speaker 1: 8:57

You also have ethical considerations as well. Some things should just not be purchased online and remain in person, at least for the fact of the accountability. I don't know. There's that If you find convenience, you just want to. In supporting convenience, you do still want to support the communities. Some people would argue sustainability would go into protecting the planet. You know, on that side of things, not necessarily the first thing I would think of with that word, but a lot of people think of, you know, saving the planet and that's great. So sustainability with ordering groceries versus going through the checkout line Either way, the plastic is still coming to your house and the baggies. So I don't know how it does that, unless you actually go to certain outlets now to buy groceries and you have to bring your own bag Then, yes, so there's that to consider.

Speaker 1: 9:55

But you know, it's something that as we move forward in society and as society changes, brands are always looking for ways to wow people. When your customers hit the door, when they cross that threshold, that's when you need to wow them. It's not just an online thing with your ad. It's not just a great message, it's not just a you know, oh, that was a great ad or commercial which apparently, you know we're going to see a lot of those in the Super Bowl, but it's at the. It's at the doorstep of the business the presentation, how your store is laid out, the paint on the walls and how it contrasts with the information you want to show people, if it's prices or if it's just your logo. There's just all kinds of things to do that are subtle things to not scream at people and put all kinds of flashy activities and things in front of people that could distract them from what their original intent was when they got there.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Um, many places, I think, have gotten away from having that hostess at the door to uh greet and to assist. Instead, it's been really just kept to the restaurant industry, when it could be applied to any, I think, and that personal touch, having a human, there is something. Now, sure, you can hire a robot I'm sure in five years we will have robots doing this but I would say that there's a deeper appreciation for that human involvement at every point that you can interject into. For that, and the points that you don't want to interject that into, is when it creates a block to purchase or to access a service. You know, in sales it's really can be a fumble when you have this and that or what abouts happen and you just kind of already have what the need is and you just need to go ahead and close it. You don't really want to present any other possibilities or things that could happen, at least not immediately, because you could end up blocking the sale. You can end up really shooting yourself in the foot, because you can worry about it later, after they sign ink. They can always come back for another statement of work. It's okay. I think most people understand. When you ask for more, it costs more, especially if it wasn't in the original scope, and so for those that don't understand that well, I think that most of society today would probably look at them and ask them if you know they understand rules for things. I've never really had that happen, but I would think that that would be a factor. But yes, make it convenient, make it easy to find stuff, and you know, when you do a website, it applies there. It's really funny.

Speaker 1: 12:42

I think sometimes it's very difficult for us to look at something physical and then look at something digital and not see similarities in how it's used. Like, imagine you go to a grocery store and upon entry of the store, it's just crowded with carts that no one's using. It's got all these kiosks in front of it with just stuff and you're just like I can't get to the front door. Man, I just want to get to the front door and get inside because I got to buy bananas and you can't and it's bananas to try to get in to buy bananas. Well, it can be that way with digital stuff, with properties. I mean, keep it simple. People have they don't? You know they have their one thing, they want to do, and if you introduce too many decisions, well, well they don't really do anything and that decision shock will set in.

Speaker 1: 13:34

I'm hoping in the future that no one will have to ring a bell to buy items as simple as those that I've made fun of, because you know, you got to think it's not convenient for a business to have a person assist every single shopper in the store. That's a huge cost. Having somebody greet you at the store versus somebody that kind of walks you through the store is a completely different item or different thing when it comes to purchases. I mean, could you imagine, like your job at the store is to wait for that light to go off, to go over there with the key to unlock the thing, to let people buy the thing. I mean that's got to be a huge problem and if it doesn't happen that often, I wonder if it's. I would love to know what the inventory reporting is on that for restocking, because it's probably dropped significantly due to the fact that people just don't want to bother with it if they can't just reach over to a shelf and grab it and put it in their cart.

Speaker 1: 14:34

So think about convenience. As you're out there, whatever it is you're doing, whatever you want people to do, make it simple and you'll see the reward for that financially. If you like this episode of the NerdBrand Podcast, you know where to go and listen more episodes. It's nerdbrandagencycom slash podcast and you can find us on your favorite podcasting network, just Google. Google, just search for Nerd Brand Agency, or Nerd Brand Podcast, rather, and you know everybody out there. Remember, keep your nerd brand strong.