Sales staff are proving to be more of an asset than an expense.

 

Everyone talks about how customer loyalty no longer exists.  Most brands and retailers furrow their brows in frustration as they watch consumers come, and then go, hopping from one retailer to the next…picking up new brands and then moving on to the next one that comes along.

However, a few savvy retailers are starting to test different customer retention methods and measure which ones deliver the most success.

A recent survey of Chinese retailers revealed some surprising results as to what really resonates with consumers.  Surviving in one of the world’s most cut throat retail markets, is driving Chinese shop owners to become masters of the game.

 

 Coming Back for More

For retailers around the world the fail safe strategy to drive sales is discounting. Sales, special promotions and other price driven events has become so common that consumers now expect everything to either be on sale or to at least have a coupon or discount mechanism. 

In general (for all product categories) around 40 percent of new customers will come back after their first visit. For customers who visit a shop 2 to 3 times, the revisit rate jumps to 80 percent. If a customer visits the shop 4 times, the revisit rate can be as high as 90 percent and these people eventually become the retailer’s loyal customers, according to the China National Garment Association (CNGA).

But first you need to get consumers into your shop and then coming back for those critical second and third visits.

CNGA surveyed a small group of shop owners to learn what they found was the most successful way to keep customers coming back.

For fashion retailers, the revisit rate is slightly lower than the industry average measuring about 38 percent.  However, 20.4 percent of the shop owners surveyed said their customer revisit rate was as low as 20 percent, and many retailers said that increasing their revisit rate to 30 percent was still very challenging.

 

What Works

According to the survey, shop owners claim to have the most success in building customer loyalty simply by talking with their customers when they’re in the store. Surprisingly, 65 percent of shop owners said that this was what really drove consumers to revisit.  Simple conversations such as asking customers “Do you living nearby?” or just saying “If there is any problem, you can bring back your purchase within 7 days,” can make a dramatic difference in the relationship that the customer has with your business.  Shop owners said that making a conversation is the most common way for them to understand their customer and start that all-important long-term relationship.

Smart shop owners said that they continued the conversation by adding: “Apart from what you see today, we are also regularly adding new items. Can you leave us you contact details so that we can let you know as soon as we have new products?”  Simply by saying that, store owners were able to greatly increase the customer revisit rate.

 

Many Channels, Varying Success

Engaging with customers on WeChat is the second most commonly used method, with 52 percent of shop owners sending promotional messages to customers on WeChat. Another 42 percent will exchange name cards with their customers.

Other commonly adopted practices include coupons (32%), membership cards (30%) and sending messages on Weibo (21%).

Despite WeChat’s popularity, only 6 percent of shop-owners felt that it was very effective in bringing customers back to their stores.

Their experiences echo those of retailers in other markets.  Digital marketing might reach a lot of people, and may even have impressive views, but when it comes to making the cash register ring, personal contact is where the money is.