Shopping on a Mission

 Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman Southwest


I admit it—I am prone to impulse purchases while shopping. And it’s not so much that I’m compulsive as it is that I am absolutely smitten when I see good marketing of any kind. A good end aisle display will stop me dead in my tracks (gotta love Frito Lay, Pepsi and any wall of cheese). I am a sucker for sampling whether it’s at the grocery store, at an event, or especially appreciated these days, on airlines. Helpful assistants at Whole Foods or Home Depot can easily convince me that I need to upsize whatever it is I’m buying. Don’t even talk to me about the makeup counter.

But like everyone else these days, my buying behavior has changed so that those impulse purchases are less frequent. I hone in on what I want in front of my laptop or cell phone before I even make it into a store.

I have become what retail analysts call a ‘surgical shopper.” I pre-select what I want, the price I’m willing to pay and the convenience of where I should go to look at it before hopping in my car. Mission shoppers visit fewer stores—three per trip, down from five pre-recession, according to ShopperTrak. And because we’re browsing less when in a store, we don’t buy stuff we hadn’t planned on purchasing in advance.

But the retail industry is catching up with us. Stores are adding Wi-Fi and iPads to better respond to customers’ inventory questions or even help virtually assemble what the perfect outfit would look like. And, yes, old fashioned customer service is making a comeback as sales associates are now being schooled in how to read body language, or learn to start casual conversations as opposed to ignoring us as we search for a manned check-out counter.

In short, retailers have to try harder when they get us in their stores. Because, let’s be honest, it’s their job to sell us more stuff and to stimulate the economy, right?

I am absolutely planning to do my part this holiday season in helping them get this right. Even so, I want them to wow me and make it an experience that turns me into a loyal customer. What about you?