[A monthly article written to help you
get more
people
to buy--or buy in.]I visited a
leading Canadian retailer's store
online store recently. For our purposes,
we'll call it Consumer SuperMart.
This is a company everyone knows and can be
found two to three to a city. After visiting
the site, I found out their hours, what they
sell and where they are located. After
reading the site, I could tell you how many
people they employ and when the company was
founded. And by whom.
What I could not tell you is why I
should shop there. I scoured the site looking
for a reason to choose this store over and
above every other choice (including doing
nothing). Was it more convenient? Did it save
me time or money? Could it make my home more
comfortable? Could it turn my home into the
envy of the neighbours?
I don't know. It didn't say.
What makes Consumer SuperMart stand out? What
gets me excited to shop there?
It looked like every other
Canadian retailer I've ever seen. From the
store's perspective, if I ended up shopping
there, it was only because that store got
lucky.
I started thinking about what it could do for
me. What are the benefits of
shopping there? What makes this place stand
apart?
Clearly it was more convenient than
most. It had longer hours (opened earlier)
and was on almost every street corner (or so
it seemed).
It also had a number of very unique products
that would both interest me, and
make the store stand out from the
crowd.
It also had lots of (presumably) friendly
employees who were there to ensure a
great experience.
It was a one-stop shop that offered
everything from auto repair, lamps and
bicycles to home accessories, garden tools
and camping gear. So shopping there would be
convenient and could save me
time.
So, why wasn't Consumer SuperMart's website
giving me this information? Why wasn't it
giving me a reason to choose that store, over
and above every other choice?
It's one of the great marketing mysteries.
Too few businesses, it seems, realize that if
you sell benefits, you'll sell more. Guaranteed.