It Only Takes One To Get on the Brand Blacklist

Keeping track of your brand’s customers, demographics, traffic patterns, sales, and countless other data points is a big job. Retail execution is a data-driven endeavor and all of the numbers matter, in every channel, on every shelf, and in every basket. New research is here to help inform you about what customers are thinking and feeling as they peruse your brand on the sales floor.

A new study from retail consultancy firm Customer Bliss and tech giant Oracle shows that many of today’s shoppers are not happy with customer service, retail experience, and many consumer brands. That unhappiness is significant and will lead them elsewhere pretty quickly. Brands that work with us have a leg up on this information; they are already looking at hundreds of data points in the brick and mortar space.  

A concise look at the numbers from the latest research does point out some standouts however, that any brand would be wise to take into consideration:

Just one!

While it seems that it’s becoming the norm to ask for a manager or to escalate a complaint up the chain, the fact is that 18% of customers look at dealing with bad service as about as painful as a visit to the dentist. Rather than interacting positively with brands at touch points in the store and online, many are working their way through retail pain points and the casualties of that are a loss of customers and brand fans.

What do today’s shoppers want? Information from people they know and trust. The survey revealed that consumers are twice as likely to trust family members (77%) and friends (75%) over other sources of product information. After that come professional colleagues at 38%, indicating that today’s savvy shoppers look to those directly around them for information on brands and products. Only 14% of respondents said they trusted social media influencers.

When stepping into a store, 42% of shoppers value a brand or company that provides unique ways to experience what they have to offer. Among Gen Z shoppers it’s about 58% and with Millennials it’s 56%. The survey was conducted across multiple demographics, with 1,143 adults 18+ across the United States responding. Groups were evenly divided between Generation Z adults (ages 18-24 years old), Millennial (ages 25-39 years old), Generation X (ages 40-54 years old), and Baby Boomer (ages 55-75 years old.)

In-store excellence begins here.

There is a lot to navigate in today’s retail brick and mortar space. Shoppers are more connected to technology, but they still want good service, available goods, educated associates, and the feeling that a brand values them as a customer. Brands that work with ThirdChannel are dialed into custom analytics that we curate from their data. We also provide access to a field force of reps that are uniquely matched to their products and are already passionate about the products.

Take a look at some of the work ThirdChannel is doing with major retail brands. How can we help you help your customers?