Perspective..it's an interesting beast.
They say there’s nothing new under the sun. I think that’s a matter of perspective. You can buy something from an op shop and even though it’s not new in the sense that it was created the day before yesterday, and has never been used before you got your hands on it, it could be said that it’s new to you.
Everyday marketers come up with new ways to sell things. I think their new ways to sell things are like my new op shop items.
Of course I do love marketing and the professional marketing undertaking, because like authors creating characters, it looks to psychology and habit and acknowledges all manner of customer quirk. They just do it in reverse to us. Writers know all those things are really important, and that’s why I…and maybe you… find it fascinating.
So I wanted to talk about a recent trend I’ve come across. It involves companies experimenting with what they are calling “slow shopping” tactics.
The way that this works is that shop visitors, we aren’t calling them customers anymore, because they don’t have to buy anything, are encouraged to spend time in various retail environments without feeling pressured to buy something.
I think we used to call this browsing and I wasn’t aware we weren’t doing it anymore, oops, note to self. Anyhow loads of brands have opened experiential outposts as an opportunity for people to interact naturally with products and a way to sure up customer loyalty to their brands.
For Authors these places might be called libraries, or book club meetings, we are so ahead of the game.
If you’re worried about slipping behind in the trends, next time someone asks you what you’re doing about keeping your customers loyal, tell them you’re trying a new angle on the Fauxsumerism movement (which is: Browsing products and engaging with brands without the intention of purchasing anything.) and have a… just written by you… book reading party or donate your book to the local library.
Thanks for reading x
M
