Consumer awareness is the driving force in the retail business. Shoppers today are very sensitive to product quality and price like never before. Retail ethics significantly influence sales fluctuations in business. Ignoring the most trivial ethical issue might significantly affect sales in your store. It pays to understand the basic retail ethical issues that might affect reputation and financial position of your retail store. These are explained below.
Employee attitude
Retail stores need a code of conduct regarding how to treat customers. Disrespectful behavior might make high paying customers to take their money elsewhere. Neglecting customer treatment might make you lose customers unaware. Your staff has a duty to facilitate customers by offering them a convenient shopping experience. This might require going an extra mile to see that your customers get a positive experience.
Employees who have harsh behavior towards customers should always be reprimanded. Customers usually don’t voice their concerns regarding such behavior but will just avoid your store at all cost. This will inordinately reflect in dropping store sales. All your employees should focus on giving customers a positive and pleasant experience always. front desk customers always interact with countless customers and should have a good attitude towards them for progressive sales.
Appropriate packaging
Retail stores should always have appropriate packaging for customers to carry their purchase. There are various packing options on the market including euro tote bags. A reliable supplier will get you shopping bags personalized to match your customer requirements. When placing your order, ensure that the bags come in various sizes, designs, and colors to meet the needs of various customers.
To make shoppers love your shopping bags, ensure to have them customized. These can be printed with your logo, address, special message, and image. Moving with purchases in not-so-ordinary shopping bags allows customers to move freely with their items. Onlookers will be admiring the nice-looking bags while attaching more perceived value to the contents.
Product quality
Misrepresenting product promotions and inferior quality products significantly affect customer satisfaction. Customers expect to find the product in similar condition with the same benefits as advertised. Offering a different product from the one advertised will put you in bad light. Honesty is an important virtue in business and customers are most likely to become loyal to brands that stick to their word.
Lining your store shelves with defective and inferior quality products is bad for business. Customers are likely to become furious about discovering the current state of the product on reaching their homes. It is the same experience when you use misleading marketing messages. Customers are likely to detest your brand and store in future for fleecing them of their hard-earned money.
Online practices
E-retailing is making business more convenient for business people and customers. This convenience of a customer ordering for an item without physically seeing it is helpful in various situations. However, it might come with various problems including:
- Poor after-sales services
- Unfair pricing
- False commitments
- Product misrepresentation
- Inconvenient purchase policies
Purchasing items online allows retail stores to offer exceptional services and sustaining customers’ loyalty. It is important to focus on delivering in the committed period, the right product, and similar item to that the customer ordered online. With such strategies in place, your e-commerce store will compete favorably with big boys in the industry such as eBay and Amazon.
Favorable pricing
Your product pricing should match that prevailing in the market. Some monopoly stores usually overcharge customers to generate abnormal profits. When a new entrant enters the market offering favorable pricing, shoppers will obviously dash to the new store. Retail store owners should not take advantage of customer’s vulnerability by charging exorbitantly for their products. Offering favorable pricing is another way to make shoppers stay hooked to your brand.
Eco-friendliness
The green revolution is spreading everywhere. Today, businesses whose activities protect the environment attract more customers. Shoppers prefer business offering reusable shopping bags that limit eyesore and filling up garbage dumps. Another way to make your business go green is adopting use of solar energy to lower your carbon footprint. Switching to renewable energy will make your brand more attractive to green-conscious customers.
Corporate Social Responsibility
This is the buzzword in the corporate world. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)shows effort for social and environmental sustainability in business activities. Shoppers today are more knowledgeable about the need for environmental protection and respect brands that share similar goals. Engaging in community empowerment programs will make your store more appealing to customers. This will significantly lead to increase in sales and brand loyalty.
Conclusion : Adapting basic retail ethics is a great way to enhance customer engagement with your brand. Shoppers today support businesses with friendly staff, ecofriendly practices, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Incorporating these in your business operations will give your store an edge in the market.
