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Small Town and City Retailing that rewards the community, retailers, and customers…

Specialty stores could be better designed to present new customer experiences (CX) and unique shopping rewards for all shoppers and for loyal program customers. Some communities are now supporting specialty retailers who have been challenged by incoming and ongoing mega-retail, but are rebounding with more nimble, creative and unique thinking.

Retail Therapy is offered by SPREE at the Fashion Square, Biltmore Fashion Park and Kierland Commons Luxury Malls in Scottsdale, Arizona

This can be managed by encouraging people with shopping strategies that offer the customer unusual incentives for rewards for their purchases. For example, strategies we have recently seen could be to design customized: t-shirts, gift cards, items of artwork by local artists and artisans.

Collaborating between local shops and organizations is often a win-win outcome.

In tandem with, and actually preceding the shopping reward could be a Rewardtailer’s complementary multi-media strategy of reward advertising.

Also a Rewardtailer’s advertising should not only offer purchase rewards and overall discounts, the consumer is inundated with a plethora of offers and the followup survey — so the question should be: What will make YOUR offers/rewards different and more desired by your customers?

Lucky Magazine offers Lucky Points, their Lucky Closet, and exclusive access and CX experiences. Luckymag.com/shopoutnyc

Could you envision offering purchase rewards that provide Knowledge and Value of the town’s or retailer’s history — developing a special intriguing persona? The Reward strategy is part of the customer’s Decision-making process. As we have written before, Knowledge, Value, and Decision is a KVD strategy that can build a mutually valuable relationship. People and companies desire a community that is involved in the happiness of their residents and success of their businesses.

Before the razzle dazzle of our fascination with technology gets us all excited… Let’s remember that “there is nothing as powerful as a good idea whose idea has come.” (Thank you Victor Hugo — even then and all the way to now.) At the core of our new strategies must be something that will carry the day… This is the excitement of retailing through the centuries — if you want a historical view, watch PBS’s Masterpiece retail stories: “Mr. Selfridge” and “The Paradise.”