Depending on the size of your community, your nearest competitors may be a few blocks away, or a few miles away. But in either case, when one of them closes their doors, it’s time to welcome their customers wholeheartedly into your store.
While it might be tempting to feel a sense of relief as a store owner in having less competition, it’s tough on customers when their favorite stores close. In the wellness mission that is health food retail especially, the relationships that customers have with their stores go far deeper than mere convenience. Implementing ways to help these customers discover a new, trustworthy home in your store can be of great benefit to everyone involved. Here are a few ways to make that happen:
Address the Issue Directly and Specifically Invite Those Customers: When a competitor closes, addressing the issue directly—via social media, in local newspapers, radio ads or through whatever methods you normally use—lets their customers know that you are paying attention and that your business can be an alternative destination for them.
In your outreach to these customers, make sure you meet this closing head on, not with a sense of triumph, but rather with an understanding that you are welcoming them and would love to help them live in optimal health. Encourage these potentially new customers to visit your store and introduce themselves to anyone on your team.
Create an Event Around Welcoming New Customers: Consider combining a welcoming event with a presentation that covers an evergreen topic most people can relate to, like stopping pain, fighting anxiety or even creating healthy meals. Make it an “all hands on deck” store event, so that you have plenty of associates on hand to personally assist new customers and begin to forge relationships with them.
Offer Special Limited Time Pricing: As I’ve written before, discounting for too long or too often can become a trap as it can devalue the range of products in your store. However, if it is associated with a targeted outreach or event for a limited time, it may be a great encouragement to your competition’s former customers. Your existing customers will benefit, too, and it will simply drive store traffic as an out-of-the-ordinary promotion, along with your usual seasonal or condition-specific sales.
Listen to Your New Customers: Listening is crucial to any relationship, and that includes the new customers you’ve invited to your store. However, it’s possible that they may not find exactly what they’re looking for on their first visit. After all, it’s likely your competitor may have stocked different supplements and other items than your store does currently. If you have a similar product that is a go-to for your established customers, try to gently convert them to that one. If not, consider bringing in some of their suggestions. In any case, your potential new customers will appreciate being listened to and treated with sincere respect.
Loyal customers to health food stores shop at these locations because they want to address needs that they feel can’t be met anywhere else. Customers from your competitor most likely had a personal connection—even if they didn’t fully realize it—to that business. So, it can be even more disconcerting when stores close outright than changes in brand packaging or store layout—two common occurrences in retail that can frequently throw off shoppers and make them feel uncertain. That being said, be open to suggestions and comparisons to your former competitor when these new shoppers come to your store. Be friendly and receptive. If they are looking for brands or products you haven’t carried, now might be the right time to stock them. You may even gain an entirely new and profitable product line.
Be Responsive With New Customers Online: If you’ve had potential customers inquire about your store, especially if you’ve reached out via Facebook, Instagram or website efforts, keep your communication ongoing and responsive. Essentially, do the same thing for them as you’d do for any of your other customers, while keeping in mind their unique situation. As much as you can, personalize your service so these new connections know you’re listening. It’s all part of establishing a good relationship at a time when they feel adrift and are looking for a trusted confidante.
Be Willing to Establish Trust First: Whether some of your new customers lead to a noticeable increase of sales at the register, always be willing to offer the most important service you can to your customers: your trust, expertise and goodwill. Ensure they have a positive experience, whether they are visiting your store in person, calling on the phone or shopping online. If they feel welcome, they’ll be back.
Add Experienced Talent to Your Team: Consider offering positions to members of the competitor’s staff. After all, if they have been recognized in the community as local experts, bringing them on board could be an incredible asset. If your budget allows, and they seem like a good fit with your own store’s mission and current associates, you may create a real positive synergy by merging these teams into one. Plus, any new experienced team member will no doubt have their own areas of expertise, which will only help build up the base of knowledge at your store, too.
Create New, Mutually Beneficial Relationships: Reaching out to customers when a competitor closes their doors requires sensitivity and a genuine openness to making new connections. But in a way, it is simply an extension of your already-existing mission to reach out to everyone and help them live a healthier life. Establishing yourself as a new destination for customers who are looking for continuity with their previous store will, no doubt, be challenging at times. But by following the same best practices that have made your store a trusted resource for current customers, you’ll turn what could have been a negative experience for those customers into something positive. And you’ll cultivate many new, and mutually beneficial relationships for years to come.VR
A highly regarded leader in the natural products industry, Terry Lemerond is founder and president of EuroPharma, Inc. He also founded Enzymatic Therapy, Inc. and PhytoPharmica, Inc. and is currently co-owner of the Terry Naturally Health Food Stores in Green Bay & Suamico, WI, which recently won its eighth consecutive consumer choice award as “Best of the Bay.” With more than 50 years in the natural products industry, Lemerond has researched and developed more than 400 nutritional and botanical formulations that continue to be top-selling products in the market. Lemerond shares his wealth of experience and knowledge in health and nutrition through his educational programs, including a weekly radio show and newsletter, podcasts, webinars and personal speaking engagements. He is author of 13 books, including Seven Keys to Vibrant Health, Seven Keys to Unlimited Personal Achievement and 50+ Natural Health Secrets.
