Who is my Customer? Learn Types of Shoppers

A business at home or working a brick and mortar shop selling to the public, requires one to know the customer. They are the consumers of your products and learning about their motives and reasons to shop, can increase your own sales.  Offering the opportunity for conversation or listening in on one, can open the door to learn more about your customer. Can you identify the various type of shoppers?

Planning a strategy for effective selling requires us to know our customer needs and how we can present the benefits of our products, to make sales.  Learning about the customer can start with your own shopping experience and observe the answers, to some of the following questions that arise, prior to purchase ;

‒ What do I need?
‒ Where do I find it?
‒ Price and quality?
‒ Price and quantity?
‒ Why do I need it?
‒ Do I need help to find it?
‒ Who offers extra specials?
‒ How long is the store open?
‒ How far is the store?
‒ Do I need delivery?
‒ Is there a sale?
‒ Charge it or cash?

The process in thinking of buying goes fairly quickly through our minds. We have a good idea of the needs and where, when, what, who, and how to buy the product. We go to a particular business that can usually offer the best item at the most comfortable price. Our customers will also share the same process of thinking to arrive at their own decision whether to buy or not. It will be our responsibility to attract and convince the customer, to buy from us.

Designing our own selling strategies should vary, to appeal to the different customers that arrive plus answer their needs. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine which possible buyer is the real consumer and attempting to satisfy the entire market is overwhelming but catering to a particular group of people (market segment) is attainable. Again, knowing your customer is of great importance.

Providing service to the customers available to us can be sorted into various ‘shopping’ types and they will consume, according to their income and needs.  A few customer profiles that arrive may be the following types :

Low Interest - shopper has a low interest in shopping and little concern in price, service or product selection.  Discerns for  best price and quick service.

Active - high interest in shopping. Enjoys many activities including browsing. Price, quality, fashion and selection are important.

Service - usually found in middle class with dependents. Friendly, helpful service and prompt attention is important. Time constraints may be in place.

Traditional - enjoys outdoors activities. Shopping is not interesting, they aren’t demanding and not too concerned with price. May be loyal to brand quality.

Impulse - usually DIY personality and characteristics. Most likely to try new products, not into brand loyalty, rely on print media. Low interest in radio or television advertising.

Price Sensitive - usually found in older, married or single, middle-class shoppers. They go out of their way to find a bargain. Rely heavily on all forms of advertising to find the best prices.

Repeat - depends on your price, quality and service. Returns regularly for ongoing needs. Important to place high value on these shoppers.

Customers will not have these specific characteristics but may exhibit a mix of them. Learning to identify the basic shopping behaviors will help you develop your own business marketing strategies to create sales and repeat buyers. Identifying the benefits of your products to match the needs with the type of customer you require, is of great importance to your business success.

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Strategies to Sell Handmade Crafts

Blogs

Artists of all ages and diverse skills in creating handcrafted gifts can be found online in great numbers. Do you stop to look at the number of results, located under the search bar, after you typed in your query? Monitoring this number helps writers online with tailoring their articles with keywords for a better and competitive search engine results page (SERP). After all, who doesn't want to land on the first page of a search?

The next time you blog, use the search bar to find the result numbers for that search term (your title). Other methods include using a keyword search tool. The point is to keep an eye on the numbers for the keywords. We don't want to compete for a search query that has 3.5 million other sites using the same ones.

Shipping and Handling plus Insurance

I am sure we are all familiar with shipping and handling fee's that arise. Selling handmade crafts online requires paying attention to the cost of shipping our products which is usually done by weight. Ensuring against theft or damage requires adding insurance which will change the over all price of our products. Enquire at your local Post office, UPS and FedEx offices or online and get a copy of their prices. Work on calculating your numbers to ensure you can integrate a reasonable and fair price to earn a profit yet also cover this expenditure.

Direct Selling Methods

Art Shows, Fairs, Exhibitions, Flea markets, Craft Bazaars - offers you the opportunity for direct contact with customers. Costs will vary and have rental fee's for booth, table, commission, registration fees as well as indirect costs of travel, hotel, and gas. Bring lower priced craft gifts for extra sales. Hold a Draw at such 'n such time for attention to your booth (yes, worked for me!) Success can and is, found in using this method of selling handcrafted products. Ensure you have a budget in place to start this route.

Street Vendor - a few cities offer Vendor permits and locations for Vendors to sell to the public. You will need your own display supplies and props, patience and friendly presence. These permits can be found usually at your Town hall.

Home Party - advertise to the public, send invitations with a +1,2, and host a Gift party at your home (or others) to display and sell your products. Dress and act professional as this is a business affair for you. Include a contest or draw and use extra gifts for surprise prizes. Bring along smaller gifts with lower price to entice further sales. Always include your business card for prospective future contact.

Consignment - offer to let a store display and sell your product. This will require a contract with terms to protect you and the store and recommend visiting a lawyer for assistance. The store will display your product and upon purchase by a customer, monies owing to you are given and the store, get their own commission. General practice is the store will add an additional percentage on top of your asking price but practices may vary.

Payment Options - offering payment options is good for any business. Offer to rent, rent-to-own or layaway. Use a contract to ensure terms for all parties are included and recommend legal advice from a qualified lawyer. Provide this contract online for free download and snail mailed (regular postal service) to you.

Indirect Selling Methods

Blog - a Web log maintained by a writer usually to share and bring attention to their handcrafted products. It's important to learn about search engine result page (SERP), search engine optimization (SEO), generating traffic, social networking, linking and available web tools, like Google Analytics (FREE) to monitor your traffic. Learning these skills will help get your blog and YOU, noticed.

E-commerce store - there are quite a few good ecommerce sites online that are free but may include advertising until you upgrade your account. Prices will vary so ensure you find one within your budget. These sites will allow for displays, have a shopping cart, a blog, be part of a shopping mall, allow to include forums. Explore the available sites and their options. I would recommend one that requires annual fee's rather than monthly.

Social Networking - building contacts with people in related industries but not competing with you. Quilt wallhangings may be considered by Interior designers, bath products by spa providers, jewellery with costume designers and the list goes on. Make a list and brainstorm with friends, family, co-workers and even your Yellow Pages telephone book. Once you have a list then go online and look in directories, bookmark sites, and all available social network sites to again, get noticed.

I am sure there are many other ideas and I've only scratched the surface. Promoting aka marketing strategies is part of the process in running a business even if only part time. Selling handmade crafts is a $14B industry and helps many people offset and maintain their costs of living. I hope I've provided some inspiration in developing your own craft business.

I hope you found this article informative. Please feel free to leave your comments and share your own observations plus give your Vote. Send me a email if you have a request on a topic of interest, place a Order or to say hello. It's FREE to Follow me, subscribe by Email or my RSS Feed.