Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format. With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Consumers just want to find what they're looking for

If I can't find it here, I'm going over there

"Consumers today want what they want when they want it and they don't expect to pay a premium to get it fast," NRF Vice President for Research Development and Industry Analysis Mark Mathews said. "When they walk into a store they want to find their item, and find it easily, especially if they've researched it online beforehand. And whether it's next-day or pickup-in-store, quick delivery of online purchases at little or no extra charge is growing so fast that it's something shoppers are coming to expect."

Mathews discussed the report during a session on developing trends in consumer behavior held today at NRF 2018: Retail's Big Show (NRF's annual conference) in New York. The session was moderated by NRF Director of Retail and Consumer Insights Katherine Cullen and also featured IBM Global Managing Director and General Manager of Worldwide Consumer Industries Laurence Haziot and Prosper Insights & Analytics Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Phil Rist.

Whether shopping in-store or online, consumers are typically seeking to buy a certain item rather than just browsing, with 73% surveyed saying that's the case with stores and 54% online, according to the report. And in either case, 58% rated being able to find what they want quickly and easily as their top factor in determining where to shop. Shopping "just to browse" has shifted to being more popular online (done by 46% of those surveyed) than in stores (27%).

Among those shopping online, 68% expect free shipping even on purchases of less than $50, with 47% saying they typically back out if shipping isn't free. And 38% expect two-day shipping to be free while 24% expect free same-day shipping.

The quality of customer service is also a top factor in deciding where to shop, cited by 44%, along with speed and simplicity of checkout (42%) and the ability to try out products (20%). Consumers said their overall experience with a brand or retailer is important in determining which to buy from and how often (79% each) and how loyal or connected they feel (77%).

The survey found 59% of consumers are interested in special events retailers hold to draw customers into stores or onto websites, including the ability to try out products, exclusive access to sales, demonstrations and product tutorials. Millennials are particularly enthusiastic about special events - 44% said they were "very interested" compared with 25% of consumers overall. And Millennial men (60%) were more likely to be "very" interested than Millennial women (28%).

The report said fewer than a third of consumers were aware of technological innovations such as 3D printing or making purchases through social media (29% each), in-app store navigation (28%), in-store digital displays (25%) or retail messaging apps and online chat (24%). But among those that were, messaging apps and chat were the technology that had most often been tried (65%) while in-app store navigation was most-cited as improving the shopping experience (63%.)

"Retailers are literally racing to consumers' doorsteps to meet rising expectations," Mathews said.

Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format.

With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

You'll learn to sell yourself, sell your products, and sell your brand on the internet, writing high-conversion landing pages, social media posts, and more. You'll start attracting customers you didn’t even know existed, and learn the top trade secrets for customer retention.

You'll become a lean, mean selling machine. See how the experts do it and learn to adapt what they've done for your own profit. You'll learn to write strong, powerful, effective sales copy, whether it's for a sales script, sales letter, flyer, insert, advert or just about anything else.

You'll learn how to sell whether you're selling by telephone, by mail, or even meeting prospects face-to-face. You'll find out how to size them up, present yourself, nail down their true needs, close the sale, and learn to tackle the tricky ones.

You'll discover the biggest secrets of successful direct mail sellers, sales letter writers, and how to segment and choose the right prospects for each campaign.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)