Retail Branding

Branding Your Stores

Many smaller operators are envying the big boys name.  An established trademark can set you apart from others.  We all know the brand names.  In convenience retailing, 7-Eleven ranks as the best known brand.  It establishes a pre-conception such as McDonalds does.   You know or think you know what you are getting before you enter the box.  Brands as we know can also establish a negative connotation.  That of course is the trick.  Once you hang your shingle out with a promise to the customer, you have to fulfill that image every minute of every day.  So many times we spend the money to build the box to a certain specification to establish the brand but we lose it on the people end.  How do you convey that message to every employee?  In Good to Great, they talk of having the right people on the bus.  We can’t spend the time to motivate employees.  They have to be self motivated.  As in all things, the people factor is the hardest to achieve.  Some markets seem to be hopeless.  I have operated stores in rural or metro markets that never came around on the human factor.  Frustrating every day.  Store standards and losses from employees were horrendous and yet we could not get the right person.  What do you do then?  When you are planning to brand, what do you look at in the human resources aspect?  A balanced scorecard will help you take all aspects of the plan into consideration but do retailers do this on a regular basis?  Do you examine how you can recruit and train before you implement construction?  I remember building stores in markets and then having to relocate employees from existing facilities to achieve the standards we needed. 

Of course, the primary requirement of really establishing a brand is value added to the customer.  What is unique about your offering?  In speaking with retailers, many of them look for the “one thing”.  What one thing is setting you apart?  What is the reason a customer would enter your box instead of your competitor.  Many times, the primary catch is a credit card base related to a fuel purchase.  The premier brands, Chevron and Shell, provide an offer to the customer.  It is in their comfort zone and repeat business is not only sustained by the quality of the product but the financial service the retailer provides.  As we know, in the past years financial services have provided much of the GDP for the country.  Convenience retailers have struggled with this part of the business.  Money order programs, while complex, provide cash flow and banking services for customers without accounts.  Unfortunately, the benefit is more for the company and does little to separate you from the crowd.  So what questions do you ask yourself and your customers?  The real question behind basic marketing.  Are you first on the street?  Are you cheaper or provide superior service?  Do you offer a product mix no one else can provide?  Is there barrier to entry once you do achieve your unique offering or can competition copy it quickly so you lose your edge?  How cost effective is the development of your offering? 

My advice, talk to your employees and customers on a regular basis.  Watch your customers.  Be in the stores that you operate.  Know your business.  You might just be the next big thing.