The “Butt Brush”
Feb 7th, 2012 by Tsz Wai Jenny Ng
What would cause you not want to shop at a particular grocery shop? Drew McLellan has written an interesting article pointing out that one of the negative motivators for grocery shoppers is the “butt brush.” They are less likely to purchase a product if they were brushed by another customer. In fact, the grocery shops in Vancouver has wide aisles. So, I never had such experience.
A Packed Grocery shop
However, I totally agree with McLellan’s opinion – “in every industry, there is the equivalent of the butt brush.” Businesses often only focus on consumer behaviour to indentify interested buyers. It is equally important to understand what causes consumers to turn down the product. The weakness of the products could be turned into opportunities for product improvement. This could possibly develop a new competitive advantage and a new marketing strategy for the organization.
Another example of a negative motivator for many businesses would be the line up. Having a line up could have two meanings for the company. It shows that many people are willing to buy the products, but at the same time, potential customers could be frustrated by the waiting time which might lead to giving up on their purchase. The influence factor in this case would be the lifestyle (busy life with no time shopping) or the attitude (have no patience at all) of the consumers. Many organizations have realized this buyer behaviour. Groceries store such as Superstore has many cashiers and express lanes in the stores. Also, the self-service check-outs are implemented to avoid people lining up to pay. This not only stops consumers from leaving, it also adds value to the customers and creates a new selling point for the company.
The Self-service Checkout
Every company should ask themselves the same question – “what causes our customers to turn down the products and go shop somewhere else?”