Have you heard of the X and Y Generations? Have you figured out yet who they are, what they are and if they are who your customers are—and if they are, how do you treat them? Well, forget the X and the Y and any other letter in the alphabet except for the letter C. According to some of the retail sages and solons, today’s shoppers are all part of the great new C Generation, and age doesn’t seem to matter. The C Generation is about a way of life and an attitude towards shopping.
What the C-Geners care about are CONNECTING, COLLABORATING and a sense of COMMUNITY. They are into CUSTOMIZATION, CONVIVIALITY, COMPUTERS—and having a cup of COFFEE (of course, tea will do if you call it CHAI.) It is not the cup of coffee that matters as much as the sense of being treated as a guest and a welcome one as well. It means being accepted as part of the community and that means making your store more into a community or special gathering place. It means making shopping at your store a pleasurable experience, and the experience an event.
It would be lovely if some part of your store could be a “living room”—a COMFORTABLE, COZY and CONVENIENT meeting place—an event space. Here CUSTOMERS could relax, have that cup of coffee and hear a mini concert, a lecture on cooking, witness a demonstration, partake in a book signing, or any other social activity. It means turning your shop into a place where things are happening that are more than the sale of pots and pans. It is you being part of the COMMUNITY and CONNECTING with your clients personally.
Without actually doing it, you are breaking down a wall that physically separates you from the street or aisle of the mall and opens your shop up to be part of its immediate surroundings and the people that live and shop there. You are now one with the COMMUNITY.
