Professor Suggests Strategies for Independents

LAS VEGAS -- Independent retailers must be more responsive to and empathetic with the needs of their customers to get them to become more engaged with their supermarket, Dr. Richard George, professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, told Tuesday's general session of the National Grocers Association annual convention here. "You have significant opportunities to improve the customer-service experience and to make your stores special," he said. His suggestions for strategies that supermarkets could pursue included: take delicatessen orders over the Internet; offer a personal shopper to assist customers one day a week; provide customized shopping lists to encourage customers to buy more; assemble meal components in one place to encourage suggestive selling; use environmentally friendly bags; and provide special parking for mothers with small children. When he asked for suggestions from members of the audience, one retailer advocated "lots of in-store demos," while another described his store's "Say Hi to 5" program, in which store employees were encouraged to greet five people per shift that they did not know." -- Elliot Zwiebach