Customer connection crucial, consultant tells business leaders

How do you keep customers coming in the doors of Geneva businesses, especially during rocky economic times?

Connect, connect, connect, according to retail trends consultant.

Fran Yoshioka of St. Charles, who studies retail trends worldwide, spoke to about 40 businesspeople Tuesday in seminar sponsored by the City of Geneva.

"It really is about connecting with your customer, connecting with your community," she said.

Yoshioka presented 10 concepts that are hot now in retail. Some are already evident, such as that people are buying less stuff.

That would seem to be a negative if you make your living selling stuff to people, but Yoshioka said businesses should recognize people are getting over the disease of "affluenza" - being slaves to marketing, disposing of things frequently, buying willy-nilly.

Instead, she said, shoppers are into "buying better", looking for seasonless items built to last.

The shopping experience is also more important to them, she said, encouraging retailers to tell their business' personal story to customers.

"The consumer is so interested in that," Yoshioka said. And they want to know more about products - where they were made, what they are made of, as part of a growing concern about ethical buying.

People are yearning for in-person social connection, so businesses should consider encouraging shoppers to meet and linger, she said. It could be as simple as having more chairs in your store, or serving refreshments.

When asked about hours of operation, Yoshioka said it will be more important for businesses to stay open later.

"There are more (customers) that do not have 9-to-5 jobs," she said. "So customer's free time is very different than it used to be. You have to capture that. If we know leisure time is in the evening, we need to be open."

And tough economic times are not the time to hunker down and do things the way you've always done them, or to cut back on things that attract customers. She noted that an enduring popular item - the Monopoly board game - was invented during the Great Depression. Merchandisers should think about practices such as selling their items in each others' stores, or changing their displays much more often than they are used to.

"Now is not the time to hold back," she said.