Retailing isn’t just about ringing up sales anymore—it’s about creating happy shoppers! A great customer experience is the secret sauce that builds brand loyalty and keeps people coming back for more.
Convenience retailers have an edge to shape and create memorable experiences by understanding customer behavior and subtly influencing their decisions.
But it isn’t as simple as it sounds. Did you know the average consumer spends just 4 to 20 seconds in front of shelves before deciding what to buy?
According to Vincenzo Russo, professor of consumer psychology and neuro-marketing at IULM University in Milan, these fleeting moments are driven largely by emotion, rather than rational consideration.
Interestingly, it is this overlap between “emotion and memory” that has crucial implications for influencing our ability to remember a product, a brand, and, therefore, to choose it again in the future, he said.
If only there was a way or rather a sure shot formula to hack this overlap!
If you think that’s tricky, here's another fact to consider. According to SAP Emarsys’ annual Customer Loyalty Index (CLI), almost half of UK Gen Z shoppers (46 per cent) and 29 per cent of other generations have abandoned a brand they were once loyal to because they grew “bored” of them.
Take the case of Liquid Death bottled water, which has been “radically entertaining” its audience to cut through the noise. The study states that 30 per cent of Gen Z, compared to 23 per cent of all demographics, have tried a new brand because of its “creative marketing”.
Additionally, over a quarter of Gen Z (31 per cent) are enticed by brands that use “cool” content or imagery, versus 21 per cent of other age groups. Meanwhile, 28 per cent of Gen Z, compared to 17 per cent of other demographics, seek out brands that deliver “memorable experiences”.
Clearly, consumers today, not just Gen Z, expect more than “business-as-usual"; they want meaningful and memorable experiences. No wonder, it is imperative to arm the stores with tactics to make them capable of leaving a mark on shoppers’ minds.
Perk up
The store entrance should be warm and welcoming. Placing fresh produce facing the entrance is an effective way to set the mood as the sight of bright fruits, or even fresh flowers signal quality and care to shoppers.
Well-organised shelves and clear signage help customers find what they need quickly. Use vibrant colours and attractive displays to catch your shoppers’ eye. Consider having a color theme but remember that sensory overload can make it difficult for customers to concentrate on products and focus enough to make a purchase.
In convenience stores, milk, bread, eggs, and crisps are hero products—the things people come for most frequently. So don’t bury them but also don’t make it too easy to find. While stores shouldn’t force shoppers to embark on a store-wide expedition for a pint of milk, placing such products just a little further inside the store creates a natural journey that gives other products their moment to shine.
Eye-level is buy-level—it’s an old trick, but it works. Place impulse items, snacks, and seasonal products in high-traffic areas like near the checkouts or next to essential goods. Use lower shelves for staple items that customers are likely to search for, such as porridge, pasta and so on.
Also, cross-merchandising can add a ton of magic to the sales. Think bread next to spreads, pasta near sauces, as well as crisps alongside beer.
Create clear zones with proper sign posting. Quite contrary to supermarkets, shoppers visit the neighborhood convenience stores in a hurry so they would appreciate finding things more easily rather being lost in a maze.
With the rising inclination towards health and fitness, it is a great idea to elevate the health quotient of stores as well. Dedicating and highlighting a section for organic, gluten-free, and vegan items can do wonders in bringing more footfalls from shoppers seeking healthier alternatives.
Installing a small refill station for basics like cereals, pasta, or cleaning products is also a great way of not only cutting down on single-use packaging but also for holding a place in shoppers’ minds.
Some independent stores, like Central Co-op Dodworth Community Store and Woosnam and Davies in Wales are already pioneering refill retailing.
As told by Asian Trader Award winning retailer Ehamparam Karunanithy who runs Premier Talbot Store in Poole, vouch for refill station, saying it not only work great for environment, but also it is easy on his shoppers’ pockets as it gives them flexibility to control the amount they are buying.
Engage all senses
Merchandising is not only about visual appeal. Apart from sight, retailers should try to engage all five senses to create a truly memorable shopping experience.
Tempting scents are a powerful, often overlooked tool. Aromas can evoke positive emotions and even trigger hunger! In fact, the smell of fresh bakery has been known for ages to pull even passing by shoppers into a store.
Light background music or even ambient sounds can subtly shape the mood of not only the shoppers but also of the staff. According to new survey by a music licensing company, four-fifths (82 per cent) of retail worker recognise music mood-boosting benefits during a shift, while two in five workers claimed that customers respond positively to music in store.
Another way to engage a key sense is having tasting sessions in the store. Sampling is a classic but often underused tactic. Let shoppers try a new snack or soft drink or wine—once it’s in their hand, they’re far more likely to buy.
Nisa Local retailer Amit Puntambekar, who often conducts tasting sessions in his village store, told Asian Trader, “When we introduce new lines of wine (from Hatch Mansfield), we often hold tasting sessions. These products can be anything between £10-20+. The tastings help the customer understand the price-point and give them confidence to buy the product.”
Seasonal and Local
Seasonal merchandising is a massive opportunity. Be it annual tradition like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, the summer BBQ season or sport events like EURO 2024 cup, convenience stores can play an instrumental role in creating buzz in the community.
The key is to plan well ahead and catch early shoppers. A dedicated seasonal display—well-placed and well-lit— tends to draw in attention of customers.
This year saw several leading convenience retailers like Aman Uppal and Neil Godhania embracing immersive merchandising when they went an extra mile in creating in-store theatre themes around EURO 2024.
While Uppal’s One Stop Mount Nod store in Coventry created a “5 meters by 4 metre football pitch” in the centre of the store, Godhania’s Neil’s Premier store in Peterborough was installed massive Euro themed vibrant displays throughout the store, along with a small goal post. England did lose the finals, but these stores won as they were successful at creating memorable experiences for the community along with a great talking point and some great sales too.
Godhania told Asian Trader at the time, “These efforts have created a festive in-store experience that’s helped attract more customers, drive footfall and boost sales. The response has been great, we have had an uplift in sales and change in consumer behaviour.
“Sales have increased significantly, and we’ve used the event to our advantage by enhancing our customer engagement through our in-house promotions.”
Additionally, shoppers love to feel connected to their roots, and local products provide that sense of authenticity as well as community spirit.
Retailers like Kaual Patel are setting some interesting benchmarks here. Not only fresh bakery items but his Nisa Local Torridon store also keeps potted plants provided by a local supplier.
“My community loves the fact that I actively work with smaller local suppliers,” he told Asian Trader.
Miles ahead
Replacing paper signs with sleek, easy-to-update digital screens might seem like a huge change but it can elevate the consumer experience to another level altogether. Not only do they look professional, but they allow retailers to quickly rotate promotions, announce limited-time deals, or even display video demos of new products.
Digital screens are another way to jazz up the whole experience. According to a survey, commissioned by Saturn Visual Solutions and carried out by OnePoll, people are more likely to splurge in a store with digital displays while a good portion of the younger generation think digital displays enhance their in-store shopping experience.
Other digital elements, be it presence on an instant delivery apps like Snappy Shopper or being on mobile marketing apps like Jisp can instantly elevate the overall experience.
Some convenience retailers are making some super-smart moves on social media to not only put their store on digital map but also to make it go viral, thus attracting massive footfall.
Run by retailer Imtiyaz Mamode, Wych Lane Premier store in Gosport is one such store that is not only popular in its neighborhood but also drives footfall from nearby towns owing to its huge fan following.
With almost 6,000 followers on Facebook and thousands more on TikTok, the store is popular online as “treasure chest for candy” owing to variety of American sweets from Reece’s Pieces to Nerds along with American range of cereals, soft drinks and ice creams.
The result? Shoppers from as far away as Leicester and Burnley flock to this store, some even documenting their visit on TikTok and Insta. Some of the videos made by customers showing the store’s range have garnered millions of views, attracting people from far and wide, with some ending up spending hundreds of pounds on one visit.
Mamode told Asian Trader, “For me, the change happened through social media. It helped me to broaden my customer base beyond the close vicinity as I was able to put my store on the virtual map and on the must-visit list for young people.”
Today, successful merchandising isn’t just about product placement—it’s about creating an environment that makes customers feel comfortable, cared for, and tempted to spend.
At the end of the day, even the best merchandising can fail if your staff isn’t welcoming or knowledgeable. Convenience stores have a unique advantage here. Armed with flexibility and personal touch, convenience stores can go miles ahead to create great shopping experiences. And some memorable ones too.
The Metropolitan Police has identified two new suspects in its investigation into possible criminal offences as part of the Post Office Horizon scandal. This takes the total number of individuals to four as the force also revealed it believes more suspects will be identified as the inquiry progresses.
Scotland Yard said members of the investigation team met with Sir Alan Bates, the leading Post Office campaigner, and fellow victims to update them on the development.
A Met spokesman said: “On Sunday Nov 17, members of the investigating team met with Sir Alan Bates and a number of affected sub-postmasters to provide an update on our progress and next steps, following an invitation to do so.
“Our investigation team, comprising of officers from forces across the UK, is now in place and we will be sharing further details in due course. The team is preparing to contact other affected sub-postmasters soon. While four suspects have been formally identified at this stage, this number will grow as the investigation progresses.”
However, Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, has warned it could be years before anyone faces charges because of the “tens of millions of documents” that must be worked through.
Speaking previously on the matter, he said, “I think at the core of this you’ve potentially got fraud, in terms of false documents, if it’s for financial purposes.
“Clearly, we have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt, so really it’s 99.9 per cent, that individuals knowingly corrupted something. So that’s going way beyond incompetence, you have to prove deliberate malice, and that has to be done very thoroughly with an exhaustive investigation.
“So it won’t be quick. But the police service across the country are alive to this and we will do everything we can do to bring people to justice if criminal offences can be proven.”
More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 as a result of the Horizon scandal, in which the faulty computer software incorrectly recorded shortfalls on their accounts. Of these, hundreds of people are still awaiting compensation despite the previous government announcing that those who had convictions quashed were eligible for payouts of £600,000.
Oral evidence at the Post Office inquiry concluded this month.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced plans to rebuild neighbourhood policing and combat surging shop theft as part of an ambitious programme of reform to policing.
In her first major speech at the annual conference hosted by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners on Tuesday, Cooper highlighted four of the key areas for reform: neighbourhood policing, police performance, structures and capabilities, crime prevention.
The initiatives she announced include:
a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to get policing back to basics and rebuild trust between local forces and the communities they serve
a new Police Performance Unit to track national data on local performance and drive up standards
a new National Centre of Policing to harness new technology and forensics, making sure policing is better equipped to meet the changing nature of crime
The home secretary also announced more than half a billion pounds of additional central government funding for policing next year to support the government’s Safer Streets Mission, including an increase in the core grant for police forces, and extra resources for neighbourhood policing, the NCA and counter-terrorism.
In her speech, Cooper said that without a major overhaul to increase public confidence, the British tradition of policing by consent will be in peril.
“I am determined that neighbourhood policing must be rebuilt,” she said, pointing to its decline over the past decade. Cuts to community-based roles have left town centres vulnerable to rising crime and antisocial behaviour, she added.
“Shop theft is up at a record high, street theft is up 40 per cent in a year… Criminals – often organised gangs – are just getting away with it. We cannot stand for this,” she said.
Cooper reiterated the government’s commitment to deliver an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles, adding that further steps will be announced in the coming weeks.
The reforms will restore community patrols with a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee and an enhanced role for Police and Crime Commissioners to prevent crime. The changes will also ensure that policing has the national capabilities it needs to fight fast-changing, complex crimes which cut across police force boundaries.
“The challenge of rebuilding public confidence is a shared one for government and policing. This is an opportunity for a fundamental reset in that relationship, and together we will embark on this roadmap for reform to regain the trust and support of the people we all serve and to reinvigorate the best of policing,” Cooper said.
Britain's annual inflation rate jumped more than expected in October to back above the Bank of England's target as households and businesses faced higher energy bills, official data showed Wednesday.
The Consumer Prices Index reached 2.3 per cent from a three-year low of 1.7 percent in the 12 months to September, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
CPI was last at 2.3 percent in April, the ONS added in a statement, while analysts' consensus had been for the rate to climb back to 2.2 percent.
The Bank of England (BoE) target stands at 2.0 percent.
"Inflation rose... as the increase in the energy price cap meant higher costs for gas and electricity compared with a fall at the same time last year," ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said of October's data.
Britain's energy regulator Ofgem sets a price cap quarterly that suppliers can charge customers. The latest increase in October was 10 per cent but this is expected to drop markedly in January according to forecasts.
The regulator had cited rising prices on international energy markets owing to increasing geopolitical tensions, and extreme weather events driving competition for gas, as the reasons behind the sharp rise.
"We know that families across Britain are still struggling with the cost of living," senior Treasury official Darren Jones said in reaction to Wednesday's inflation reading and saying the Labour government needed to do more to help.
Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by 1.9 per cent in the year to October, up from 1.8 per cent to September 2024. The annual rate of 1.9 per cent in October compares with 10.1 per cent in the same month last year.
Analysts said despite prices rising faster than expected, the BoE remained on course to keep cutting British interest rates.
"But it lends some support... that the Bank will skip the December meeting and cut rates only gradually, by 25 basis points in February and at every other policy meeting until rates reach 3.50 percent in early 2026," forecast Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group.
The central bank earlier this month trimmed borrowing costs by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent.
Following its decision, the BoE added that a maiden budget from Britain's Labour government in October, featuring tax rises and increased borrowing, would boost growth but also lift inflation.
Thousands of British farmers today (19) are set to march to Parliament Square to protest against the end of an inheritance tax exemption that has helped family farms pass down the generations, saying the move will threaten food production.
First unveiled in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget, the plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m have sparked fury among rural communities, who have contested the government’s assertion that small family farms will not be impacted by the changes.
Opposition to the so-called "tractor tax" is one part of a wider backlash against Reeves's financial plans. Farmers say the change will threaten the viability of family farms, which often have tight profit margins, and that their children will have to sell land to cover the tax bill, raising the risk that food production will suffer.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has organised an event in which 1,800 of its members will meet with local MPs at Westminster to voice their anger on Tuesday, as thousands are also separately expected to stage a demonstration in Whitehall. Protest organisers say that while this event will be peaceful and include children driving toy tractors, rallies could escalate in the future if the government refuses to budge.
In an interview with BBC News, Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU, said that farmers felt particularly aggrieved because last year, when Steve Reed was shadow environment secretary, he said Labour was not planning to change agricultural property relief (the inheritance tax exemption). He said farmers only started hearing rumours that the government was going to go back on this about a week before the budget.
He said he did not accept the government’s claims that most farms will not be affected by the change. Instead, he said, “75 per cent of the commercial farms in the United Kingdom will be within the scope of this policy change.”
Bradshaw also said farmers were willing to work with the government to produce a better version of the policy. He explained: "This policy is ill thought through. There’s still a 20 per cent benefit for the uber-wealthy to invest in agricultural land, and with the changes they’ve made to pensions, they’ve now incentivised people to rip money out of pensions and invest in up to £1m of agricultural land.
"That is not going to deliver for food security. It’s absolutely nonsensical. It’s not joined up. There’s no thought about the impact on food production or the families that produce this country’s food.
"Let’s sit down [with the government]. Give us the question. Tell us what the exam question is. We will work with you. If you want to stop people using land as a tax dodge, let’s work out the policy that does that. But this policy is not the answer."
The government argues that tax exemptions have led to wealthy non-farmers seizing agricultural land and pricing out genuine young farmers, and point to Budget funding of £5bn to help farmers produce food.
Britain's biggest retailers have written to finance minister Rachel Reeves to warn her that last month's budget will make both higher prices and job losses a certainty and dent investment.
The letter, coordinated by the British Retail Consortium trade body and signed by 79 retail bosses, including those at Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Next, Asda, Morrisons, Kingfisher, Amazon UK and Boots, called for a meeting with Reeves to discuss their concerns and work on a solution.
The Labour government's October 30 budget statement raised employers' National Insurance contributions by 1.2 percentage points to 15 per cent from April next year, and also lowered the threshold for when firms start paying to £5,000 from £9,100 per year. It also raised the minimum wage for most adults by 6.7 per cent from April.
The letter said the UK retail industry, which has three million direct jobs and 2.7 million more in its supply chain, was facing a rise of £7 billion in annual costs from 2025 when higher business rates and the impact of new packaging levies are also taken into account.
"It will not be possible to absorb such significant cost increases over such a short time scale. The effect will be to increase inflation, slow pay growth, cause shop closures, and reduce jobs, especially at the entry level," it said.
The retailers want the government to phase the introduction of the new lower earnings threshold for National Insurance, delay the introduction of packaging levies, and revisit and bring forward proposed changes to business rates.
On Saturday, prime minister Keir Starmer said he would defend decisions taken in the budget "all day long".