I recently told students in one of our classes to “make your store your customers’ favorite.” I say this rather often, so I was pleased to see it reinforced in this article in Marketing Daily.

If a customer tells you that your store is his or her favorite place to shop, consider yourself lucky. And keep working hard to stay in their favor. At least that’s my take on the study discussed in the article. It found that 75% of consumers favor shopping at just one or two stores on a regular basis. That’s pretty scary when you consider how much competition there is trying to capture their retail dollars.

The study also notes that while shoppers might visit other stores for promotions and special offers, they’re still likely to return to your store if they’re happy with you. Furthermore, what you offer at point of purchase — “such as packaging design, display timing and location, in-aisle messaging, self talkers and shelf layout — all have a profound effect on what ends up in consumers’ shopping carts.”

So, make sure your POP is interesting and changes regularly so customers will look forward not just to visiting your store, but also to leaving with some impulse buys. That’s something else I tell those attending our seminars. I’m glad that I’m sending them off with third-party verification to back me up.