{"id":70151,"date":"2017-01-26T16:57:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T16:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/can-retailers-keep-customers-face-price-rises\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T17:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:22:08","slug":"can-retailers-keep-customers-face-price-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/can-retailers-keep-customers-face-price-rises\/","title":{"rendered":"What can retailers do to keep customers in the face of price rises?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nLoyalty through price rises and tough economic times is the Holy Grail for just about any business. But it\u2019s particularly prominent in the retail sector, and even more starkly apparent on the High Street.
\nCommentary on Brexit is extensive and while it\u2019s not our remit to be telling stories about Theresa May and her chinwags with Angela Merkel, it\u2019d be na\u00efve to believe that politics doesn\u2019t directly affect our clients and the industries they\u2019re part of.
\nIn retail, food prices went up 0.8% in December 2016, and although still down compared to 2015, there\u2019s a clear upward trend emerging in the wake of the UK\u2019s decision to leave Europe. The price of everyday items like bread, cereal and oils all went up in December, as did higher ticket purchases such as air fares and housing in London. All this saw the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rise by 1.6% in December, up from 1.2% in November and a much steeper increase than city analysts had warned us to expect.
\nSo with that gloomy preamble in mind, we thought it\u2019d be a good idea to set out some key ways to inspire loyalty when the going gets tough in the face of rising costs and growing price tags. Based on experience working with some of the UK\u2019s most recognised, loved and successful high street brands, we\u2019ll focus only on what we know best.
\nMaximise the power of quality<\/strong>
\nIf something\u2019s the best, tell people, because even if times are tough, quality outstrips belt-tightening among consumers who value the cost per wear\/use over \u201cfast-fashion\u201d. Buying things that are built to last is something people are prepared to do, seeing the false economy in buying cheaply and replacing often.
\nTell the whole story<\/strong>
\nCustomers are savvy, largely due to the incredible abundance of information available online. It means that there\u2019s no point trying to cover up the bad news. In fact, it\u2019ll most likely double back and bite you on the bum if you do, in the form of customer backlash. You wouldn\u2019t trust a friend if they didn\u2019t share the good and the bad; so why should a consumer part with their hard-earned cash if they don\u2019t trust that you as a brand are, at least trying to be, transparent? So share through your retail copy<\/a> that you know price rises are happening and what these means for them or how you\u2019re working to reduce them again. But also share what value you\u2019re adding to your offering to offset rising prices.
\nTell it consistently<\/strong>
\nIf each story you tell a customer reads differently to the last, you run the risk of sounding disorganised and unprofessional \u2013 tone of voice<\/a> is incredibly important to brand loyalty. And it should permeate everything from call centre staff training and scripts to marketing materials and your website. What a consistently on-brand tone of voice does is ensures you\u2019re instantly recognisable, trustworthy, and quite clearly more than just one man with a shed full of stock.
\nGive customers more than just a great product<\/strong>
\nWe talked about adding value and this can be really simple to achieve as long as you know your customers well. Think about setting up an insightful newsletter or blog series, or if you\u2019re in fashion, for example, things like style tips and editorial trend content can be valuable to new and existing customers.
\nMaximise what you do at every single touchpoint<\/strong>
\nThis is crucial yet still far too often overlooked. \u2018Sign up to our newsletter\u2019 just won\u2019t cut it anymore, people need a reason to part with their email address and be more than ok with yet another email being fired into their inbox. They\u2019ve got to want what you\u2019re offering, so sell it to them and back it up with content that\u2019s as personalised as it can be. Check out our blog on how to build loyalty at every touchpoint<\/a>.
\nKeep your customers bang up to date<\/strong>
\nThis ties in with telling the whole story (not just the good stuff). Ride out the storm and enjoy the good times with your customers. There are countless studies which show that companies who cut back on marketing and advertising spend when times get tough don\u2019t profit from the decision over companies who keep it the same or increase budgets. If you market when others aren\u2019t, you\u2019ll be in an incredibly powerful position once the tough times are over. From a day-to-day perspective, think about something like TFL tube announcements. Gone are the days of sitting on the tube for 10 minutes in a dark tunnel wondering why the train isn\u2019t moving. Now, more than a few seconds stuck still and the driver will announce the reason for the delay and often how quickly it\u2019ll be resolved. Goodbye irate commuters, hello relaxed Metro readers.
\nAdapt and grow without losing sight of your brand\u2019s core purpose<\/strong>
\nAccording to TED speaker Simon Sinek, people don\u2019t buy what you do but why you do it. It\u2019s a theory adopted by some of the world\u2019s most successful brands, including everyone\u2019s favourite example, Apple. It\u2019s all about communicating why you exist and why customers should care, before you tell them what how you do what you do and what the end result\/product is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loyalty through price rises and tough economic times is the Holy Grail for just about any business. But it\u2019s particularly prominent in the retail sector, and even more starkly apparent on the High Street. Commentary on Brexit is extensive and while it\u2019s not our remit to be telling stories about Theresa May and her chinwags […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":56744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,314,448,438],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-strategy-us","category-copywriting-us","category-digital-copywriting-us","category-retail-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat can retailers do to keep customers when faced with price increases?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Loyalty through tough economic times is the Holy Grail for any business. 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