Consumer Crush

I read an article recently about store owners that became upset when shoppers visited their stores without buying anything. Although I can empathise about the consternation caused by the lack of purchase, I like to ponder the positive aspects of having browsers visit a store or other such location. These days, browsers research over the internet and are welcome there, but in a store location, impulsive buyers are more welcome.

Browsers should be sought - after, because they bring decision - making purchases. Furthermore, they also are more likely to tell others about their escapades in a given store over the net or in person by word of mouth. They also spend quality time with the merchandise and develop a relationship with the store. They can intimately connect with brands and exercise their options in a knowledgeable fashion.

Consumers learn to discern and discriminate in wise ways, and they know what to do the next time as well. It's a win - win if you engage well with a visiting buyer.

Shoppers and consumers crush on objects and either buy things impulsively, and that sometimes means a return to the store instead of a satisfied purchase. One would rather make a sale than expect returns made by misinformed consumers.

The more time a consumer spends at a store or with the brands they are investigating may mean a thriving business. Money is wielded and gaged and then stimulates the economy with the customer driving the purchase and following through with the decision. The fact that they selected a location is then verbally expressed to the store owner and to outsiders.

I have heard that people also criticise the consumer for choosing to use a credit card instead of cash. Most of the world now uses cards, and customers should be free to exercise the option of cash or credit without feeling as if someone is breathing down their necks.

The time an investor at a store spends is valuable to the store and the owner, if not to the purchaser. Constructive use of time involved in a purchase helps cover the bases and helps to gain ground in consumer relationships.

Why not articulate a word of thanks to visitors and browsers? A friendly attitude may bring them back and develop a valuable connection to the store itself in the near future.

Help, I Am So Not Trending!

This year is the one that people say they will banish the word, "trending." This is interesting in that the fashion world uses this term or others that identify with fashion use this word quite frequently. So, it will be interesting to see what transpires.

Imagine if you will, that you are sitting in a circle. Everyone seated is wearing the latest design or hot trends and possesses the latest gadget or appliance, and you do not. You stand out as a sore thumb. While everyone else is identifying with a look, a trend, or a fashion, you have elected not to join in with the selected materials.

You can either sit there wallowing in self - pity trying to justify what or why this makes you an outsider or you can weigh the reasons why you are an outsider. There are probably certain positive ones and negative ones. You can also choose to study the latest trends and note why you haven't chosen to fit in with the common likes, interests, or invented talents that everyone else has chosen.

You can embark on a personal journey that reflects your choices and how you tie into the society around you. For example, you may berate yourself for not getting into a certain look, such as "peplums" while everybody else is fitting into the fashion world because of their choices.

The other day, I stumbled across a program about a stylist that had to choose looks for several fashion shows in her stores. She choose looks that didn't have a particular theme, or look, but she said that as she placed them on stage, there was a unifying "vision" that she had internally, that would translate across to the public based on her selections. She would be successful, because she had organized the pieces and the models herself. Her shows would pull in people and the artifacts that were her choices added more to the viewing public's number of choices as well.

If you are currently not trending, study that. What part of the fitting into fashion isn't your cup of tea lately? What part is fitting in? Does this choice make you feel as an outsider or as someone that can handle the choices? You may be in now or later as a result.

Whatever you choose, your choice allows you to corroborate with others, whether you realize it or not at present. Find a path that when you steer through it, you land in the place where you fit in best, where you are trending with or without recognition. Fashion does enable you to fit in someplace, and you have to find that fit as the New Year continues.

The next time, something is trending, remember to place yourself next to it or compare it to your own experience. You may understand a lot about yourself and others in the whole process. So, if something isn't trending where you are, let it be. Find a fit in a certain portion of the project. Choose the part you understand, and note what you don't understand about it. At any rate, keep going. Don't stop when something else has.

If they do banish, the word, "trending" find out what words or word will replace that. Fashion has a great deal of magical places where people fit in and don't fit in as well. It is the place where you find yourself currently, where you deal with the "otherness" of something else that you aren't adopting as of yet.

In that private circle, where you sit, be yourself, and carry your vision through the cycle and throughout the year. Maintain your stance, and you should flourish.