Picking Up More Than Groceries
Posted on February 11, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
I was at Dim Sum yesterday with some fellow members of The Hounds and the conversation moved to an interesting topic. Apparently, there is a grocery store called the T&T in Toronto that is supposed to be reputable for meeting fellow single on a Saturday morning. Now, this was pretty surprising to me, but upon reflection, it makes sense.
It allows for people to interact with each other in an environment with good lighting and plenty of topics of conversation (Wow, whole grains are supposed to be so good for you!). Not to mention, that your judgment probably isn’t effected by alcohol on Saturday morning. So, apparently, this phenomenon has blossomed organically.
So how does a grocery retailer take advantage of this trend to sell more groceries? Here’s an idea “borrowed” from a very successful Home Depot program – instructional classes. You conduct a series of small instructional classes on everything that you need to know when shopping for groceries. Topics could include:
- How to pick fresh ingredients
- Quick and easy meal ideas
- A fact-check course on new eating trends
- What you should pack for lunch
The small class sizes and casual environment would be perfect for growing rapports between you and your customers … and your customers and each other.
The whole idea is that your grocery store becomes a facilitator of emotional connections. Emotional connections to foods, to smells and to people.
- Christian
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I believe Loblaws does offer these types of classes at some of their bigger locations.
I think the thing that is interesting about T&T in particular is that it is an asian grocery store. Now, if you’ve ever been into one of the gorcery stores in Chinatown, you know that they are not typically the place where you would develop an emotional connection with another single….unless you both happen to try to push the same little old asian lady out of the way at the same time.
Yeah, I guess that large-format grocery stores probably have more available space to operate and teach these classes. And they leverage the same opportunity to add value to the customer’s experience. An educated customer is probably more likely to buy more or higher quality stuff. (But they’re probably all mini-van moms.)
Chinese grocery store, Canadian grocery store… I think wherever there’s delicous food, you’re liable to get emotional Tien. But the “scene” at T&T is definitely an interesting cultural phenomenon, for whatever reason it exists.
T&T is a large format grocery store. They even have a take out counter with seating so you can sit down and eat before/after you do your shopping….or skip the shopping all together. This is quite a departure from the more traditional Chinese grocery stores I’m used to shopping in. I guess the large scale certainly faciltates the “pick-up potential”.
Note to everyone-Do not send me to do groceries for a group event.