3 thoughts on reading "Retail Psychological Warfare"_Retail Reading Psychological Warfare

"Retail Psychology" continues the easy-to-understand approach of Japanese writers in the past. The book has four chapters. In terms of content, I think it can be divided into three parts. The first part talks about innovation and change, and the second part is The third part of the analysis of consumers is the thinking of the seller's market. This article is my reflection after reading "Retail Psychological Warfare". Everyone is welcome to read it.

Insights from reading "Retail Psychological Warfare" 1:

Toshifumi Suzuki's secret to success: Don't think about the customer, but think from the customer's point of view. This sentence touches me deeply. I have been working in the retail industry for nine years. When I first joined the company, I was told that the company’s service philosophy is: everything starts from the customer and everything is done to satisfy the customer (Friends who are familiar with this sentence know that I am Where do you work). Many times when we formulate marketing plans, brand adjustments, and product services, we feel that we have worked hard and are thinking about customers, but customers do not buy it or appreciate it. Sometimes when we become consumers, we feel that How come you don’t feel good humanized shopping and humanized service? In fact, this is what Mr. Suzuki said. We are ultimately from the seller’s standpoint and have not found the real needs of consumers.

"Retail Psychology" continues the easy-to-understand approach of Japanese writers in the past. The book has four chapters. In terms of content, I think it can be divided into three parts. The first part talks about innovation and change, and the second part is The third part of the analysis of consumers is the thinking of the seller's market. Nowadays, many companies are talking about innovation, but a few companies have actually achieved innovation. In many cases, they innovate for the sake of innovation. The reason why 7-eleven can constantly put forward proposals that break the predetermined harmony and make customers feel expected and unexpected is that the proposers themselves must actively look for unexpected inspiration in their daily lives. Innovation does not necessarily require that all elements are brand new. The real competitors of merchants are not their peers, but the ever-changing customer needs. As a seller, we must grasp the needs of our customers and continue to provide customers with added value in order to achieve extraordinary sales.

The current retail market is very different from that of five years ago. We feel that business is not easy to do. This is due to two reasons: First, the number of competing stores has increased, and second, online shopping has increased. In fact, these two reasons are all considered from the seller's perspective. We say that the increase in surrounding shopping malls and the high homogeneity of brands have resulted in serious customer diversion. Mr. Suzuki analyzed from the customer's perspective that in an era of material scarcity, sellers only need to prepare goods in the store and wait for customers to pick out the products they need. However, in an era of material surplus and consumption saturation, sellers must meet the needs of customers, take the essence and discard the dross, and provide customers with products with recommended value. Mr. Suzuki's point of view points out the direction for brand adjustment from the customer's perspective. . Nowadays, the real economy has been greatly affected by the Internet, and some even say that online stores will definitely replace the real economy. Shopping malls are also developing O2O and developing omni-channels. What we think of is that many people buy in online stores just to get cheaper prices, so our response is to promote unique styles, which are not available in online stores. What Suzuki thought of was that with the advent of the Internet era and the generalization of omni-channel retail, consumption itself has not changed, but a new shopping option has emerged. Then Ito launched an online supermarket, where consumers can purchase products at home and have them delivered to their doorsteps. Supermarket employees on duty will select recommended products for customers with the confidence of shopping experts. For customers, it can not only get selected products but also save time; for merchants, it can more clearly demonstrate the advantages of physical stores to consumers.

Therefore, this book truly provides insight into the nature of the retail industry. The views and analysis of the retail industry are very accurate, and it has also changed some of my previous ideas. I think colleagues in the retail industry should read it. Read this book "Retail Psychology". Insights from reading "Retail Psychological Warfare" 2:

As the seller's market transforms into a buyer's market, the era of relying solely on price to increase sales is gone forever. Customers pay more attention to whether products and services have reasons to buy. . Therefore, sellers must think about why customers buy and find the needs hidden in customers' hearts, so that they can sell well no matter what they sell.

The author of "Retail Psychological Warfare: Don't Think About Customers, Think from the Customer's Point of View", which has sold millions of copies in Japan, and 7-Eleven founder Suzuki Toshifumi combined more than 40 years of experience Retail experience and the successful case of 7-11, the retail kingdom, reveal the secrets in the hearts of customers and tell you the secret of doubling sales!

Why do customers buy?

In the era of material excess , all consumers are in a state of "fullness", and they will only buy products they like, or products that break the rules and show new value in terms of "high quality" and "convenience". So, when does the consumer's purchase intention arise? In other words, it refers to the consumer's purchase purpose and motivation.

When I interviewed Megumi Ushikubo, a marketing writer who is both good at commenting on gender and very familiar with consumer purchasing behavior, I also raised the same question. The market analysis she wrote in the past using original words such as "one man's market" and "herbivorous man" has received unanimous public praise from the society. According to Ushikubo Megumi, although compared with the period when "100 million people were all middle class" (referring to a long period of time when Japan did not have many super-rich people and basically no extremely poor people), the current level of Japanese society The differences are becoming more and more obvious, but in fact, people of all classes have the same view on money, that is, they only want to use money where they want to use it, and reduce other consumption as much as possible. She summarized this phenomenon as "spontaneous consumption". For example, when buying dishes, people will either go to a 100-yen store or a high-end specialty store to choose based on their lifestyle and mood that day. Different purchasing methods similar to this have become the basis of today's consumption. mainstream model.

What interests me deeply is that customers also adopt "spontaneous consumption" for PB products (Private Brand) in the circulation industry, showing a consumption pattern of differentiated purchases, such as on workdays Purchase side dishes from the 7-Premium series, and on weekends, choose high-quality products from the 7-Gold series. When consumers purchase 7-Gold series products, they are more likely to have the mentality of "this is a reward for their hard work for a week" than shopping around with NB products. This type of “spontaneous consumption” case deserves our attention. The fundamental reason is that consumers want to spend their weekends comfortably, so they tend to achieve "micro-luxury" through "self-rewarding consumption".

Purchases need reasons

So, why do modern consumers tend to "spontaneous consumption" and "self-rewarding consumption"? I think this is because consumers are looking for support for their purchases Reasons for behavior, looking for "rationality of choice". If you ask consumers what they are buying, the answer is the value of the product. 7-Gold is of excellent quality, but the price is not cheap. However, consumers will use reasonable reasons such as "Today is a rare weekend" and "This is a reward for working hard all week" to justify their purchasing behavior.

Regarding the psychological characteristics of modern consumers, I had an in-depth discussion with Professor Kazuko from the School of Business Administration at Ritsumeikan University. She also shares my views. Professor Kazuko’s research direction is behavioral economics, which is a discipline that organically combines human behavior analysis theory and psychological theory, also known as emotional economics.

Consumer? Rational Economic Man

Orthodox economics assumes that people are "rational economic man", that is, everyone can economically and reasonably calculate gains and losses and probabilities, and use This is the basis for executing decisions that are beneficial to one's own interests and ensuring that one's own economic interests are maximized. The assumption of rational economic man eliminates psychological and emotional factors.

However, "rational economic man" does not exist in real life. For example, even though many smokers understand that smoking is harmful to health, they still find it difficult to quit smoking; or the same psychological feeling of spending 10,000 yen on clothing and all on food and drink is different. It can be seen that people cannot always make reasonable judgments. Therefore, in recent years, behavioral economics, which focuses on psychological and emotional factors, has attracted more and more attention.

Before behavioral economics received widespread attention from the public, I repeatedly emphasized on many public occasions: Facing modern consumer society, we cannot rely solely on economics for analysis, but must also use psychological knowledge. .

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Professor Hezi analyzed that "spontaneous consumption" and "self-rewarding consumption" originate from people's "Loss Aversion" psychology. People often do not view losses and gains equally. For the same amount of money, losses bring people much greater feelings than gains. The same is 10,000 yen. Compared with the happiness and satisfaction of getting 10,000 yen, the pain and regret of losing 10,000 yen are more memorable. Therefore, people's behavior is always strongly inclined to avoid losses. This is called "loss aversion" in behavioral economics.

Professor Hezi explained: When the future of the times is unclear and full of uncertainties, the "loss aversion" mentality of people who do not want to lose what they have now and do not want to suffer losses will become more and more common. However, this does not mean that people are unwilling to consume, but it means that they are increasingly eager for reasonable reasons to promote purchasing behavior, that is, they are seeking "reasons to justify consumption." For example, buying luxury goods is a reward for your hard work for a year; for example, for the health of your family, you must choose high-quality food even if it is expensive; for example, to dress up cute pets, buy beautiful clothes, etc. ?

These examples show that customer consumption is no longer limited to the product itself, but gives more meaning to consumption activities. In other words, when a customer finds a reason to rationalize consumption or a factor that convinces him or her, his consumption behavior is no longer simply buying something, but more like buying an event. For example, buying the 7-Gold series is not for the product itself, but as a reward for a week of hard work; buying high-priced and high-quality food is more focused on the health of your family.

To borrow the words of Megumi Ushikawa, modern consumers are not consuming the product itself, but their consumption behavior is triggered by the things they value. Perhaps "spontaneous consumption" and "self-rewarding consumption" symbolize that the "shopping" era is beginning to move towards the "shopping event" era.

Therefore, rather than saying that it is a product that consumers clearly need in the first place, it is better to say that when customers are shopping in the store, the potential demand for it suddenly sprouts in their hearts and I have been looking for it. Products that generate purchase intent. As the saying goes, “It’s hard to buy something that’s worth a thousand dollars,” most customers will take out their wallets without hesitation at this time.

The richer the society and the richer materials, the more customers want to find reasons for rational consumption and convincing choices. Therefore, "spontaneous consumption", "self-reward consumption" and "event consumption" will also become More and more. Faced with this situation, sellers should adapt to the needs of customers and strive to provide them with reasons for rational consumption and convincing choices. Three insights from reading "Retail Psychological Warfare":

I originally wanted to buy one book, but JD.com held an event and I bought seven books at once. Let's read them slowly. This week’s plan is finally completed. After reading the book "Retail Psychological Warfare", I felt the spirit of 7-eleven and its successful methods, and sorted it out.

Since 7-Eleven is a convenience store, when I first bought this book, my friend did not recommend it to me because it has nothing to do with the game industry I am engaged in, but I saw the subtitle of the book. ?Don’t think about customers, but think from the perspective of customers? Isn’t this the thinking of user first? As long as it is for the sake of users, it has something to do with my game making.

After reading the entire book, it proves that my choice is right. The 711 development experience and various classic 711 cases written by President Toshifumi Suzuki in the book coincide with Internet thinking.

Market Research - Differentiated Competition

During the founding period of 711, various large supermarkets were spread all over the country with a rich and comprehensive range of products. However, 711 stores were small and had few products, so it was impossible to compete with them from the front. To compete with others, the slogan put out by President Toshifumi Suzuki from the beginning of 7-Eleven was "It's great to have 7-Eleven, it's so convenient all year round". Due to the accelerated pace of life, people work and rest later and later. This slogan hit the market It met the needs of many people at that time for purchasing items late at night, and also conformed to the convenient positioning of the store. Thinking from a user's perspective, I actually want a place where I can buy things when I'm hungry in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter if there are a lot of things, as long as I can buy what I want.

Never try to catch a second loach. Followers can never surpass the originator. Only disruptive innovation can win the market and win users. The golden bread launched by 711 was not based on past experience in the market, but achieved an unexpected and amazing effect through a kind of destructive innovation.

The competitive thinking of anti-virus software at that time was nothing more than constantly updating virus databases, and then selling software disks at discounts. This lasted for a long time until 360 appeared - an anti-virus software without a strong virus database and many viruses. It can't be killed either, but because it's free, it quickly became the number one in the market. This is also a typical case of destructive innovation

User portrait - precision marketing

Once you know what market you want to target, the next step is to look at the users in this market. What characteristics are they? 711 employees mainly obtain the characteristics of users’ needs through communication with users and current popular news and weather. For example, when they learn that the weather is good the next day, the person in charge of purchasing will assume that the number of people going fishing at the beach will increase. , and these users who are fishing need some food that is more durable. When the weather is good the next day, 711 stores will promote such products and successfully capture the hearts of users. There are countless such cases in 711, and the way to capture user characteristics is to put yourself in the shoes of a relevant user and experience the entire shopping process and shopping needs.

User needs are always changing. Only by constantly following up and understanding users, collecting user feedback, and improving user satisfaction can we make users fall in love with your product and stay with your product. .

Product operation - version iteration

Since many convenience store products are fast-moving consumer goods, when you just launch a new product, users will like it very much. The thinking of ordinary sellers It is to immediately increase the production and inventory of the product for large-scale sales. On the contrary, 711 believes that in the current era of pencil-shaped consumption, the maintenance cycle of users' love for a product is very short. When you increase inventory sales, users may be tired of the product and switch to other products. products. Therefore, 711 has always insisted on constantly innovating products, and even established a dedicated innovative product department, which is not subject to any existing leadership, and no leader can guide the department, so as to ensure that products are not affected by past experience and can continue to innovate.

Of course, if we keep thinking about making different types of games, it will definitely be very labor-intensive, but from another perspective, if our newly launched game system receives strong support from users When it comes to love, should we return to our original aspirations, abandon the continuation of experience in successful systems, think again about what users want, and achieve continuous innovation in versions. Some people also say that you should never invent the wheel, just micro-innovate. On the contrary, if you invent the wheel, then your position in the market will be one step ahead

Continuous operation - brand building

The so-called brand building refers to organizing and clarifying the meaning of the brand's existence and essential values, and disseminate them with the help of effective communication methods. 711 first sorted out and clarified the meaning of the brand, and launched a brand promotion advertisement on the 30th anniversary? To you, what is 711? Each user has his own answer, which not only allows users to think about the convenience of 711 The impact on life has made users strengthen the brand image of 711 in their hearts, thus establishing a deeper loyalty to 711.

Since games rely on users to support the entire system, when the number of users accumulates to a certain level, a qualitative change will occur. This user point is called the tipping point. After reaching the tipping point, the game enters the stage of telling development. At this time, in addition to in-game operations, it is also necessary to brand the game, clarify the emotional experience that the game can bring to users, and promote this concept through various methods. communicated to players. Players may not download the game in time, but when players want to experience that emotion, they will download your game first

Finally