How to Spot Great Merchants

Ability and Desire to Understand Customers

Rarely is being a good merchant about finding products that fit your personal taste. More often, it’s about knowing what your customers will like. That takes a combination of historical review and getting into customers’ heads.

History tells you what customers’ buying behaviors with you have been, and it helps predict future behavior. And getting into people’s heads allows merchants to surprise customers with something they haven’t yet seen from you but are likely to buy given those customers’ lifestyles, life stages or demographic profiles. Merchants can get this information from primary or secondary research and from spending time doing things your customers do, such as shopping where they shop and listening to calls taped from the call center.