Aug 2016

oDocs collaborates at MOTAT
Focus
on Business
DRIVING CUSTOMERS DIGITALLY
Seven ways to use social media
to get customers in store
Increasingly I am talking with retail
businesses who have got themselves
tied up in knots over social media. In
particular, how they can use it to drive
awareness or visitation to their physical
location. More commonly physical
stores typically use social media to drive
customers to their website, but there are
many other opportunities to be explored.
Here are seven social media strategies
I’ve learned while watching others
achieve success.
1. Offer special offers (dare I say coupons)
only redeemable in your store.
This is one of the most basic strategies,
but it is effective. If you are launching
a new product you can offer additional
value or discount to drive shoppers instore.
Something like “mention this tweet
and get half off your next purchase,” or
post an image that the customer shows
the sales assistant in order to receive the
special offer.
It’s important to distinguish this
approach from typical online coupon
strategies, such as using coupon codes
at the checkout. The key is to funnel
shoppers into your chosen physical store
by not allowing this to be redeemed
anywhere else.
Smoove Clothing is well renowned for
utilising this method in their secret sales
promotions - where customers have to
provide the “secret password”, which is
posted on social media, in order to get the
exceptional sale discount.
2. Host a special event.
The type of event will depend almost
exclusively on your customers. For
example, young hipsters would
probably be excited by a live music or
art collaboration. But a foodie audience
might like to watch a celeb chef do a
demonstration, meet the maker or have
their book signed.
Once you decide on the nature and
date of your event, start promoting the
heck out of it. Farmers, with their Fashion
Fixes by Lisa O’Neil in-store events, is an
example which drives great enthusiasm
and excitement with shoppers and results
in massive sales in-store.
3. Attend a local event and use a
designated hashtag.
If you are too small to host an event
of your own, you can always attend
someone else’s event. For example, get
involved at a local festival by walking
around handing out free samples or
flyers. The event is bound to have a
Twitter hashtag associated with it. Start
posting images of your business at the
event and use accompanying hashtags.
This will greatly increase your visibility
and relevance to a target local audience,
making them far more likely to visit your
physical location.
Lululemon recently attended the
Wanderlust healthy living/yoga event at
Western Springs along with 2000 fitness
fanatics. Prospective customers were
drawn to Lululemon’s bubble experience
(bean bags and music in a completely
clear bubble) where they snapped photos,
took videos and shared their thoughts
with their social networks. Leveraging
#thesweatlife, Lululemon continues to
drive interest in-store by hosting free
yoga sessions on Saturday mornings,
BY JUANITA NEVILLE-TE RITO*
bringing together an eco-system of
awareness and visitation.
4. Post images of your physical location.
Posting real-time pictures of your
business on a regular basis brings to
life who you are, what you stand for
and all the perfect reasons a customer
should come and visit. New entrant
Good Grocer NZ ritually posts about
what’s new, fresh, tasty, the view of the
store, or customers having a good time.
It doesn’t matter what type of pictures
you take, as long as you take relevant and
appealing ones. These appealing pictures,
posted regularly, will convince your social
followers that your physical location is
worth the visit.
5. Show off your best asset - your
employees and your partners
People like to see other people. Show off
these bright shining stars by employees’
posting images of them having a
good time and/or put up profiles of
each individual and bring to life their
personalities.
Give your social followers a look at
the types of people responsible for
keeping the business going. This gives
your physical location a warmer, more
welcoming appeal that encourages
increased foot traffic.
6. Encourage social reviews.
Take advantage of the people who have
already visited you. You can do this in your
store by making signs that encourage
visitors to post images and descriptions
of their experience or through other
communications you may have. Another
option is to do this online, by making a
post that asks your followers to recount
their most recent in-store experience.
Try to be original in your phrasing and
respond to the people who have both
good and bad things to say.
7. Share and retweet your fans.
Nothing breeds brand loyalty like shares
and retweets. If you see a customer post
something positive about your physical
location, share or retweet it and thank
them for their positive feedback. Doing
this regularly naturally encourages more
feedback from your in-person customers
but also shows off the fact that you
appreciate your customers and makes your
physical location more visible.
Using social media is not hard – it
just requires courage, consistency,
commitment and most importantly
relevant and interesting content. Be brave
and bold. Try different things. Attract those
moths to your flame. And if all else fails, a
picture of a cute dog will always work. ▀
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
* Juanita Neville-Te Rito
is the founder of retail
specialist consultancy,
The Retail Collective.
With more than 25
years’ experience in
the retail sector, and
a personal passion for
shopping, she is full
of insights that can
transform the brand
experience provided by retailers at every level.
Visit www.retailgeek.co.nz for more or follow her
on Twitter: @JuanitaNeville or Instagram:
@juanitanevilleterito
The Idea Collective has launched a new collaborative
installation with oDocs EyeCare at the Museum of
Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland.
An ongoing MOTAT exhibition, the Idea Collective is
designed to celebrate New Zealand’s vibrant innovation
culture by matching up visionaries, artists and
entrepreneurs to create installations across five pavilions.
oDocs was paired with New Zealand film director
Armagan Ballantyne and her partner Jon Baxter to create
a visual installation that would draw public attention to
eye health and the work of oDocs.
The oDocs’ collaboration has resulted in a giant eye that
the audience can peer inside to see how the eye works.
The eye is watching a video which begins to deteriorate
in front of the audience in line with the symptoms that
would be suffered by a macular degeneration patient.
“As a visual artist, I’m so passionately in love with my
sight, I can’t imagine being without it,” said Ballantyne
at the launch event on 7 July. “The Idea Collective
matched me and Jon with oDocs. We spent some time
hanging out, found out what they did and looked at the
space available. It didn’t take us too long to come up
with the idea - we knew it had to be an eye. We wanted
something the audience could really experience, that
would make them think about their own sight and
consider the impact of blindness.”
oDocs EyeCare won an innovation award last year for
their exciting work around smartphone-based eye test
apps. They noted that of the 285 million people suffering
from blindness and vision impairment worldwide, 80% of
those cases were preventable and 90% of those were in
developing countries. oDoc’s aim is to use its technology
to make eye tests accessible, affordable and sustainable,
and to compliment the work around low vision already
being carried out in developing countries.
Innovation really happens easily in New Zealand, there
is a maker culture here, but the story is often started but
not realised,” said oDocs’ CEO Hanna Eastvold-Edwins.
“We’re a lucky start-up to have the momentum we do.
The pavillions provide patrons with an interactive
experience so they become part of the artistic process
Buchanan Optometrists sold
Alain Brideson and Hanna Eastvold-Edwins from oDocs with visual artist
Armagan Ballantyne (right)
New Zealand is rallying around us to give us that critical
mass we need to get out and into the market.”
New Zealand is smaller than most markets and oDocs
needs this community support to succeed, she added.
“We’re not trying to replace optometry. But there has
been a 50% rise in diabetes globally and only a 2% rise
in ophthalmology. The model needs to change. There
aren’t enough trained staff in developing countries…our
screening model can, ultimately, help reduce the number
of people who may unnecessarily lose their sight.”
The Idea Collective is open at MOTAT daily from 10am
to 5pm. ▀
The Idea Collective have a large space at MOTAT with six exhibits and a break out area
Hallertau Brewery were one of the sponsors at the launch event, attended by artists, industry
specialists and representatives from the Idea Collective and MOTAT
Buchanan Optometrists in Christchurch has been bought by Matthews Eyewear Eyecare. Based in Riccarton,
and formerly in the CBD, Buchanan Optometrists was owned and operated by Ian Buchanan from 2006.
“After the earthquakes, we decided to relocate our family to Adelaide,” says Ian Buchanan. “I was running
the practice remotely, and now we have settled in Tauranga.”
Buchanan recently became a partner at Mt Maunganui Specsavers, which spurred on the sale of the business he
had been overseeing remotely since 2013.
“The sale was completed in May and it’s been a smooth transition. The long-term staff have retained their jobs
and the business has rebranded to Buchanan & Matthews Optometrists.”
Matthews Eyewear Eyecare, now has nine stores across the North and South Island, including practices in
Hamilton, Wellington, Kapiti, New Plymouth, Nelson and Blenheim. It remains a family-owned business with each
practice having its own local flavour and a commitment to high quality eye care. Unfortunately, Philip Matthews
was not available for comment at the time of going to press. ▀
6 NEW ZEALAND OPTICS August 2016.indd