Engage Your Customers Or Risk Losing Them.

In Vancouver, we really are spoiled for choice when it comes to good restaurants. A new, trendy dining spot seems to pop up every week; and as someone who loves to try new things, I very rarely visit the same place twice. You could say I’m fickle, but I’d say I’m just a very spoiled consumer. There is, however, one restaurant that I find myself visiting and recommending time and time again—“Miku” on Hastings Street. The reason Miku bucks the trend for me is not for its stunning location, good prices, or even its delicious Japanese food – it’s the way they make me feel when I dine there.

The first time I visited Miku, my girlfriend and I were greeted by the hostess and she asked us to follow her to our table. Just as we entered the dining area, in true Japanese style, every staff member stopped what they were doing, looked up at us and chanted a very loud Japanese greeting. If it wasn’t for their smiles we would have thought we had committed some kind of cultural faux pas and they were yelling at us.  So naturally, we were a little shocked.  However, five minutes after sitting down, another couple entered the restaurant and were greeted with the same exuberant chant. Now that we were “in on the joke” we couldn’t help but laugh as we watched their shocked expressions and awkward smiles. Of course, this carried on throughout the night creating a very loud and lively atmosphere. The food and decor became almost secondary to our ‘customer experience‘.

It’s not difficult to draw parallels between restaurants and retailers, but it is difficult to understand why the majority of retailers don’t place as much importance on their customer’s experience, as a restaurant like Miku does. In a time when retailers in Canada are not only competing with each other, bigger chain stores, cross border shopping and ever improving e-commerce, creating an engaging, in-store customer experience is more important than ever.

If my in-store experience simply consists of neat shelves and racks, “finding everything ok?” and some lifestyle pictures on the wall, there is literally nothing there to engage me or stop me from being as fickle with retail as I am with my dining allegiance.  And if I’m not spoiled for choice, I will inevitably look across the street, across the mall, across the border and, even, online for cheaper deals – in the absence of a more relevant and memorable experience.