Escapism Consumers want escapism, they want an environment that takes them away from mundane, they don’t want to walk down rows of shelves. They want to experience boutique layouts and areas that are themed to a particular wine or beer region.

Entertainment Entertaining your customers gives you an opportunity to let your imagination go wild. In recent months I have come across face painters, clowns, drum demonstrations for children, list is endless. The secret is to provide a consistent package of entertainment away from your core business.

Aesthetics Aesthetics, could include how you use aromatherapy, music and create an atmosphere for your customers. Keep music at less than sixty beats per minute, it will relax your customers.

We can learn from Brista Brava coffee bars in Washington DC. Their motto is “Our business is providing customer experiences, our industry is coffee.” Change word coffee to liquor and then you have a motto for future of your business.

1.Lifestyle television programmes. 2.Newspaper Lifestyle segments. 3.Fashion magazines. 4.Other retailers outside this industry. 5.Trends overseas within and outside your industry sector. 6.Lifestyle books, always check your bookshop for latest books. 7.Conversations with customers. 8.Paint manufacturers, yes, they are leaders in fashion. 9.Ideas on web. 10.The global leading edge retailers in what you do.

How do you put “Excitement” together? The fun of creating excitement is that often all you need to do is take your existing products and rearrange them in a different way to create a new, exciting display.

This can also be achieved by ensuring displays are topical and you have introduced interesting display “props” to help set scene. Don’t forget importance of ambience; this is achieved by getting space right for consumer, getting correct music and volume and aroma of place.

The team set scene Don’t fall into trap of making your store look visually attractive and then having team let you down. You are far better to have an enthusiastic team and dull display, than great displays and a dull team. The team control atmosphere of your business. There is nothing worse for a customer to discover an exciting environment being let down by team.

I recently stayed at one of those theme hotels while doing a conference in Las Vegas. Visually, place was fantastic, but team, in my experience, were average. They didn’t meet visual expectations and as a result, it is team that you remember, not exciting props.

You must be consistent The challenge is not in creation of excitement, challenge is ensuring you do it consistently. I come across businesses that can achieve it in December but lose it in January. The customer expects a consistent message from retailer. This is not easy to achieve and few businesses achieve it successfully.

Having said that, many people would argue that if Disneyworld, Pete’s Frootique, The Body Shop and Rainforest Cafés can achieve it, why can’t anyone. These organisations should be looked on as models. In all these organisations business culture is critically important. They are not operated by managers, but by leaders.

Pete Luckett, of Pete’s Frootique, often mentions that difference between a manager and a leader, is “that when a manager has a bad day team knows about it. When a leader has a bad day team are not aware of it.”

Consumers want a visit that excites them. It is our role not to disappoint them. For more ideas and strategies for creating an experience and maintaining it, consult my new book, Think FOR Your Customer (2004).

Don’t miss out on next instalment on providing a rewarding experience for your customers. In final article we look at ‘trust factor’.