Once you step into Trader Joe, you know that it will soon be a different experience than it would be at other grocery stores.
It’s an eccentric place that appears to belong to a different era.
The shop is full of colorful hand-painted signs, produce is displayed on wooden frames, and many locations are decorated with wall-to-wall wooden panels.
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The old fashioned aesthetics, hilarious “crew” and truly cold atmosphere may attract people, but what they’re returning is low prices, unique specialty products and seasonal items.
What trader Joe doesn’t see is what is called “in-store media,” such as a smart cart, shelf storage robot, or digital signage. That’s intentional.
“Trader Joe is a store [where] Shoppers enjoy shopping. It’s ambitious enough to get it. The risk of adding in-store media is the risk of that experience,” wrote John Hennessy, retail and brand consultant.
Trader Joe simply says “No” to ads and screens in the store.
The company is also not planning to modernize, according to Inside Trader Joe’s podcast host, Trader Joe’s vice president of marketing, Tara Miller’s vice president and Culinary Matt Sloan.
For one thing, setting up a digital infrastructure is undoubtedly a huge expense, so trader Joe isn’t going to prioritize it right away. Management says they’ll rather invest in customer product development, employee support and keep prices low.
But it’s not just about money.
Related: Trader Joe’s Share New Places Will Come Soon
“There’s another cost that isn’t a financial cost, but it’s a cost. It’s about values…philosophical values,” Miller said. “For us, one of our values is to provide an ‘wow’ customer experience, which we need to connect with each other as humans, as customers, and as crew members. ”
Mirror and Sloan will not get that connection from the screen.
Meanwhile, at least according to a recent survey, it doesn’t appear that American shoppers are turned off by in-store ads.
when Vistar Mediaan advertising platform specializing in digital advertising, surveyed 2,000 adult shoppers and learned that a third of them recognized in-store advertising.
And only 4% reported that in-store advertising “damage” the shopping experience. Most shoppers felt either “positive” or “neutral” to the ads.
Even if Trader Joe finds out that shoppers love those screens, it may not make a difference.
Other Retail:
- Walmart CEO hears alarms about big issues for customers
- Target makes changes that may scare Walmart, Costco
- Top investors take a firm stance on problematic retail brands
- Walmart and Costco are making major changes that will affect all customers
As retail consultant Gary Sunkery observed Retail Wire“They don’t have e-commerce, they don’t have delivery, they don’t have screens in the store. All they have is a car park and a loyal clientele. I also include myself. Let’s make Joe Joe.”
Still, there are certainly lost opportunities for e-commerce trader Joe, and it could be that they lack potential geographically and demographically, by not offering delivery or clicks and collection. The e-commerce grocery delivery business is $100 billion in the US, and the click-and-collect market is about $50. emarketer.
Trader Joe doesn’t care about customer data – or at least they don’t collect it like any other company
Another factor that sets Trader Joe apart is that unlike almost every other business in the world, Trader Joe doesn’t mind collecting customer data.
“We sell food… we know what [customers] Buy based on what we sell. We are not tracking customer behavior,” Sloan said on the podcast.
Related: Trader Joe’s Share New Places Will Come Soon
“When retailers start collecting data about you, they’ll probably find new ways to monetize it. That’s what’s happening right now in what’s called retail media,” he added.
Trader Joe is more likely to buy when he sees shoppers a digital billboard featuring new sparkling matcha lemonade. They prefer to measure sales in the good old way by looking at the shelves.
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