Customer loyalty is the backbone of independent retailers, and there are multiple ways to build a loyal following for your company.
An exceptional way to receive a steady stream of customer support is by building ties to the community and there are many different ways to accomplish this.
Some retailers work hard to create uncommon store features and decorations meant to catch the eye of customers and get them through the front door of the business. Other stores hold unique events that interest their community or identify popular local charities to support.
Social media is a particularly innovative way to build relationships with customers, and various methods exist for retailers to differentiate their companies, reach new customers and keep existing ones.
There are endless ways to build customer loyalty through the individualization of your store. Read on to see how some retailers dazzle their customers and connect with their communities.
Community: Wreaths of Honor
Formed in 2007, Wreaths Across America remembers fallen U.S. veterans, honors current service members and teaches the value of freedom. Every December, participants lay donated wreaths on the headstones of veterans and several hardware retailers have made the program part of their community outreach.
In 2021 Brownsboro Hardware & Paint, which has two locations in Louisville, Kentucky, started sponsoring Wreaths Across America after the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution approached the new owner Doug Carroll.
“Since we have the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery less than a half-mile from one of our locations, we jumped at the chance to help,” Carroll says. “We have always been involved in local civic and charitable causes, and this is one of the most noble in which we have been involved.”
For every wreath a customer purchases, the store donated a wreath for the first 100 wreath sales.
“We had people walk into the store and sponsor 5, 10, 20 and even 100 wreaths and hundreds more went to our website to sponsor wreaths,” Carroll says. “It was really heartwarming to hear our customers’ stories of friends or family members who are at rest there.”
Events: Revving Up at the Store
Harrison Paint Co. in Bossier City, Louisiana, hosts a car show in its parking lot that attracts big crowds.
Owners Chris and Bridget Hamm say the original idea was to organize a car show in 2015 to draw attention to the store’s grand opening. The business is located in a shopping center along a major street, so their hope was that future customers would notice the parking lot full of cool cars and stop by.
Bridget chose a nonprofit organization to support with proceeds from the car show and invited car fans to display their vehicles in front of the shopping center. She was expecting maybe 20 participants, but instead car buffs showcased more than 80 vehicles.
The car show is now a popular annual event, and other business owners in the shopping center participate and promote their services.
“It increases visibility. People come to the show and then come back to shop,” Bridget says.
Operations: Belly Up to the Paint Pub
When the owners of Norfolk Hardware & Home Center in Boston, Massachusetts, renovated the store about three years ago, they added a whimsical touch to the paint department. The Paint Pub, a re-creation of a traditional pub with dark wood and barstools, pays homage to the area’s Irish heritage and offers a spot for customers to have a seat on the barstools while they order paint and consult with the paint team.
“Our company has been around since 1934, and in the old days, we used to have a paint counter with chairs where painters could wait for their paint to be mixed. We took that concept and used it when creating our Paint Pub,” says marketing manager Julie Blake. “Our customers love being able to have a seat and chat while they wait.”
Marketing: Social Help
Orme Hardware in Ohio is making the most of its social media by using all of the resources at its disposal. It has worked hard to think outside-the-box and promote more than just its seven stores’ products and services.
One way it is doing so is by familiarizing its customers with its staff. Employees write brief video scripts to guide their content, then record themselves doing DIY projects. The goal is to introduce customers to the experts who can help them at their local stores, and the videos are doing just that. After two employees created a video demonstrating how to apply wood stain to a deck, customers came to the store specifically asking for their help because they saw the staffers in the video.
The business also uses its social platforms to support the community. Every month, employees from Orme Hardware choose different brick-and-mortar businesses in their communities to promote on social media. Staffers identify other independently owned businesses, research which operators are the best in town and contact the owners to ask if they can post about them on Orme Hardware’s Facebook pages.
The cross-promotion boosts traffic on Orme Hardware’s social media pages and the other businesses’ sites. It also strengthens relationships among local owners, who appreciate the shoutouts, marketing director Rob Bond says.
Events: Recreating Store History
In 2021, the staff at Burney True Value Hardware in Aberdeen, North Carolina, reimagined the first six decades of the store’s history through elaborately staged photographs.
The team celebrated the store’s 100th anniversary throughout the year, and one of the most creative ways was through using costumes, antique tools, old signage and other props to depict each decade for a photographer to document.
“We had already staged a photo of our crew in 1921 garb to celebrate our 90th birthday in 2011,” co-owner Kristy Ransdell says. “We wanted to recreate the ‘30s through the ‘70s to help imagine some of what life was like during those times.”
Employees tried to be as accurate as possible with costumes and used knowledge of Burney’s history as reference when staging scenes in the store representing each decade.
For example, during World War II, Burney Hardware served as a collecting station for scrap metal so citizens could help with the war effort. The current employees tried to recreate a scene in the store that reflected the time period, scrap metal collecting and all.
Staff members posted the historic-looking photos on Facebook throughout the month of September for customers to enjoy leading up to the store’s anniversary party and sale that took place in October.
Operations: Floor-to-Ceiling Art
Roblynn Home Hardware & Home Furniture in Oromocto, New Brunswick, has a two-story building with an open layout that allows shoppers to see to the top of the 40-foot ceiling from nearly anywhere in the store.
In the middle of the salesfloor, reaching from the first floor nearly to the ceiling, is a wooden pole carved with 34 native New Brunswick animals and painted in vivid colors.
Robin Hanson, who founded the store in 1977, carved and painted the 2-ton chunk of white pine and had it installed by crane prior to building the store’s roof.
The unusual floor plan and wildlife pole amaze shoppers and provide a unique in-store experience, says company president Tanya Hanson Rocca.
“We have people who stop and say, ‘Whoa,’” Rocca says.
