To Succeed in Retail, Businesses Need Emotional Connection

The retail landscape is changing and the old tools used by merchants and marketers are no longer as effective as they used to, according to Paco Underhill of the consulting firm Envirosell during his keynote address at Shop.org's FirstLook 2005 on Thursday. He observed that demands of the population are changing with the changing demographic landscape, particularly the aging of the baby boomers.

To succeed in retail, business owners must be conscious of the two things that buyers want: great service and good prices. To achieve this, retailers must strive to establish emotional connection with the buyers. He suggested using tools such as email to get closer to customers.

Shop.org's FirstLook 2005 was held on January 18-20 at the Chelsea Pier in New York City.