Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Before you read this post, go visit the well-meaning but clueless Buy Local 3/50 site. While this “movement” might be important, I have had a hard time getting behind it. Let me explain why.

The Gift & Home Channel talks about the conundrum How do we GET consumers to shop local? and answers it We need to TEACH them that shopping locally is helpful to the local economy. (All CAPS above, my addition for emphasis.)

This ignores the basic tenet of WIIFM and is unhelpful at the least and arrogant at the most. What’s in it for me? is the basic need of shoppers that trumps everything else, always, and especially now with money tight.

Consumers, especially NOW when every dollar is [more than ever] carefully watched, don’t give a fig’s breath that their $4.95 will help their town survive…if something serves the purpose for which they are shopping (WIIFM) and costs $3.95, THAT is what they will fork over their money for. Saying Shop here because we’re local means LESS THAN ZERO. Consumers do not want to be TAUGHT. They want to get the most BANG FOR THEIR BUCK. Keeping you, your shop, or even your entire locally-owned business community in business is NOT what they are spending their money for…ever…and especially not now.

If you cannot deliver the value for which a local shopper is shopping…WHY would you even consider that you should shout at her Shop Local!” ?

I’m not saying the concept of shop local is bad (in reality I think it’s wonderful and deplore the retail homogenization of America)…I’m simply saying that unless you offer your potential marketplace something more, in some sense, than the “national retailers” or the “big boxes” or “the evil empire” does… WHY would you think you deserve customers?

First, offer more. Both to those with whom you wish to trade dollars for donuts (or dungarees or dog-grooming) and to your own town (whether it’s cleaning up the litter in your shopping district or sponsoring an athletic league.) If you’re not offering some sort of increased value for my dollar, it’s unrealistic and downright dumb for you to insist I shop with you, simply because you’re not from here. That’s xenophobia. If Dunkin Donuts is better, cheaper, on my route, and open the hours I want to buy donuts…why would I go out of my way to buy more expensive, less tasty, less convenient donuts just because my 89 cents will “stay local”? Especially if I am on my way to work…in an out-of-town chain accountant, or an out-of-state chain electronics store, or an out-of-country footwear manufacturer?

Second, make DARN sure that every dollar YOU personally spend is directly, as much as possible,at your fellow local businesses. THEN you’ll be proud to say that you’re a part of your community. Nothing is more ironic than a “supporter of 3/50” going to Staples to get the 3/50 bag stuffer printed out…without investigating LOCAL quick printers. If it isn’t, fine…but did you bother to find out? Or do you go directly to McDonald’s for lunch, bypassing Mom’s Diner?

Now mass merchandisers aren’t stupid. That’s why Bonefish Grill “feels” like a local restaurant to me…my sister insists she’s “eating local” even as I show her that the chain has, as per Wikipedia, “currently over 100 Bonefish Grill locations in 27 states across the United States.” Note, on their site…they do not LIST their stores, but rather, let you “locate” one near you.

Third, and most important for my consignment, resale, and thrift shopkeeper readers: Make sure that you not only support your neighboring local businesses…but that your clientele KNOWS you do. When you can point out that YOU shop local, that means more, and is more valuable to your entire community, than simply Shop ME because your dollars stay HERE.

Once shoppers have made the [nowadays tough] decision to trade their currency for the goods they need/want…they do not really CARE where the money goes. They only care if it was $4.95 or $3.95... OR whether they did business with a caring friend, or the shop their neighbor owns, or the store that sponsors their nephew’s ball team or their granddaughter’s 4th of July parade float.

In short: Give your neighbors a REASON that shopping local makes their lives better, visibly and viscerally. Don’t spout percentages and economics at them. Make sure the WIIFM is real, tangible and justifiable.

Bullet list, if you want to use the “Shop Local” as a selling point for your shop:

• Sell local. Offer what your potential clientele wants at a price they want to pay. Who cares what Susie in Coshocton prices it at?
• You don’t have to be cheaper than a competitor…you need to offer more value for their money.
• Make sure they know that.
• Shop local yourself. Wearing your name badge or your shop Tshirt.
• Form alliances, casual or more structured, with your fellow locals, making sure your potential clientele knows THAT.
• Support local. Charities, activities, events, creations: if it’s local, you should be there, showing financial and emotional support.
• Make sure they know that you’re a local business supporting a local civic, cultural, or charitable event.
• Act local. Vote in your local elections. Urge others to make their locality a better place to live. Adopt a highway (get the sign; remember, make sure they know that!), tutor a child, provide a warm meal or an extra blanket.
• Don’t expect others to patronize your business just because you happen to breathe the same air. Make the air better…for your customers, your business, and yourself.