Engaging your local community

 

Making your store a key part of your community can pay big dividends. The Partners for Growth Team caught up with Mandeep Singh, a member of Partners for Growth’s Retailer Advisory Panel and winner of Asian Trader magazine’s Spirit of the Community Award, to hear how he established his store at the heart of his local community.

What are the big benefits of doing this?

“Getting involved in the community takes your customer engagement to the next level. It’s something we can do better than the big supermarkets. People really appreciate you putting something back into the community, they talk to you more and they’re more likely to support you.

It also makes the job more enjoyable, as customers like coming in and we like seeing them. And, long term, it shows in profits. “

What type of activities have you tried?

“We started with sponsorship of one football team, then two, then 10. We now run a charity cup every year, and we’ve expanded to sponsor other sports and fund-raising activities.

“We have days when we and the customers dress up – the last one was as superheroes – and we’ve had giveaways of signed rugby balls for the Rugby World Cup. Nowadays, people have started asking us what we’re up to next.

We also interact with customers on social media all the time. It’s not just telling them about products; it’s about building a relationship, so we post videos of staff members, sometimes talking about products.”

Which worked best?

“We hold a charity football tournament on the pitch at Sheffield United for a day in the off-season. It’s a great day and gives players the chance to play on a professional pitch – they really look forward to it.

“We also sponsored a fundraiser known locally as ‘the man with the pram’ to walk between our three stores every day for a month, collecting money for Macmillan Cancer Support in a pram. Between us, we raised £22,000 in a month.

“We’ve just run a trolley dash, which was really successful. People had to ‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment’ on our Facebook page to enter and about 700 people did. We even had 300 turning up at the store to watch.”

How should a retailer get started?

“Start small but think long term. Once you feel more confident, you can branch out into other things. Talk to local schools or care homes, and sponsor their activities – by providing a case of wine or boxes of crisps and for an event, for example. There is a cost involved but you’re going to gain in the long run as it gets your name out there.

“Getting involved with schools pays off in other ways too, in that they will be quick to help you stamp out problems with kids in store.”

What are the pitfalls and how do you avoid them?

“You’ve got to plan, you’ve got to publicise and you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the basics in place. It’s no good organising things and making them sound great, if you don’t smile at customers when they come into the store. You’ve got to have a laugh with them; to talk to them; find out what they’re interested in; ask about their families.”

What are the best ways to tell people what you’re doing?

“You’ve got to tell people about what you’re doing, so social media is crucial. It’s as important to get this right as it is to organise the events or sponsorship.  Doing it properly builds a relationship with your customers. They see you as friendly and fun and this means more than just being having the products at the cheapest price.

“We get a huge number of ‘likes’ on all of our Facebook posts nowadays. We put fun stuff up – we’ve just done a Halloween video of staff and customers dressed up and dancing to a mash-up of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Indian bhangra music.

“You need to update your social media regularly though – every day if possible – as you’re talking to your customers. It’s like being part of a family.”

For tips on how to put your store at the heart of your community, download our fact sheet below, and for more information about setting up a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and more, click here.

Download the factfile here

Share this article

Share your thoughts…

97 Responses

  6. Hey there! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.

  10. Simply wish to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is just cool and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.

  11. Simply wish to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is simply great and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.

  12. I truly appreciate this post. I’ve been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thanks again!

  13. I have been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts in this sort of space . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this web site. Reading this info So i am glad to express that I’ve a very just right uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I so much undoubtedly will make sure to do not overlook this web site and give it a look regularly.

  17. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.

  18. You made some decent points there. I seemed on the web for the difficulty and found most people will associate with together with your website.

  23. You really make it appear really easy along with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something which I believe I might never understand. It seems too complex and extremely vast for me. I’m looking ahead in your next put up, I will attempt to get the hang of it!

  24. F*ckin’ amazing issues here. I am very happy to see your article. Thanks a lot and i’m looking forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?

  26. you are really a good webmaster. The web site loading speed is incredible. It seems that you are doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you’ve done a excellent job on this topic!

  27. Hey, you used to write fantastic, but the last several posts have been kinda boringK I miss your super writings. Past several posts are just a bit out of track! come on!

  28. I like this weblog very much, Its a rattling nice berth to read and incur information. “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” by Henry David Thoreau.

  30. My brother recommended I may like this web site. He was once entirely right. This publish actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!

  31. UK Personal Protection Ltd offers SIA-licensed bodyguards for hire in London, across the UK, or worldwide. Their operatives are highly trained in close protection, anti-ambush, hijack response and first aid, delivering confidential, bespoke security solutions to VIPs, executives, diplomats, and high-risk individuals.

  33. Hey very cool web site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…I’m glad to seek out so many helpful information right here within the put up, we’d like work out extra techniques on this regard, thank you for sharing.

  34. Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!

  35. What does a Farmasi Europa Beauty Influencer account mean? Earn money at your own pace and personally with Farmasi Europa. Five major European countries have joined Farmasi Europa: Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Portugal. A bunch of countries that have accumulated tens of thousands of Farmasi Europa beauty influencers.

  36. Keep up the superb piece of work, I read few content on this internet site and I conceive that your blog is really interesting and holds lots of wonderful info .

  38. Nutriplus Farmasi.com.ro suplimente alimentare și de sănătate unice pe piața din Europa. Ofertă unică pe piața suplimentelor din Europa: Nutriplus cu susținerea sănătății și a frumuseții din interior. Alege farmasi.com.ro pentru produsele Nutriplus România!

  40. Hello There. I found your weblog the usage of msn. That is a very neatly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to learn more of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.

  41. I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!

  42. I truly enjoy reading through on this web site, it holds wonderful blog posts. “Don’t put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.” by Miguel de Cervantes.

  46. Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the net the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks

  47. An additional issue is that video games can be serious as the name indicated with the major focus on finding out rather than entertainment. Although, it has an entertainment aspect to keep your children engaged, just about every game is frequently designed to improve a specific set of skills or program, such as mathematics or science. Thanks for your publication.

  48. excellent post, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector do not notice this. You should continue your writing. I am confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  50. I do love the manner in which you have presented this matter and it really does give us a lot of fodder for consideration. Nonetheless, through what precisely I have seen, I basically trust as the commentary stack on that men and women stay on point and not get started upon a soap box regarding the news du jour. Still, thank you for this exceptional point and even though I can not necessarily go along with this in totality, I respect the perspective.

  51. One other issue is that if you are in a circumstance where you do not possess a cosigner then you may really need to try to make use of all of your educational funding options. You will discover many funds and other scholarship grants that will give you finances to help with school expenses. Thanks for the post.

  52. I have realized that over the course of making a relationship with real estate managers, you’ll be able to come to understand that, in every real estate purchase, a commission amount is paid. Finally, FSBO sellers never “save” the fee. Rather, they fight to win the commission by doing the agent’s work. In this, they invest their money and time to execute, as best they could, the obligations of an real estate agent. Those tasks include uncovering the home by means of marketing, delivering the home to prospective buyers, creating a sense of buyer urgency in order to make prompt an offer, arranging home inspections, taking on qualification inspections with the mortgage lender, supervising maintenance, and facilitating the closing of the deal.

  54. Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue along with your site in web explorer, would check this?K IE nonetheless is the market leader and a large section of other folks will omit your fantastic writing because of this problem.

  58. hello there and thank you for your info ? I?ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this website, since I experienced to reload the site lots of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and could look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again very soon..

  59. I personally find that i’ve been active for a year, mostly for cross-chain transfers, and it’s always scalable features. The mobile app makes daily use simple.

  70. Whats up very nice blog!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Superb .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also?I am satisfied to find numerous helpful information right here within the publish, we’d like work out extra techniques in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

  78. I was just searching for this info for some time. After six hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this type of informative web sites in top of the list. Usually the top web sites are full of garbage.

  90. Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

  95. I like what you guys are up also. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I¦ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my website 🙂

  97. I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Great work!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended for you…

You may also like…

Subscribe to our newsletter

Privacy Policy  |  Cookie Policy

Award winning category management advice for growing your sales based on knowledge and insight from Unilever category experts, plus business advice from our Retailer Advisory Panel of award-winning UK convenience retailers.

*Unilever retailer survey