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Building a community for a great in-store experience

Create a memorable experience by establishing meaningful connections

Top 6 in-store practices transforming customer experience, Part 5 of 6

building a community

Building a community

When you interact and develop connections between your customers and employees, you can build a community of those who align with your brand identity.

Why build a community?

Building a community allows you to continue establishing connections and maintain relevance with your customers. An example of a brand that escaped irrelevance was Harley Davidson. Twenty-five years after it risked falling into worthlessness, the company boasted a brand value of $7.8 million, successfully leveraging its unique strategic repositioning. It accomplished this by building the Harley Davidson community, whose lifestyle, activities and character aligned with the brand. This community-centric focus was central to the company’s turnaround.

Vans

Vans, a skateboarding shoe manufacturer, also thrived from building the community they helped set up for its customers. First, it identified a majority of its customer base as teenagers and young adults. It then worked to understand its market and build a community that embodies its brand.

We have provided 5 examples of how Vans overcame its challenges to capture its young audience, making the brand integral to their skateboarding experience:

  1. Inviting lead users to co-design products.

To ensure relevancy and attractiveness, Vans developed a meaningful relationship between consumers and the brand.

  1. Opening its own skatepark

Building a physical space around its retail store brought together customers, associating the brand with the sport.

  1. Setting up parental daycare lounges

Encouraging parents (primary customers) to have a better in-store experience allowed their kids to spend extra time in the store.

  1. Establishing a partnership with the Warped Music Tour

The brand stands out more in the crowd by connecting young adults with music, a secondary interest.

  1. Organizing the Vans Park Series Championship

Vans found gaps within the market and provided solutions that further associated their brand with the sport.

How to start building a community?

To build your community, brands should use this checklist of strategies:

  • Have a clear ethos and identity
  • Make the retail store a central location to gather the community
  • Engage in social media interaction through user-generated content
  • Encourage employees to participate and embody the brand lifestyle
  • Hold relevant activities and events supported by the brand

Check out Part 6 of this series on how to personalise your products or services for your customers.

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