There are many ways to pitch local in retail: buying from local suppliers, supporting local community groups, speaking to your localness. These are all good ways. certainly, show, don’t tell is a good approach to pitch local. I think people are tired of the lazy social media post from a local retailer asking people to shop local. We need to show reasons.
One way we are doing this in my shops is with locally personalised signs designed to inspire dreams of travel destinations. Here’s the sign i9n the window of our Malvern shop.
No other retailer in Malvern has this. I can say this with certainty since we commissioned the product, choosing the list of cities carefully.
The sign is a talking point, as well as a fun gift for someone who does enjoy travel, or dreaming of travel. It also speaks to our localness without telling people to shop local.
It’s a small move, one already we are seeing working well for the business.
There are so many ways we can be smart about pitching local without overtly pitching local in our shops. The more we do this in smart ways and the less we see retailers calling people to shop local the better in my view. Those social media posts almost begging people to shop local are tiresome. I’m not aware of one ever working in a way that is measurable.
Show, don’t tell really is the best way to pitch local. Locals need to feel it without being told, without it being shoved in their face.
On the sign we had made, it sells for $19.99 and has a GP of 75%, which we are happy with.