Retail Marketing Redefined: The Shopping Bag
When people believe that success is imminent, they say that it’s “in the bag.” Retail marketers would do well to consider the same sentiment.
Today, shopper experience is king, and every in-store interaction must be viewed as an opportunity to engage and delight. From the provocative store window that draws her in to the personalized interaction when she checks out, each point along the shopper’s journey must bring her more deeply into the story she shares (and creates) with the brand.
Even the shopping bag. Especially the shopping bag.
What she carries out of the store is a final (and lingering) symbol of the shopping experience she’s just enjoyed. More than simply a way to get her items home, the shopping bag encapsulates and articulates the voice and tone of the brand. It continues (and adds depth to) the retailer/shopper conversation, extending it way beyond the store floor.
The right shopping bag, presented in a memorable and brand-ownable way (like at Nordstrom, where the sales associate walks the bags from behind the register and places them into the hands of the shopper), delivers a powerful culmination to the entire experience.
The shopping bag should not be an afterthought. As a literal and symbolic send-off from the retail space, it has incredible impact on how the shopper evaluates her experience prior to this moment.
The idea of the shopping bag is evolving, just like the language of retail marketing itself. We cannot “do marketing” the way we always have, and therefore must broaden and reimagine even the vocabulary we have used for decades.
Just like the dressing room, the display and the catalog, the shopping bag now wields real influence, representing many things to many people. As we continue to grow the retail marketing vocabulary, here are 31 things a shopping bag can also be:
- Conversation Piece
- Ecological Statement
- Badge of Honor
- Status Symbol
- Future Grocery Bag
- Gift
- Accessory
- Fashion Statement
- Advertisement
- Endorsement
- Calling Card
- Personal Expression
- Prize
- Convenience
- Souvenir
- Bonus
- Thank-You Note
- Affirmation
- Confirmation
- Reward
- PSA
- Memory Maker
- Loyalty Builder
- Prop
- Club ID
- Reminder
- Secret Password
- Love Note
- Social Statement
- Valentine
- Reminder
