Retail Marketing - Shopping Center Marketing

Retail stores have always given away advice along with selling products. Now some stores are turning helpful services into a profit center. Medical services are leading this move into retail stores. Medical clinics are popping up in pharmacies across the nation, and thousands of new clinics are planned to open in stores over the next couple years. No appointment is necessary to get quick, cheap fixed-price treatment for minor illnesses. This is a wonderful development in a nation with runaway health care costs and where fewer and fewer people even have a family doctor. The convenience will obviously draw lots of customers into the stores. Wal-Mart is even testing clinics in some stores.

Are there other services that might be popular in a fixed-price convenient retail setting? How about “instant handy-man” services at the hardware store? The handy-man could have a small workshop for repairing or assembling stuff that people bring in. Or the handy-man could follow you home to install a ceiling fan or wire a new outlet “while you wait”. Garden centers could offer the same for tree-planting. Computer repair clinics would be great too, but computers are designed to be disposable these days and a small part is often too expensive to justify repair. Apple could set itself apart by designing its computers for ease of repair and then offer the services while-you-wait in the Apple brand stores.

[Full Story at Retail Store Blog]