Generational Shopping: Insights and Inspirations

Hello, Crystal Vilkaitis is here. Hopefully coming to you live from Las Vegas. I just hit my mic. Maybe I hope that wasn’t too bad from an audio perspective. If you are watching this video, you are seeing me in a hotel room and there’s a chance with like terrible lighting. Uh, there’s a chance you could tell which hotel I’m in with this slanted wall here. If you guess the Luxor, then you are right.

Today we are doing the, after the show talking about the episode that dropped on Sunday with Nicole Lineback, where we talked a lot about generational shopping and finding new trends and getting creative and finding inspiration outside of just your store and your industry.

And I loved my conversation with conversation with Nicole. So we’ll talk a little bit about that today before I dive in. Uh, we do these lives. This is our third week we’re doing this. Typically they’re Tuesdays at 5 PM mountain here in our Facebook group. So if you’re listening to this audio experience on the podcast, you’re going to want to make sure you go over to facebook.com search for Rooted in Retail. Join the group and try to join us live if you can. But if you can’t, we’re always recording these and we drop the replay, um, uh, one to two days after we go live with the episode. And I am here. Hey, Michelle, good to see you on the live. Um, it’s so fun to see when people are live.

I would really encourage you to go live because this is your opportunity to add some of your feedback or ask questions. And the whole goal of this is just to really go a little bit deeper on episodes and engage with the community. Speaking of community, so I am here in Las Vegas at the International Surface Expo and holy guacamole, there are so many businesses here.

It’s held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, which is normally where SuperZoo is, and I speak every year at SuperZoo, and it’s even bigger than SuperZoo, and I thought That was big. It’s even bigger. And my fiance Dustin were here for his company, BidBuddy, and he spoke on stage today and he did so good.

I’m so proud of him. So it was an honor to sit in the audience and watch him speak and, and then just be here to support him. And I flew in early this morning from Florida. I was there for a day in Fort Lauderdale. Doing some masterminding and it was so good. Oh my gosh, the power of just being in a room with people and connecting.

Michelle, you know what’s up. Natalie, you know the power of being in the room with these amazing people. Um, it’s, it’s powerful. I mean, new ideas happen. You break through, things come up that you just didn’t even think about or anticipate. And um, it’s just, that’s the power of showing up. And investing in yourself and, and the time and, or the money and putting yourself in the room.

This was through Jen Gottlieb and Chris Winfield’s, uh, mastermind. They’ve got kind of a next level mastermind that I am, I have the honor of being a part of, and it was our first meeting and it was so amazing. So I am definitely jazzed and then happy to be here. Yes. Natalie, go Dustin. That was supposed, or that was, Oh, hi, Dustin.

Go Dustin. That was supposed to say yes. Go Dustin. I love it. Go Dustin. Thanks. So let’s talk about this week’s episode. Um, oh, and before we do, I just want to give a plug Jen speaking at evolve. So excited for that. You’re going to love her. So if you’re going to evolve, which my people who are here live are going to alive are going to evolve Michelle and Natalie.

I have to say I’ve had a total of eight and a half hours of sleep in the past two days and have been in four. Dates in less than 48 hours. So my brain is a little mush. We’re gonna see how well I do on this live today, but I’ve already messed up several words, so thank you for bearing with me. Um, I’m excited to have Jen at Evolve, and Nicole, who’s my guest this week, is also moderating the generational shopping panel at Evolve.

So get your ticket@crystalmediaco.com slash evolve, and let’s talk about some of the key highlights. Um, Nicole did such a great job of talking about exploring new avenues and implementing new types of products and categories. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the sexual wellness industry. Like Nicole is, she started the company stimulate.

It’s a conference for the sexual wellness industry. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be bringing in sexual products. There is opportunities for that though. And like she talked about in this episode, the research is showing there’s a massive demand, but we’re not seeing independence in local businesses take advantage of that.

And so one of Nicole’s big points was really analyzing the data. So whether it’s that industry of sexual wellness or if it’s a different industry that could complement what you do already, that you are finding the data and the research that your audience is hungry for those new offerings or those new products, I think it’s worth it.

And isn’t that a perfect example of evolving, trying something new, doing the research. We want to make sure that we’re always staying present and always not present. And I mean, yes, we want to be present, but staying on top of. How the buying behaviors are changing and what people are into what they’re into last year is going to be different than what they are into this year, so we have to make sure that we’re staying on top of that.

And I think a small businesses like big boxes. They’ve got teams of research and development, right? Like they’re constantly going to the conferences, reading the reports, analyzing the spending trends and behaviors and all the data. And so they’re able to work from that. But as a small business owner, We’re doing a lot of other things.

We’re unpacking boxes and you’re buying for your story. You’re vacuuming and dusting and working with your team and selling and work in the floor and being with your customers. And so you don’t always have that time or those resources to do that. But there are there are small things that you could be doing like subscribing to a couple of resources.

That you’re getting those emails a couple times a week to learn about the trends. Even if you’re subscribing, I started list, um, I subscribed to the National Retail Federation and they’ve got some different emails in there and they’re mostly big box and, um, chain, you know, franchise and things like that, but you still get good data.

There’s a lot of conversations about tech, where the industry is going, um, a recent podcast by the National Retail Federation. I heard, uh, the woman talk about at the conference at NRF conference, Chase was there like Chase Bank and they have technology for you to pay through face recognition. So we’ll be seeing more retail stores.

And when you go to buy, you’re going to stand in front of the camera and it’s going to recognize your face. And when I first heard that, I was like, okay, no, I just, there’s like no way I could see myself doing that. But then, I immediately thought about how I use my face to unlock my phone and how easy that is.

And so then I’m like, well, if I’m at a store and I don’t have to pull out my credit card or my Apple Pay or anything, and I’m just, I don’t know, I have mixed feelings about it, it’s crazy. But the world’s evolving, technology is changing, and that was one exhibit at NRF. And so I think, even if you’re not ever going to.

Implement that into your store, that kind of technology. It’s really important for us to know what other people are doing, what the trends are showing, what the data is showing. And I wanted to go a little deeper on a couple of things from this episode. One being, I think that we have an opportunity to survey our audiences, whether you’re sending out an email and you’re asking some questions.

Let’s say that you’re thinking about bringing in a new product or a new offering, a new line. Um, new service expanding, whatever that looks like that maybe you’re looking at doing, ask your people, you know, send an email. Often if you couple that with a prize, like we’re going to pick a winner to win a visa gift card, you would do a gift card to your store.

Um, we’re doing a survey soon where we’re giving away two 250 visa gift cards in exchange for the feedback because the feedback is so valuable. So you can email, you can be posting on social media, asking questions, asking them to vote. One of the best things that retailers can do when they go to wholesale markets.

And Steph talks about this a lot and teaches us a lot to our insiders. Steph’s on my team. Um, I’m sure, you know, Steph, she’s been on the show as well, but she talks about how when you’re at market, take pictures of items that you’re thinking about buying. And then you put a poll on that baby and you say yes or no.

And then you just let the people see. Like if you’ve got an active social media following and they’re engaging, you can go through. And if you’re questioning anything, ask them. And then the next day go buy whatever they all said, heck yes, we want to, we want, and sometimes you’re selling the product before it even before you’ve even bought it.

through doing that, right? So we want to make sure that we’re really looking at how are we looking at the data? Is it coming to us in our email inboxes and we’re actually reading the information? If you’re live with me, how do you get the data? You know, what, is there any kinds of Subscriptions or emails or newsletters that you subscribe to, to learn more about your customers or retail trends, whether you’re live with me or watching the replay, you could chat that comment in that’d be really helpful for all of us.

And I’d love to hear it. So how are you getting that information? How are you getting it from your customers? They often want to be involved. They feel appreciated when they’re involved. And, um, especially when they love your store, they’re like, Oh my gosh, I just like, I love your content. I love the products.

I love what you’re doing. I definitely want to vote. I want to give feedback. So make sure that you’re leveraging that. Um, also something that. I think could be powerful depending on your store is doing a focus group. I love this idea. For me, I’ve been talking, I actually sent out, um, 18 emails to like some of my retailers that I have maybe a little bit more of a personal relationship with, or I know a little bit better than some of our other retailers and tried to get a variety of different types of retailers asking nine questions.

And maybe I think nine sending nine was too many to our busy retailers, but I, I reached out to them because I’m like, I am not you. I don’t know what your day looks like and how much time you have to give to be on a zoom call once a week with an expert. Like, are you interested in doing that? Um, you know, what do you feel like your industry is missing?

If you had a magic wand, like what wish would you Ask for for your store. What wish would you ask for for your marketing? What are some of your biggest challenges when it comes to marketing? The more that I can get information from our retailers, the better I can be. And my team can be to help support you no matter where you are.

So the same is true for you. For your customers, you know, sit them down, you could send out this email, but I really love the idea because you have your physical storefront, most of you, and because, um, you, I think it could be like this after hours, come in, there’s snacks, if you want to serve alcohol or not, like you’ve got food and beverage, you do a little, like I see chairs and round table and you’ve got some questions and you’re there to listen.

You just ask them questions to understand, you know, what keeps them up at night? What are they shopping for? How do they make their decisions? Do they open emails? Honestly, um, Nicole’s panel that she’s doing at evolve. We’re talking to five different generations on how they shop. You, if you’re going to evolve, you’re going to want to write down all the questions that are asked to that panel.

And then there’s your focus group. There’s the questions that you’re asking on their path to purchase and understanding how they interact with marketing, what you could be doing more, what they are buying. Um, and it’s a really cool way to engage. Yeah. Michelle says, I love this idea. And I, I do too. And I think You know, there’s so many different things you could do with this.

This is where I would go to chat to BT and I, you know, you could just do one and done a focus group, but because the world’s evolving and so are our customers, you could turn this into a twice a year or quarterly focus group. And maybe you call these people something I would ask chat to BT. Like this is the kind of story have, and I’m pulling together a focus group and I’m going to do it this often.

And this is my goal of the group. And I want them to see. feel special because they are because they’re showing up to give me this information. What ideas do you have for me to call this group? Like, you know, or what ideas do you have to help me facilitate this focus group to get really excellent information from them?

If you don’t have a physical storefront, you can totally do this. in a zoom capacity as well. But most of our retailers have that physical storefront and it’s about the face time, like get people into the store. They’re probably going to shop. You can give them a gift certificate for their time and then some might want to use it right then and there.

Um, Natalie says we do a customer appreciation event once a year and ask for their feedback in exchange for their favorite products. Excellent idea, Natalie, and kind of a focus group, but I like thinking of it more formally. Exactly. And then, Natalie, you also said not getting it, um, often enough. We have done some surveys in the past.

Yeah. And Natalie, because I know you personally, um, Natalie is our, one of our amazing sponsors for evolve. She and her husband, Doug owned Dr. Doug’s and it’s chapstick. Oh, I thought maybe I had it right here with me. Um, No, it’s in my purse, which is over here. I mean, Natalie, we don’t travel without Dr.

Doug’s, you know, Dustin loves it. He probably has it on his bedside. He does. Um, so you can look for their bomb and their chapstick at evolve. And we just love Natalie so much, but to your point. I know you and I know that you’ve been asking for that feedback and, and it can be like, especially in Natalie sells online and then through to retailers.

If you want to check out her line, you should, I believe it’s dr. Doug’s. com. Correct me if I’m wrong, Natalie. Um, but so. Getting that feedback from your retailers and then also from the customers. Well, she doesn’t have a physical storefront. So sometimes that’s harder when you are emailing and they haven’t built that relationship with you.

That’s where I feel like the physical storefronts, they have that relationship. They know where you are. You’re part of the community. I think you can pull a really good focus group. Also, there’s opportunity in that focus group. A couple of opportunities. Actually, I’m going to go kind of deeper here than I planned.

One, it’s content. You can. Get a videographer or your social media person, and you can show these pictures on how you care so much about your customers and their needs that you’re hosting this amazing event and hand selected. It’s invite only and you get pictures of that. And it’s just like a really nice way to talk about your store and how much you care.

without being like, buy this product and we love you. Like, it’s just better, interesting content. And then you can also have people to, for people to apply. Yeah. Dr. Doug’s. com. Thank you. And Michelle says that I absolutely love the lip balm I received in my bag at evolve. I need to order more exact. Yes. Do we have.

so much. We love it so much. Um, and then Michelle also says, I currently ask for customer feedback during my lives, but also I talk with my kids at the store to find out what they like. Exactly. Michelle’s got a toy store, three locations in the Portland area. If you’re in the Portland area, go check out Piccolo Mondo toys.

You guys look how important it is to show up on my live feeds. Cause you just might get a shout out and a little plug and commercial for your business. So that’s the benefit. of being here live with me. I’m loving this engagement though, ladies. Thank you. It’s making it so much more rich than me just talking at the audience.

So thank you for participating. So you can get that content when you’re doing the in forum and, um, And then I had another idea on how that was really cool with the focus group. And now I completely lost it because I was reading the comments. If it comes back to me, I will let you know for sure. But I definitely think that there is just this opportunity to hear, to listen.

We have to be listening. I feel like we get so caught up in promoting and marketing and Um, sending out if it’s a press release or sending out our emails or posting, we need to listen. We need to see what people are buying. And one of those ways that you can do the research as well as listen is you can go to big boxes that are similar to your competitors to you and see what they’re posting and see how the audience is engaging.

Is there a specific product or type of content that they’re getting a lot of engagement for? But then other types there, it’s really small. You can start doing some research and draw some conclusions around what people are buying, and then what kind of content they’re engaging with. So you have an idea of what you could be posting.

Of course, you’re making it your own. But those trends, especially depending on what kind of store you have, Like fashion boutique. It moves so quick. And so getting like having a feed a way that you’re getting that information quickly. So you can kind of jump on those things and take advantage of it when you’re seeing those trends.

So, um, so focus groups researching and then, um, you know, I just, I went a little deep. I did a little research on Gen Z cause we talked a little bit about Gen Z on the episode with Nicole. And. Here’s a good example where I just plugged in and yes. Oh, okay. I have to share this Pauline is on here now, too Pauline’s with me here in Vegas, but she’s at the table with Dustin and She put in the comment little roots in the audience you guys I have the funniest story to tell you This is so funny at least to me.

So last week I was doing my live stream And then I called my mom after, because last on last week’s call, I had a glass of wine. And so I was winding down and I had my wine. I’m like, I’m going to call my mom. So I call her. I’m like, what are you doing? And she’s like, what are you doing? And I’m like, Oh my gosh, I’ve had such a busy day.

I did three webinars, a company meeting, another meeting. I just did my live. She’s like, Oh yep. I know. And I’m like, how do you know? She’s like, Oh, well I was on your little roots thing. Like it was so like, Small like I was, oh, I was on your little roots thing and she called it little roots and then thing, which I just, I immediately started dying laughing.

I thought it was so funny. And, um, she, she was so funny. So Pauline knows. And Dustin knows. I’ve been trying to think of a name of what to call Rooted in Retail listeners. And so I’ve been going back and forth with ChatGBT and I’ve got a lot of different ideas. One idea that I really liked, and here’s some time for voting.

Okay, here’s I’m, here I’m serving the audience. I really liked Rudison. Instead of Citizen, you’re a Rudison. And so I could be like, who’s my, or do I have any rudicins in the audience? Like when I’m speaking, if I have any rudicins. Um, yeah, Dustin and Pauline shut that down really quickly. They were not excited about it at all.

Which I was so surprised by because I thought it was really fun. Saying it here now, it’s not as cool. As I told Pauline this story about my mom being like, yeah, Oh, I was on your little roots thing. Pauline’s like, that’s the name of the audience. Little roots. Where my little roots at where my little roots at the roots, the roots, the roots are on fire.

Like we just were laughing. It was so funny. So I would love to know, do you have an idea for what to call Rooted in Retail listeners? This community. Is it little roots? Is it rudison? Uh, Paul, you immediately votes. No rudison. I want to hear from you whether you’re live or watching the replay or if you’re listening to this and you’re in the audio experience of after the show, you could go to our Facebook group or you could DM me and tell me what you think.

Um, Michelle says, I can totally see a logo for the little roads. I know. Oh my gosh, you’re so right. That could actually be a really amazing logo. Um, and Natalie’s gonna be thinking about it. I love it. Hmm. Okay, let’s get back to our Gen Z. But if you think of anything, you put that in the chat. I want to hear from you.

So just to show you, like I went to chat GPT and I did some research on Gen Z. And this is where I think it’s important for you to have in your Asana or your to do list, your project management tool, whatever you use to keep you accountable to your to do list. I use Asana. You could have a monthly or quarterly reminder to go do this research and learn more about them and use a tool like Chattopadhyay.

There’s a lot of tools out there that you can use, but I just plugged in to learn more about Gen Z. And so they’re between the mid 1990s and early 2010s. They’re digital natives. So in knowing that as marketers, we want to connect with them there, right? So that’s where social media is so important.

Authenticity, they support brands that are genuine and transparent in their messaging. So I want you to think about. As I’m talking about Gen Z, if you’re trying to connect with a Gen Z person, which there’s a very good chance that a lot of us on this call or listening to this are, when you learn about them and how they act and their makeup, it starts helping you think more deeply and more strategically about the products you would bring on, the events you would have, the experiences you would have, how you communicate with them, Where you communicate with them.

Okay. So think about those kinds of things as I read this. So they’re socially and environmentally conscious. So that gives us ideas on product, right? Authenticity, support brands that are genuine and transparent in their messaging. So talking about what you stand for, what you don’t stand for, um, showing the business owner, And then being their authentic self, the Gen Z audience is going to really support that online shopping and through apps.

So this is where social selling is important or your e commerce site, which we talked about Josh or last week, they engage with visual content and many aspire to be content creators themselves. These Gen Zs. If you’re trying to find somebody to help you with your social media content, try to find a Gen Z.

They like it. They love it. They want to be these content creators. Gen Z values flexibility and work arrangements. Uh, the rise of remote and gig work is appealing to this generation. And this is where you could do a bridge where if you have a physical storefront, you could have them help you with the content, but they’re doing all the editing on their own time.

That could be at a coffee shop. That could be in the store. It could be at their house, but it could be a little bit of a blend health and wellness. Many Gen Z and individuals prioritize mental and physical health. They are interested in wellness products, fitness apps and mental health resources. So again, if we’re trying, depending on what we sell and we’re trying to connect with Gen Z, some of our social media content could be related to that.

You could share, um, psychology today’s, you know, tips about mental health. You could have an email newsletter that links to a really great resource for them. You’re providing additional value going above and beyond than just selling a product. Right? Uh, they prefer experience. Gen Z tends to value experiences over material possessions.

They are interested in travel, dining out, and unique experiences. Everybody that has a physical storefront, you have the opportunity to create unique experiences. And this is where it’s at. I mean, I talked about this a few weeks ago. I think our very first after the show, when we talked about Kathy Cruz’s episode, I went kind of deep on experiences.

Almost everybody. In the resilience round at the end of the show, when I ask, what is the future of retail look like they talk about experiences. They say it’s bright. They say there’s a lot of money. They say all great things if you’re doing experiences and the Gen Z really wants that. And it even says that maybe they’re not as interested in material, but could you then do an event material items, but could you do an event that maybe even sell tickets to, or there’s raffles or just get them in the store.

And then ideally you’re getting, I actually don’t, I’m sure you could do this, this is where I need like a POS expert. Some POSs I’m sure you could add, age, can you add age in those? So you can see, like, okay we did this event, we had a hundred people here. We had 37 sales, you know, unique purchases and of those 37, 30 percent were Gen Z, you know, can we start breaking down some of that data in your own POS system?

And I know that we’re limited depending on what system you’re on, but I will tell you that preparing for this after the show, I talked to Vi Wickham, who is my website developer. He’s also speaking at Evolve. He is talking about how to protect your ass. It’s and, uh, and which is critical, my gosh, you guys, it’s so critical to be protecting yourself.

Unfortunately, crystal media, we have been dealing with issues with meta, both Instagram side and Facebook side is such a pain. So you want to make sure that you’re protecting yourself. But I asked by. For my e com websites, can you pull, cause you can get demographic information through Google analytics on the people that go to your website and purchase on your site.

Can you pull, um, age? And he said, yes, and they are so amazing. Vine, Carmen, Carmen’s on his team. They sent me the, the step by step on how to set this up in Google analytics. So if I was selling online and I was doing pretty decent volume, I would definitely have this. Tracking on. We want as much information about your purchasers on your customers.

That’s so funny. Your purchasers. Remember I’m limited sleep here. Your customers, as much information as possible, but as much as we can just get it without them giving it to us. Right. If we can just collect as much information in the safest way, we want to make sure we’re abiding by all terms. So in the show notes of this podcast, I will send you the steps to add that to your Google analytics.

Thank you to Vi Wickham and um, be sure to say hi to him. He also plays the violin and we have live music at Evolve and he’s going to be doing that this year too, which is so fun. Yes. Another thing to learn about. Exactly. Natalie. Um, Michelle says in all seriousness, I really like Gen Z values. Yes. Same.

And you said, Michelle said, my kids are Gen Z, so I’ll always, um, so I’ll always try to connect with them. Exactly. And yeah, Michelle’s not, uh, not like in Rudison’s. Okay. Thank you for the feedback, Michelle. I hear you. I hear you. So we want to, um, we want to protect ourselves. We want to get data. Now, one thing that I said about the age that you can get through Google analytics is, um, some people who use Google, if I’m translating this correctly, I don’t necessarily know how it all works, but.

The data that you collect, you’re not getting the age information from all the people that shop, so you’re still missing a big chunk of data from people that shop on your website as far as like the age. Okay, so even if you set all this up, you might not necessarily get it all. But Vi’s point was still do it because it will probably still give you a good idea of the ages.

And if especially if you’re seeing like a very specific generation or age range. That is a good indicator that that’s probably most of your customers, even though we’re not able to track age on everybody. Right. So, um, I think like just Nicole said this so much in her episode this week, it’s all about the data.

It’s not the sexy stuff, but it makes us better business owners. And the more there’s just so much knowledge and power in data. Now, um, another thing with our Gen Z. Oh, yep. Okay, perfect. I did all that. So I hope that that was helpful for you as I just kind of broke down a little bit about a generation.

One thing that Maddie on my team says, cause my team does a rooted watch parties and they watch together every week. And Maddie on my team said, it’s not just about what they buy. It’s about their habits. So this goes back to like really understanding their habits and how do you connect with them? When we were downstairs, when I was over at the show here in Vegas, right before Dustin spoke, another speaker was there and he was saying how it’s way easier to keep your current customers and have them come back in and then find new customers.

So the more we know about our customers And we cater to those and we show up, whether it’s email or social or loyalty with the right messaging at the right time, then we will have a better business, right? We’ll see more conversions from that. Okay. The final thing I want to talk about here on after the show is just places to find inspiration.

At the end of the episode, Nicole said. Get outside of your industry, get outside, do other things, find inspiration from other areas. And so I’ve got some ideas for you. You could go to galleries. You traveling is such a massive inspiration, especially international. And Michelle, who’s on this with Piccolo Mundo Toys, she knows what’s up.

She’s a big traveler. Natalie, big traveler, got married in Italy last week, last week, last month. Um, I mean, the inspiration that we gain from different cultures and just being in new environments. I say this all the time. It’s why I have evolved. It’s why I’m doing a retreat next month in Palm Springs, because it’s about new environments, new cultures.

Um. Yes. Uh, yes. Yes. Yes. Natalie says, um, awesome. Thank you for sharing that resource. You’re so welcome. Yeah, we got a little bit of delay when I’m hearing this and she says, go to evolve this way. It’s the way. And, um, yes, congrats Natalie on the wedding. Beautiful photos, but we just want to. Explore. So travel is such a big one.

Cultural immersion, nonprofits in all sorts of different categories. Um, I got to tell you guys something so cool that I heard yesterday during my mastermind. I’m going to go off track here for a second and then I’ll come right back and we’ll wrap this. baby up because I try to make these no longer than 30 minutes.

Um, in my mastermind yesterday, somebody talked about, we were talking about accountability and making sure you get stuff done. And somebody said that what they do is they will give a charitable donation to a nonprofit. They do not like If they don’t do something by a certain day, the one rule is it’s nothing political.

So there’s pressure to get the thing done because you don’t want to donate that money to that nonprofit. And she said, I do it enough to where it hurts to like give that money. Like you feel giving that money. I love that she donates. I just thought that was. It’s a very interesting and a very interesting way to hold yourself accountable.

Okay, back to regular programming here. Nonprofits we can get inspiration from. We’re talking about how to find inspiration. Pay attention to customer comments on social media, on your social, on your competitor’s social. You can read forums. There’s blogs for spontaneity for spontaneous insights and trends, street fashion, street style, photography can be a great inspiration for both product design as well as marketing.

Again, think about this stuff. I don’t care what kind of story you are. I don’t care. You could have a pet store. You could have a toy store. You could be a jeweler and you could be looking at street style photography and get an idea of something that really resonates with your customers. That could be a really cool way for you to talk about your products.

It’s still on brand. Get outside of your normal, think differently. Um, food trends, food trends are always so big, right? We all eat. So, for example, if there’s a growing interest in a particular cuisine or ingredient, like cauliflower crust, it was so big. Um, gluten free is so big right now. I feel like there was something recently that I’m like hearing all about certain food group, but now I can’t remember it.

But. Pay attention to those things and consider incorporating it into your products. My, um, when I was talking to Michelle Sherrier of the Retail Horror Podcast last year, she was talking about the Christmas trend was mushrooms, food inspired. Product based, right? And so you like, if you listen to that, you’re seeing mushrooms everywhere.

There’s a good chance that there’s at least one retailer listening or watching this that sells some sort of mushroom product that is a mushroom figurine because they’re so hot right now. So we want to make sure that we’re paying attention to those things. Obviously market is a good place too, but I want you to get my goal of sharing these ideas is think differently outside the box, nature.

Is so inspirational, just being in nature, being away from devices, we can come up with new ideas, new campaigns, new copy, new creative, and really connect when we’re just really thinking about our customers. We want to serve and we’re open and we’re exploring, we have a better opportunity of seeing things differently and seeing new things.

Even if it was right in front of us the whole time, if you don’t stop to pay attention and listen and ask questions and be ready for that information, it could pass you by. And there can be gold in there for you to really connect with your audience and, and, um, take your business to next levels. And then history, of course, sparking nostalgia is such a good one.

And, um, universities, this is where you could go into universities and also ask them questions and do a focus group or even participate in some of those classes. And, And understand what’s going on and what’s the word on the street. And then of course, AI is a massive tool for you too. So you guys that I hope that this after the show was helpful.

We went a little bit deeper on the, uh, you know, generation shopping and how to find those trends. And Nicole just gave great advice. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, there’s so much after the show is not a recap of after the show. We’re just going deeper on things that, that my guests and I talked about.

So you definitely want to watch the episode if you haven’t already. And I will see you back here on Tuesday at a regular timing, Tuesday, 5 PM mountain in the Facebook group. Thank you for those Michelle and Natalie and Pauline who showed up in the comments. I love it. It makes this so fun for me to do.

So thank you for contributing. And I will see you guys next week. Remember that I’m rooting for you.