Open for Business with Gerard Richardson, MBE, The well-known company owner, wine enthusiast and Deputy Lieutenant for Cumbria explores the business community in west Cumbria...
As a small trader, I’ve always been curious about why shoppers are drawn to brands, and a quick search on Google confirms that I’m not alone in this interest.
It turns out, it’s not all about adult content and 20-second videos!
According to retail experts, when customers are choosing between a brand and a non-brand, they consciously and subconsciously consider various factors, such as trust, lifestyle, status, and simplicity.
It’s like a dating app for products, but with fewer awkward selfies.
Trust is a crucial factor in any transaction, but the one that always makes me laugh is the lifestyle trigger.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to find great irony in many examples of lifestyle choices.
Is it any wonder, though, with the odds against them, that local traders are delighted when they make a good sale?
Even if it doesn’t show on their face, I can assure you that the sound of the bell on the till can literally make someone’s day!
Another brand effect is more localised, and that’s the one where a local trader has been in town so long that the idea of buying all your white goods or sofas or whatever from a particular trader is passed down from parents to children.
Cleator Moor, for example, has two such businesses: Wilson’s Butchers and The Co-op, and before you say The Co-op isn’t a local brand, let me point out that the Cleator Moor and Egremont Co-ops are special because they’ve been in the heart of their towns for decades and have played a huge role in shaping social policies.
Wilson’s Butchers, by the way, is a fantastic shop with a history that dates back to 1968, and as you walk in, you’ll see a board on the wall showing you which local farms have supplied the meat that week.
At first, that made me think about Nightmare on Elm Street, but knowing the farmer who has supplied your steak and knowing how few miles it’s done from cow to plate is actually very reassuring.
On top of that, Diane and Andrew are incredibly knowledgeable, and their pies are the stuff of legend.
Their round pies have been made on the Moor for years and they cry out for an Oxo cube.
"Keep it simple lad," was one of my former Royal Naval officer’s regular comments.
If you have a big appetite, though, ask for their slab pie, as I like to call it, one slice of which feeds both Louise and I for lunch in the shop.
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