Where’s your Caregiver Department, Mr. Retailer?
I think UPI Health Correspondent Alex Cukan is onto something. The caregiver shopper is an important and largely unrecognized species of consumer.
You are a caregiver shopper when you are in the store trying to buy something your care recipient needs in the way of equipment, supplies or furnishings. As a caregiver, you are always pressed for time and therefore in a hurry when you shop. The so-called “recreational” shoppers who swarm the mall and move s-o-o-o s-l-o-w-l-y are the bane of your existence. You wonder why they can’t stay home just once. Sometimes you even suspect that their express purpose is to make you late. When you find what you need, you are prepared to pay top dollar for it, because the issues are usually need and time rather than money.
In fact, there really isn’t much actual shopping involved in what you do. As often as you can, you try to determine in advance where you can find what you need so that you can make a “surgical strike.” In the store, you gather up your items, pay for them and get out just as quickly as you can. You don’t spend aimless time in the store, you don’t tie up the clerks, you don’t worry too much about the price.
And there are a lot of caregiver shoppers just like you.
So, why aren’t you every retailer’s dream? Why do retailers seem more interested in shoppers than in buyers like you? Why doesn’t every drugstore, grocery store, department store and medical supply store on earth have a special section for caregivers, where the most commonly purchased items (tissues, medical gloves, incontinence products, etc.) are in plain view and always in stock?
This is a simple idea, but it would help caregivers and also boost a retailer’s bottom line.
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Tags: caregiver, caregiver department, caregiver shopper