Dear brick and mortars, focus on retention

Starbucks loyalty members account for 57% of U.S. sales, and those members spend 3 times more per visit than non-members. Starbucks is not winning on coffee. They are winning on retention. (I would know; they get me every week and I don’t even have a membership.) The question for your business is not how to get more customers through the door. It’s how to make the ones who already came in worth more.

Retention is not a consolation prize for businesses that cannot grow. It is the actual growth strategy, and the businesses that understand this are building something that all the ads in the world cannot provide: consistent foot traffic. Local businesses want to play the content game like digital brands, but forget they have a very real limitation: geography. Some businesses end up productizing and shipping, like Mia’s World and Chillhouse, 2 NYC nail salons selling press-ons online. But many aren’t set up for that kind of distribution. It breaks my heart seeing a viral video about a place I will never get to visit because it’s in another city.

Camp does this better than almost anyone in physical retail. Their stores run on seasonality and partnerships, turning a toy store into programming. Bluey takes over the space for a limited run. A new theme replaces it next season. You are not just shopping. You are showing up for something that will not be there next month. Build-A-Bear runs the same play with limited releases and seasonal characters. The store becomes the event, and the event creates the reason to return.

You do not need a licensing deal to apply this logic. You need a reason for your customer to come back that does not exist yet.

For a coffee shop or coworking space where the same customers show up every week, the play is not a loyalty punch card. It is a menu update with intention. Starbucks has built an entire cultural calendar around this. Pistachio season. Red cup day. The pumpkin spice drop that generates more conversation than most paid campaigns. A cafe in New Jersey has a signature split cup that belongs only to them. Increasing spend is not just about order value. It is about giving your regular customer something new to try, talk about, and bring someone else to experience.

For brands and product businesses doing physical activations, the retention opportunity lives inside the checkout moment. Most brands collect a sale and nothing else. The smarter move is to let your customer influence what comes next. Add a survey directly into your checkout flow and have them vote on which colorway, scent, or product you should release next. They bought once. Now they have a reason to come back and see if their vote won.

For salons, venues, and service businesses where the transaction feels final, the experience after the sale is the retention strategy. Own a nail salon? A pamper party for kids on a slow Tuesday afternoon turns a one-time client into a repeat booking and a room full of new ones. The incentive is not a discount. It’s participation in an experience.

The pattern is the same across every business type. The ones that retain customers give them something to look forward to before they walk out the door.

This week, announce one thing that is coming. A new menu item, a limited experience, a seasonal update, a product your customers get to vote on. Put a sign in your window, send a text, add it to your receipt. The announcement is the retention play.

This is the first edition of a new newsletter for brick and mortar businesses and product-based businesses interested in pop-ups and experiential moments. Signup here if that’s you. Next issue I am breaking down the data your business is already generating that you are not using, and exactly which numbers to pull first.