What the Hospitality Industry Can Learn from the Retail Ice Age
The Retail Ice Age is here, decimating retailers across the continent. And there are plenty of lessons cultural tourism pros can take from this new normal. đ Most importantly? Customer service is the secret to keeping visitors coming back. âš
Lessons Learned from the Retail Ice Age
In case youâve missed the news over the last few years (or decades), big-brand retailers are experiencing a painful extinction. The closures are happening in such high numbers, this has been dubbed the Retail Ice Age. Famed legacy dinosaurs (retail brands) are declaring bankruptcy at a startling rate. Some are shuttering stores, while others disappear entirely. Even Canadaâs Hudson Bay Companyâthe oldest retailer in North Americaâcouldnât survive shopper apathy.
In press release after press release, retailers point to a few common reasons for their inability to remain sustainable:
- Increased competition
- Inflation
- Supply chain issues
- Possible (or past) recessions
- The internet
- âShifting consumer behaviorâ
Ah yes, the ever-shifting consumer behavior. A convenient catch-all that equates to a giant shoulder shrug. “We couldnât possibly see these closures coming.” But hereâs the thingâwe have seen this coming for decades.
Remember Mervyns? Borders? Sears? Toys ‘R Us? Blockbuster?
All, early victims to shifting consumer behavior. Pull up their press releases from ten or 15 years ago and youâll find very similar throughlines. In fact, just swap out the brand names and the press releases all pretty much read the same.
So, if consumer behavior has been âshiftingâ for decades, maybe itâs time for retailers to stop scratching their heads and start instead start paying attention to WHY these shifts are happening.
What Retailers Have Been Ignoring
You know whatâs really missing from those corporate obituaries? Accountability. No one ever seems to acknowledge the obvious. Retailers stopped caring about their customers.
In their drive to cut expenses and increase revenue, they increasingly opt for efficiency. All that efficiency-building? Not so much in the customer’s best interest.
Humans didnât suddenly become allergic to in-person shopping. We shifted our behavior because the in-store experience keeps getting worse. Our apathy didn’t suddenly happen, it happened because of how retailers treat the consumer.
Efficiency May Save Money – But it Comes at a Cost
Retailers love to brag about self-checkout, for example. But do customers really love it? According to CNN, most shoppers are lukewarm – and they are growing less patient as glitches increase and lines get longer.
Checkout Reddit threads and other online communities, and youâll find most people donât love self-checkout. Those that do like it, do so for one reason. Because itâs faster.
But self-checkout lines are getting longer, and machine glitches are on the riseâso that love is rapidly fading
How about curbside pickup? During the pandemic, retailers introduced drive-up because they had to. It was their lifeline. Post-pandemic? Many stores are dropping the service. Not because customers donât love it. But rather because curbside pick up is no longer “economically viable.”
You know what else isnât economically viable? Ignoring your customers until your business collapses.
You know what else isnât economically viable? Ignoring your customers until your business collapses.
Customer Service Is Marketing
Think customer service doesnât matter? Think again. According to Jitbitâs 10 Painfully Clear Signs Your Customer Service Sucks, thereâs a serious disconnect:
80% of companies believe they deliver superior service.
Only 8% of customers agree.
People arenât abandoning brick and mortar retail because online shopping is easier. Theyâre leaving because cost-cutting and retailer efficiency doesn’t benefit the customer.
Why This Matters in Cultural Tourism
In cultural tourism, there is one golden rule: every hospitality experience is a human moment.
Yes, bring on your robot butlers and your keyless check-ins. But not at the expense of having a person there when we need help. Someone who can say, âIâve got you.â
Hereâs why that matters more than ever.
Retailers are in a constant race to win the âe-commerce game.â Yes, admittedly, the convenience of shopping online is a strong draw. So, for an in-person service to excel, it must must outpace the online experience. Online is efficient enough. So in-person experiences must wow customers. Otherwise, they’ll just go on clicking “add to cart” from our sofa.
In cultural tourism, we donât have the luxury of downloading products and services. We canât ship someone a picnic at sunset. We canât email the feeling of being welcomed into a new community.
Welcome One and All
Our entire industry depends on something no algorithm can replace: happy, in-person visitors. Being warmly greeted by happy local representatives.
Thatâs true whether you run a museum, cafĂ©, visitor center, or boutique hotel. How businesses treat visitors shapes how they feel about the entire destination. And they remember how they felt long after they leave.
âš Great service isnât about checking people in fasterâitâs about making them feel welcome.
Customer Service Also Matters in Hospitality
If thereâs one thing to learn from the Retail Ice Age, it is this. People want to be treated like they matter.
Remember NYC in the 1990s?
In the mid-1990s, New York City was suffering from a perception problem. A politeness problem.
In particular, frontline workersâlike police officers, bus drivers, and cab driversâan iconic part of the New York City experienceâwere considered less than welcoming to the cityâs then 25 million annual visitors.
Even then, visitors wanted authenticity. Just maybe not quite so much in-your-face authenticity.
New York City’s Politeness Campaign
So, NYC rolled out a Politeness Campaign.
At the time, according to the Washington Post, the
“politeness campaign,” as locals and the media dubbed it, involved several steps, including air fresheners in taxis with the slogan “New Yorkers Welcome the World.” There was also a five-year sensitivity training program for 50,000 city employees, as well as subway ads urging locals to “Crack a Smile.” All intended to help improve the cityâs image among visitors.
Not surprisingly, the campaign received mixed reviews locally. Many locals felt visitors were increasingly the city’s most beloved neighborhoods into “tourist traps.” Sound familiar?
Locals Impact the Tourism Story
This article isnât a discourse on the perils of overtourism, but rather a reminder: local stakeholders have an outsized impact on the hospitality storyâand on the success of a destinationâs marketing.
Take Hawaiâi, for example.
Visitors have heard the concerns expressed by locals who are upset by overtourism and visitor disrespect. Many travelers are now increasingly making the decision to avoid Hawaiâi, according to a recent article in Hawaii Business. (Is It Possible to be a Good Tourist in Hawaiâi, or Should I Just Stay Away?)
The long and the short of it? The hospitality industry must pay attention to the awesome impact locals have on the hospitality story.
Train Stakeholders as Cultural Ambassadors
There are no easy answers hereâespecially as the cost of human resources continues to skyrocket. But one of the biggest lessons from the retail ice age is this: consumers expect to be treated well.
Todayâs travelers understand the impactâand the valueâof their visitor dollars. Just as they shy away from retailers who treat them poorly, they also seek deeper engagement when they travel.
Which means empowering your frontline workers makes good sense. Train them to become the go-to crew for âHereâs what makes this destination incredible.â
Create joint training campaigns in partnership with local CVBs or chambers to help employees how to welcome visitors. Provide workers with the resources to:
Connect guests with nearby events, artists, and businesses
Share meaningful local stories
Not to start with, âThereâs a McDonaldâs nearby,â when people ask where they can eat
Know when to share a story from personal experienceâand when to guide visitors toward someone rooted in that tradition
Explain cultural context with clarity and respect
Recommend experiences based on a guestâs interests, not just corporate checklists
Resist the temptation to give the media a sound bite that could impact the industry for yearsâor even decades
In short, give visitors a great experience. And empower your frontline workers to understand what that truly means.
Help Stakeholders Think Like Marketers
If you want your guests to rave about your destination? Start by helping your employees understand how to make that happen.
Train them to think like marketers.
No, they donât need to run paid ads or build email funnels. But they do need to understand how to articulate what makes a destination stand out. They need to remember that every interaction has the potential to make a long-term and lasting impact. Train workers to communicate the destination story in a way thatâs authentic, welcoming, and aligned with your marketing efforts.
That means knowing your destinationâs story.
That means understanding what visitors want.
And yes, even the guests who test your patience deserve a response rooted in professionalism and pride of place. Not just because itâs good marketing, but because it honors the spirit of hospitality that defines your destination.
When you equip your team with basic marketing awarenessâlike how word-of-mouth drives return visits, or how one guestâs experience can influence dozens of future bookingsâyouâre not just training employees.
𧩠Youâre building a marketing plan from the inside out.
Hospitality is Powered by People
In hospitality, weâre in the business of people. Thatâs our superpower. Which means we canât afford to repeat the mistakes of the retail world. Customers arenât just human walletsâthey want connection, not just convenience.
Travelers today arenât looking just to visit a place. They want to experience the place. So make the experience the priority. Let them leave thinking:
Who needs retail therapy when I can travel instead?
đ„ Free Marketing Workbook đ„
Marketing With Purpose
Ready to grow your creative business? This free marketing workbook was written specifically for creative, heritage and hospitality professionals. Build a simple, sustainable marketing plan that helps you get noticed.
You’ll also get access tođ„Letâs Make Some Noiseđ„, a weekly newsletter full of tools, insights, and community highlights for arts, heritage, and creative professionals working at the intersection of culture and hospitality. (You can unsubscribe anytime.)
Questions? Ready to get started? Book a free Vision Call to discuss your cultural tourism vision.
Book Now