Several years ago, while we were on vacation, my family and I discovered Trader Joe's. If you're not familiar with them, Trader Joe's is a limited-selection grocery store that offers items that some folks might consider unusual.
They sell a lot of organic items, and exotic things that you might not find at your local supermarket. They advertise very little, relying mostly on word-of-mouth. They opened a store here in St. Louis about a year ago. (Now, there are two.) The closest store to my house is a half hour drive.
Still, we go there, maybe once a month to pick up some things that we like that you can't get anywhere else. Seth Godin writes that there are three keys to Trader Joe's success.
- They target a customer who cares about what she buys and is very loyal.
- Their customers have big mouths. They like to talk about what they buy.
- Most of what they buy is private label, therefor they make higher profit margins.
Check out their Fearless Flyer for a great example of a direct mail piece that gets results. Their "How We Do Business" page is also very interesting.
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