The adventure of the Wildwood hoodie

Back in the fall of 2016 I saw a hoodie at the local running store with the logos of the popular Wildwood trail here in Portland.

I've had a lot of good memories of that trail, including my first ultramarathon.

But instead of buying it, I made a little bet with myself. I'd allow myself to buy it after I ran another ultramarathon on the trail.

Six months later I finished that race but by then the weather warmed and it wasn't in stock anymore. I figured I'd ask again once winter started back up again.

Fast forward to January of this year...

I happened to ask the store manager if they'd be getting any more of those hoodies in this season. He said he hasn't seen any but would call around for me.

Less than 24 hours later I get a call.

He had the hoodie brought over to the store and I could come by and pick it up whenever I had time.

So 15 months after I first saw it, I now have my Wildwood hoodie.

It's become one of my favorite jackets, along with one I got in 2006 (Columbia jackets last a looooong time...) and a very nice wool hoodie I was gifted from a customer (thanks Brian).

The moral of this story is that really good, personal service stands out. Objectively speaking, the store manager didn't have to do that much. Probably a couple of phone calls and then having one employee drive the jacket out to his store or add it to a shipment already going out.

But in the current climate of shitty customer service, it was a shining example of how one employee can really make the difference.

Plus, they've secured the majority of my future running paraphernalia purchases. Except shoes... because I run in sandals...

Even though this story happened with a retail store, you can provide a similar service with your Shopify store.

But first you need to understand how your customers are behaving.

Are they coming back to your store?

Are they buying a second, third, or fourth time?

Or are they disloyal and going to the cheapest prices?

Do you even know?

Tracking and understanding how many customers come back to your store after their first purchases is critical, though there's hardly any way to find that out with even Shopify's advanced reports.

Repeat Customer Insights can help. With it's Customer Latency Report you'll see how many customers are coming back for repeat orders, how quickly they come back, and how much they're spending when they do.

Eric Davis

P.S. If you're ever in Portland and you're a running, the store is the Sellwood Foot Traffic store