How to influence people and gain customers

This paper proposes that to be systematic in gaining customers, retailers could benefit from recognising the marketing implications of a set of pre‐ and post‐purchase stages of customer behaviour. A parallel theme is that retailers possess several weapons in their armoury for persuasion purposes. More specifically, not only can advertising be used to influence people, but every element of the retailer's marketing mix: the combination of merchandise and service provided, at the time, place and price offered. The writer then analyses customer behaviour in terms of their responses to the marketing communications activities of retailers, finally providing an overview of the variety of these marketing activities.