{"id":45641,"date":"2023-10-20T15:45:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-to-succeed-in-retail-four-tips-from-boost-juice-chief-executive-jeff-allis-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:45:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:45:17","slug":"how-to-succeed-in-retail-four-tips-from-boost-juice-chief-executive-jeff-allis-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-to-succeed-in-retail-four-tips-from-boost-juice-chief-executive-jeff-allis-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How to succeed in retail: Four tips from Boost Juice chief executive Jeff Allis – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Boost Juice is one of Australia\u2019s familiar business success stories and with more than 500 stores around the globe and a massive online presence, its worldwide popularity as a brand is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the eftpos Australian Retail Awards in Melbourne on Wednesday, Boost Juice chief executive Jeff Allis shared some of the real challenges he and partner Janine Allis faced in getting the business to this stage.<\/p>\n

With a background in media and broadcast radio, Allis said his shift into the ever-evolving retail industry taught him many things, from interacting with changing consumers to getting digital right.<\/p>\n

Here are four key lessons Allis shared from his journey.<\/p>\n

1. Love your customers<\/h3>\n

Allis said there has been one key driver of Boost Juice\u2019s growth over the past 16 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love our customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRadio really taught me to listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a lot of businesses claim to do this, Allis asks how much they actually listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the CEO really read all the research coming in from the customers?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This would require the chief executive working directly with people in customer advisory at a board level, and having regular meetings to assess how well the business or brand is interacting with customers, he said.<\/p>\n

From day one, Allis said Boost Juice wanted to create an in-store experience unlike any other in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2000, when we opened, we said we wanted our customer experience to be 10 times anything else anybody could get in any retail in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd even though we don\u2019t always hit that mark, we\u2019ve set that and it still is one of our pillars today.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a retailer compels a consumer through an ad or interaction on social media to come into its store, an expectation is set, says Allis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to hire bright, bubbly people because otherwise there wouldn\u2019t be that customer experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is to always remember what motivates the customer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do people buy stuff? I feel good about myself for buying it \u2013 that\u2019s the retailer\u2019s job, that\u2019s the brand\u2019s job,\u201d Allis said.<\/p>\n

2. Create a compelling brand<\/h3>\n

Janine Allis being the face of Boost Juice is no accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember saying to Janine, \u2018You could be this under-40 inspirational woman for Australian business\u2019,\u201d Allis said.<\/p>\n

It was an idea to set them apart from competitors.<\/p>\n

So they called in some PR professionals to help present the story around Janine and Boost Juice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe developed a story that was all based on truth and we built the brand,\u201d said Allis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat story went like wildfire and we were the only juice bar brand that had a human face behind the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Be real<\/h3>\n

Much of Boost Juice\u2019s success has come from having \u201ctruthful\u201d interactions with consumers, according to Allis.<\/p>\n

As a brand that presents itself as young, fun and crazy, Allis said the Boost team has always challenged themselves to be genuine and authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about truth in advertising,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get a truth about a brand and you can bring that across on screen, that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allis pointed to a TV commercial the company made where Janine commends their young staff for working hard and doing a great job across their stores.<\/p>\n

Boost aired the ad at a time when the press had turned on young people, Allis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this whole portrayal of Australian youth as being bad, and not doing what they\u2019re supposed to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just went on for months and months. Janine got quite upset about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the ad, Janine said: \u201cHit someone with a stick and they act like an animal, give them a chance and they\u2019ll create something really special so be warned, this is my Boost army\u2026 next time, they ask you how you are, smile, it won\u2019t kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the ad said nothing about juice or smoothies, Allis said the brand\u2019s sales went up 20%.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t marketing brilliance, Allis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually just told the truth, what she was really feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Get up to speed with digital<\/h3>\n

Allis said the next era for retail is \u201cobviously digital\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important that we capture this opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As someone on the \u201cwrong side of 50\u201d who hasn\u2019t grown up with a smartphone glued to his palm, Allis said he chose to bring in digital experts to help Boost with this challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cHire and trust people that really get it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company recently spent $200,000 to build a Boost Juice game app where consumers can play to win discounts on its products. The project was led by Boost Juice\u2019s head of digital Christian McGilloway.<\/p>\n

Allis said this approach to providing discounts by engaging customers had a phenomenal impact on the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was 10% of our sales at one point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alllis said retailers must think creatively to figure out how they can build engagement with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvertising isn\u2019t enough anymore, engagement is number one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boost Juice is one of Australia\u2019s familiar business success stories and with more than 500 stores around the globe and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,23,13,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}