We all get into routines. Most employees that regularly buy from a micro market have a routine of when they go and what they buy. It's a habit, and habits can be broken (or increased) given the right attention and motivation. Here are some ideas of how you can change the habits of your micro market customers.

Use buying influencers

Advice from marketing company Thrive Hive is that buying is motivated by both internal and external influencers. Some of the internal influencers include hunger, needs/desires, mood, time of day, etc. Look at products for different day parts and market those options to consumers accordingly. Once the options are in place, talk about mood boosting options and meeting special diet demands.

External influencers are billboards, print newspaper ads, email blasts, etc. Identify the customer you want to target, who could be shopping more, and create a targeted promotion or advertisement. First try for professional and contemporary looking signage. Avoid text that looks hand written or images pulled from the internet that have watermarks. Second, highlight attributes that might appeal to those workers such as protein, energy-boosting ingredients or nutritional benefits.

Boost what already exists

Research Services has five different factors that influence when a consumer makes a purchasing decision: marketing, economic conditions, personal preference, group influence and buying power. Here’s what they mean and how you can use them.

Marketing campaigns, including advertising, have been shown to affect consumer behavior. This means that your marketing promotions and signage are having an impact. Keep them going. Also try piggybacking off the national marketing campaigns, which are hitting consumers at home, and use local events – big football games, charity walks, etc.

Economic conditions and buying power are related, by dealing with how comfortable the employee at the location is with spending money on refreshments outside the home. When things are going well, hit brand name items and specialty items and ask a premium price. When times are tough locally, offer some low-priced, high value or bundled items. Individual's financial situation is different, so sometimes it's best to offer a variety of both from the onset.

Personal preference is always going to influence what a person buys. On a large scale, you can look at sales data and ensure that you are meeting the personal preferences of employees, replacing low sellers with items similar to what the employees are already showing a preference towards. Another way is to go very individualized, and look at each micro market user’s market account. Once you know what they are buying, you can advertise other similar products to them to entice them in a very personalized way.

Group influence can be used to change behavior as well – reporting the best sellers can make people feel part of the in-crowd when they purchase them.

There are many things that affect when and why a consumer will make a purchase. Micro market operators can use this information to increase the buying frequency of consumers at micro markets by targeting specific groups and building marketing and promotion programs targeted to them. It's a sure-fire way to increase the spend in the micro market.