More retail lessons from the beach boardwalk

The boardwalk, a mainstay of the summer beachgoing experience, provides many examples of merchandising and customer engagement retailers in any location can follow all year long.

In 2024, I wrote a column highlighting three lessons retailers can learn from the beach boardwalk. As beach season is back in full force, I offer this column in the spirit of rock n roll legend Chubby Checker, who ruled the singles charts with “The Twist” in summer 1960 and “Let’s Twist Again” in summer 1961.

Let’s take a look at a few more lessons waiting to be discovered like a perfect wave.

Differentiated assortment

In last year’s column, I mentioned that stores on the boardwalk will often feature products that cannot be found anywhere else, such as localized souvenirs, apparel and even food, and advised retailers to copy this strategy using localized merchandising technology. 

This recommendation still holds. However, even on the boardwalk there can be a sameness to the "unique" product selection, such as T-shirts or beach blankets with the same design. 

The most successful boardwalk proprietors are the ones able to break out of assortment uniformity and provide items that beachgoers cannot find anywhere else, on or off the boardwalk (such as the example I gave in last year’s column of a "Hampton Beach probation vacation" T-shirt I was once encouraged not to purchase and have never seen again).

Retailers can truly differentiate their product offerings through methods such as the increasingly popular third-party online marketplace model, which gives independent sellers and creators the chance to sell their wares via a retailer’s website. 

[READ MORE: The most popular e-commerce marketplace is…]

This lets retailers expand their assortment, often with unique items, while minimizing or eliminating overhead such as warehousing and distribution.

Satisfy customer wants, not needs

Another assortment-related lesson the boardwalk holds for retailers is stocking items that your shoppers want, whether they genuinely need them or not. For example, few consumers genuinely “need” knickknacks such as pirate flags or mermaid statuettes, but they buy them in surprisingly large volumes while on their outings to the shore.

Obviously, meeting basic needs such as food and clothing is an important part of retailing, but even within these broadly necessary categories is a lot of room to focus on wants before needs. Boardwalk food offerings tend to focus on fudge, pizza, fried dough, ice cream, and various other selections that taste good and can be easily consumed.

Similarly, T-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and bathing suits are readily available from boardwalk apparel purveyors, but you won’t find a whole lot of formal clothing or even blue jeans. 

Leveraging AI and algorithms, retailers can analyze the demographics of their customers to see what they want to buy, even if it isn’t always the sensible or health-conscious choice.

Make it fun

In my previous beach boardwalk column, I discussed the importance of gamification, such as skeeball and video games, to the experience. But beyond specifically providing customers the chance to play games and win prizes, boardwalks offer a general atmosphere of fun that entices shoppers out of the waves and off their blankets.

Whether it’s colorful displays and signage, beach-themed music, or relaxed and friendly customer service, boardwalk shops typically offer a relaxed, carefree vibe that matches the vacationer mindset and helps customers worry less about spending a few extra dollars.

Online, retailers can recreate this atmosphere with low-key graphics and imagery, as well as engaging content that may not directly encourage purchase activity, such as company trivia or customer suggestions on how your products can be used in an enjoyable manner.

In addition to creating a more generally laid-back brick-and-mortar shopping atmosphere, retailers can link customers to entertaining online experiences in the store via digital interfaces such as apps, signage, screens, and in-store kiosks.