Why should a retailer install a free electric vehicle charger outside their store? This is a very good question that many retailers are currently asking themselves. What they have to realize is that a potential customer showing up in an electric vehicle is looking for more than just something to purchase. They’re looking for a convenient parking spot, and the opportunity to do some charging of their vehicle while doing their shopping. Currently there are many companies offering paid for electric vehicle charging with level 2 chargers around the cities. These suffer from using a variety of apps and having different charging methods and systems. Frequently the potential customer just avoids these machines as they do not want the hassle.
A smart alternative to this is to just offer the potential customer free charging. “What!” you may exclaim? “Why would I offer free charging?” The reason is quite simple. In the course of an hour an electric vehicle may consume a dollars worth of free electricity. During that hour that potential customer will be inside your store taking their time as they are not in a rush to consume that hour with their vehicle charging. Yes they might like to leave earlier, but they’re more inclined to stay for the hour and continue shopping. My subtle argument is that if you as a retailer cannot get a dollar’s extra profit from the customer in an hour, please don’t call yourself a retailer.
A permutation on the story is an old marketing example from Walmart. Twenty years ago when you still got your pictures developed from film and negatives, Walmart was offering one hour service on machines that were basically a photo lab inside of Walmart. Initially the one hour service came with a premium price and sometimes people were willing to pay this, or come back in four or five days to pick up their developed pictures. Then Walmart got smart and reversed the direction with one hour service costing several dollars less then the service in four or five days. Now many of us have some Scottish blood in our veins and mentally declared that we were going to save those few dollars by hanging around Walmart for the hour. And yes we did save those few dollars on the development, but ended up with a grocery cart full of food and other items which far offset the few dollars savings on the pictures. This is the model I think of when suggesting that retailers offer free charging for electric vehicles at their stores.
