Darren Bastin, Sales Director UK and Ireland at RetailSystem, talks about the “Retail Sixth Sense”.
Spend long enough in retail and something curious begins to happen. You develop what can only be described as a sixth sense.
It is not something you learn from a manual or a training course. It arrives slowly, usually somewhere between your first awkward sale and the hundredth time you have helped someone choose between two sofas that look almost identical but are, apparently, “completely different”.
Retailers know exactly what I mean.
You can often tell within the first few minutes whether someone is serious about buying or simply enjoying a browse. You can sense when a customer has already made up their mind but wants a bit of reassurance before committing. And every now and then you meet the customer who walks through the door determined to buy absolutely nothing… until they suddenly leave with a dining table and six chairs!
That instinct only comes from time spent on the shop floor.
The same sixth sense appears in other parts of the business too. Warehouse teams can often look at a delivery schedule and immediately spot the one that is going to cause trouble. Delivery crews develop an uncanny ability to glance at a staircase and quietly think, “This could be interesting.” Experienced retailers can also sense when a delivery date might be a little optimistic, even before the supplier confirms it.
It is not magic. It is simply experience.
Furniture retail in particular teaches you to read people as much as products. Customers rarely arrive with perfectly clear instructions. They come with ideas, preferences, family opinions and the occasional disagreement about whether the sofa should be grey, light grey, or something described as “a warmer grey”.
Part of the job is helping navigate that journey.
That is why good retailers rarely rush the conversation. They listen, observe and guide. Sometimes the best thing you can do is simply let someone sit down, take their time and imagine the piece of furniture in their home.
Of course, that sixth sense does not mean retail becomes predictable. If anything, it makes the surprises more interesting. There will always be the unexpected order that appears just when the week looks quiet, or the delivery that somehow fits through a doorway that looked far too small five minutes earlier.
Those little victories are part of the charm of the trade.
Technology, systems and processes all play an important role in modern retail, but the instincts built through experience are just as valuable. They help teams make better decisions, avoid problems and create smoother experiences for customers.
So, the next time a seasoned retailer says, “I had a feeling that might happen,” there is probably a good reason.
It is not luck. It is simply that retail sixth sense, quietly doing its job again.
www.linkedin.com/in/darren-bastin-429a0a2b7/ / darren@retailsystem.com
