Am I your ideal customer?

I try to be as frugal as possible.  I do my best to eat simpler, healthier foods.  One of the foods I have chosen to base most of my meals around is legumes.  My favorites are black beans and lentils.  To save money and eliminate any extra sodium or additives, I purchase dried beans and cook them in a pressure cooker.  I normally shop at Wal-mart, but today, my quest for beans took me to Fresh Market in Mobile, AL.

While I was there, I was greeted by more than four workers.  I was told, by the cashier, that she was happy to see me today.  I was asked by the workers in the meat department twice if they could help me (the first time I was just looking).  Besides making me feel valued as a customer, it made me wonder, who is their ideal customer?  (this is not a random thought; I am going through an online class at Free Agent Academy with Jimi Gibson)

I have read that Wal-mart’s ideal customer is a single mom, working full time in a moderate paying job, with two children.  She wants to get in the store, find what she needs, and get home as fast as possible.  Obviously, all Wal-mart’s customers don’t fit that profile, but the marketing and branding of a company is dictated by their ideal customer, as defined by the company.  So, if that is the case, who is Fresh Market’s ideal customer?  Am I their ideal customer?  I may not be, but I do feel valued as a customer and look forward to shopping there again.

Who is your ideal customer (you have one, right)?

How are you using the definition of your ideal customer to improve their experience with your business?

How are you letting the customers know you are different from your competitors?