Stay Longer Buy More

September 30, 2008 | 2 Comments


Is there a direct relationship between the length of time shoppers spend in your retail store and the money they spend?

Most retailers would agree that the longer the shopper browse in their retail store, the more they tend to spend. It figures that shoppers will look at a wider range of your merchandise, your in-store promotions and your impulse items on display. Psychologically, when a person is looking at all these colorful and brightly packaged merchandise, he or she is more likely to buy more. When shoppers enter your retail store, they have already decided to they will spend money. They are already in a buying mood, and their resistance to your store promotions are eased.

If the above is true, do retailers know how much time their customers spend in their store? Will they spend more time in your store if your store is well designed with plenty of aisle space? Are shoppers more likely to buy more if they speak to a sales associate?

What can you as a retailer do to maximize the time shoppers spend in your store, and give them enough room to wander around?

Retail store layout is everything. Merchandise lines have to be in a layout that flows together seamlessly, and category of merchandise should be related and suited to the buying patterns of your customers. Layout of promotions and promotion areas should be clearly designed and attractively highlighted.

Friendly service is the name of the game. I have had so many customers asking me about the products, the price, the location, even the small print on the packaging. Our people should always be the ones to initiate contact with the customers. It costs us nothing to greet and smile.

Shoppers need space to move around. Aisle need to be wide enough for traffic, and wide enough that kids sitting in trolleys cannot grab merchandise off the shelves. Most importantly, shoppers should have enough space to move around other shoppers with loaded trolleys.

Fast check-out service. Shopping is fun for the family, paying for it isn’t so much fun. Reduce the time spent at the check-out, and your shoppers will feel better about coming to your retail store. It’s no fun waiting in line for 10 minutes with the kids in tow.

Posted by | Filed Under retailing 

Finding Retail Books

September 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment


Years ago, I remember going to the local public library to check out what reference books they had on retail operations. This was in 1995, when I was based in a small town and I needed some reference material to improve our retail operations. Well, I found one book on supermarket operations, that was all I managed to find. It was written in 1977, and looking at the contents, the basic supermarket operations system was still relevant in 1995. I guess that’s why it’s called the “BASICS”, these are fundumentals that has stood the test of time.

That’s why I included an Amazon Bookstore in my navigation bar. It’s not easy to find books and resources specific to Retail Marketing and Operations. I managed to read some of the books listed in my bookstore, and there is always something you can learn. In case you’re wondering, Amazon.com ships books worldwide, so if you see something you like, order it.

I will put a review up on some of the business books I’ve read soon.

To visit, my Amazon Bookstore, CLICK HERE.

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How Your Store Looks

September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment


How’s the view of your store from where you’re standing?

How does it look when you standing at the check-out counter paying for your purchases?

We spend so much time at our retail store, that sometimes we just don’t see the things our customers see. Worse yet, we’ve gotten so used to it.

  • Tangled cables?
  • Paper clips?
  • Rubber bands?
  • Little scraps of paper?
  • Pens and pencils lying around?
  • Covered in dust?
  • Dirty Check-out register machine?

Did you notice it before your customers did? What are you going to do about? If you don’t like what you see, you know what you should do. Don’t wait.

As part of your morning opening routine, take a good look around your retail store from the prespective of your customers. Check the check-out counter, the walls, the windows, the ceilings, the shelving, the floor, the stairs. Check and clean every morning. That should be in your SOP.

In our retail stores, we report for work an hour before our retail store opening. We use this time to do the cleaning and replenishing. The objective is to get the store looking like new. We want clean floors, clean shelves, new merchandise on full shelves.

When we open our doors for business, we can focus on serving our customers.

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USP In Retail

September 23, 2008 | 1 Comment


Developing a unique selling point is one of the fundamental steps to your retail success. This is sometimes referred to as Store Identity. In other words, what makes your retail outlet unique in the eyes of shoppers.

Some of the ways you make your business unique:

  • Most exclusive brands
  • Merchandise of highest quality
  • Lowest Price
  • Widest selection of merchandise
  • Most friendly store personnel
  • Best loyalty program

There are so many ways to make your store stand out from the rest. It’s not only in merchandise, price or selections. It could be your retail store design, color or lighting that makes you unique. Anything that you can do better than the competition is what the customers will remember you for. You need to uncover what benefits your retail store, products or service bring to your customers, in comparison with the competition.

Looking at the competition:

  1. What are the key benefits/features of their retail store, products or services?
  2. What customer segment are they targeting?
  3. What are their Strength and Weaknesses?


Look at your own operation:

  1. What are the key benefits/features of my retail store, products or services?
  2. What about my retail store, products or services that is different?
  3. Where is the Opportunity and Threat coming from?


Are you unique?
It’s not what you think that you’re unique, it’s what your customers say that matters. It’s easy to ask your customers on what improvements you can make, what problems they experience and how you can make things better. A simple survey of your shoppers will give you the answers.

Find out how you can develop your own Unique Selling Proposition.

Posted by | Filed Under Marketing 

Selling Your Special Project

September 21, 2008 | 1 Comment


When you are working for the latest retail superstore chain in the state, you have the opportunity to be involved in a lot of projects that most people would not have the chance to be in. Sure, there’s a lot of pressure to perform, but here’s what many people do not get. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Working with tight datelines is a way of life, delivering results with limited resources is also a way of life. Dealing with problems everyday is what we as professional managers do.

Some of the special projects I’ve been involved in are:

  • new retail store openings,
  • revising the company’s human resources policies,
  • implementing POS system in all our outlets,
  • designing and implementing our company’s loyalty program.

When you are involved in special projects, you have to sell your vision to your group management, sometimes the executive committee (exco), even the board of directors. You may have a great idea, but if you can’t sell it, chances are you’re going to have to re-do your presentation. Perhaps even change your entire concept. It’s tough selling to the Exco, many of whom are company directors. Even though, you may have worked together for years, there is no guarantee they will give you the money.

I read with interest what the author of First Class Manager, Andrew Rondeau emailed me recently. It was on the subject of having a mentor.

This is what he wrote:

“I remember once when I was asked to present to the Company Board with a proposal to introduce a Graduate Intake scheme. I wanted the Board to back the scheme with a $200k investment. I asked Sue for advice. The presentation was good but she asked if any of the Board members had seen the presentation. I said, “No, course not. They get to see it next week”.

“Mistake” replied Sue. “Go and see as many Board members to see what they are expecting from your
presentation. Share you ideas and get their buy-in before the official presentation. That way when you
do present next week, some of them will know exactly what to expect and be on your side”. It was priceless advice. The presentation was extremely well received and the investment was given.“

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Updating Our HR Policy

September 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment


Sometimes, you find a product that makes you ask “why didn’t I see that 3 years ago?” or “Where was that when I needed it?”.

Here’s a story for you. A few years ago, the group management team and the retail outlet managers spent an entire afternoon reviewing, and giving input on how we can update our human resources policies and procedures. It was an important issue, but it sure made for a long afternoon. That long afternoon dragged on into the evening.

When the meeting was over, I was appointed to oversee the revision of our company’s HR policies. That meant reviewing the entire manual for the company. Some of the policies were 10 years old, and we’ve stopped using them years ago. Can you imagine doing everything from scratch? We had to review, rewrite, re-type every single thing. Sure, we had a great team, but I still had a retail outlet to manage. I still had to do 20 million in sales.

Recently, I came across a product called Instant HR Policies and Procedures. It is a set of templates that covers everything in HR matters. Everything from staff benefits, performance reviews, code of conduct, etc.

Let me tell you, if I had a set templates like that, the job would have been completed in half the time. We had to research and test every proposal we came up with. At that time, getting information or examples wasn’t easy. It’s not like we could buy it of the shelf, and most companies won’t even think about letting us see what they were using. I suspect that not very many companies have a clear-cut, documented and up-to-date HR policy and procedures.

If you’re interested in this great product, read about it here.

Posted by | Filed Under Management 

More About USP

September 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment


The USP (unique selling point) concept was developed in the late 1950’s by Rosser Reeves. Over time, they have been shown to be a highly effective means for advertising. This has been true for giant corporations and small businesses, and service professionals.

When you offer a service or a product, you need to find a way to differentiate your business from the competition. It doesn’t matter what business or service you provide. The use of a unique selling proposition in your business can only benefit you.

What can developing your Unique Selling Proposition can do for you.

  • Find a niche and position yourself as the best choice for that niche.
  • Place your product or service on a different level than your competition.
  • Protect your business from market fluctuations.
  • Increase effectiveness in your advertising dollars and get your product or service
  • remembered more than other competing products or services.
  • Create a stronger preference for your company’s products so you can charge a higher price.

Sound interesting? Well, I certainly hope so. If you really want to to set yourself apart from the competition and put your business on the path to success, read POSITIONING TACTICS SYSTEM by Lisa Ginger.

You’ll learn how to find your niche, create your USP, and write profit pulling ads and press releases.

Posted by | Filed Under Marketing 

Recognize Your Strength

September 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment


How do you know how effective you are?

We all want to be more successful, more effective in our work, to be recognized as the BEST. Why? Because by being the best you call the shots, be it in your career or your life. You earn more, enjoy life more and you get to buy the things you want. People will recognize that you are a First-Class Manager.

So if you want to be more successful, more effective, more recognized, where should you start? The best place to start is with a self-assessment.

Effective First-Class Managers exude self-confidence.

  • How do you react in different situations?
  • Do you know what your strengths are?
  • How well do you know yourself?
  • How do you treat your people?
  • How do you perform under pressure?

Most Managers do not know what their strengths are. These days too many Managers concentrate on their weaknesses and even worse their staff’s weaknesses. I am sure most people will work on their weaknesses, to improve their performance. That’s alright. You should do that. However, when you focus on your strengths, you have the opportunity to be great!

I want to share with you the tools and techniques to understand your strengths and to find out how effective you really are. Using these tools and techniques you will grow to be a First-Class manager.

Identify your talents, build them into strengths and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. Organizations and individuals will see a dramatic increase in performance, customer satisfaction, commitment and greater success where managers are in roles where they are using their strengths.

Read The First-Class Manager by Andrew Rondeau, “How to simply and easily be a respected Manager earning a Top Income”.

Posted by | Filed Under Management 

Unique Selling Proposition

September 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment


In this article, I’d like to talk about the concept of USP.

What is USP?  Well, a USP is a Unique Selling Proposition. It is simply what is unique about your product or business. When you can develop your unique selling proposition, it can give you a competitive advantage over your competitors. It can also create the perception of unique value in your customers.

Basically, a USP is an attempt to express the uniqueness of your business in a single statement.  It is a promise no one else makes.  It can also be a unique benefit that applies only to your product or service.  Either way, it serves to differentiate you from your competition.

Your USP is what will let your customers know why they should buy your product over your competitor’s product. It tells them why they should shop at your retail store.

Sounds obvious when you think about it.  Why should your customers buy from you and not someone else?  You need a good reason; otherwise, you are merely jumping around shouting “buy from me” just like everyone else out there. The lack of a Unique Selling Proposition is why some many businesses fail.

Your USP should spell out exactly what your major benefit is. What will your product or service do for the prospect if he or she buys from you? Whatever you are selling, think of the best benefit. Turn that into a phrase and you will have your USP.  You can come up with a phrase that makes you appear different than your competitors. Focus on what is unique about you. You want this benefit to be important enough to get your customers to notice you.

Here are the basics to a profit generating Unique Selling Proposition:

  • Your USP sets you apart, it makes you different in the eyes of the customers.
  • You want to try to fill an obvious void in the marketplace or niche.
  • Your positioning differentiates you from the competition.

In the process, it should get prospective customers excited about your product or service. Having a USP helps make you look like you are on the customer’s side. Prospective customers don’t really care how great your company is, they just want to know what’s in it for them. What benefits will they get from the transaction? That’s your USP. This what differentiates you from the competition. When people think of where to shop, you want them to think of you.

If you are want to learn more about USP, I recommend you read POSITIONING TACTICS SYSTEM by Lisa Ginger.

Posted by | Filed Under Marketing 

Retail Pricing Strategy

September 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment

These are the factors that can determine your retail pricing strategy.

1) The economics of your business will determine your lowest selling price. This depends on your current mark-on that you use in your pricing. Your mark-on has to ensure sufficient profits to sustain your retail business. Sometimes, in order to build your sales volume, you can use an adjusted lower mark-on on selected merchandise to price your products.

2) Understanding your product and your customers will give you some pricing parameters. This depends on your market or market niche, and the retail format that you operate. It depends also on the merchandise line that you carry. If you know your customers needs and wants, you will know how high your products can be priced. If your customers believes that to be the lowest possible price, that will be the price they are prepared to pay.

3) Your experience and knowledge of the local retail market conditions should give you an indication of the price resistance level for the product. In view of the current rise in prices, it is impossible to maintain the price at the previous level beyond a certain time. Since market conditions has made the previous price unmaintainable, you should push your price to the next level.

4) How you present the product in your retail store plays an important part in your pricing strategy. Of course, this depends on your retail format or concept, and on how and where you display the merchandise. Seasons and holidays also play a role, as well as your inventory levels.

If you want your customers to accept your pricing strategy, it has to be realistic and fair. If your customers needs that product, they will respond to your pricing if they believe your price is fair. You can further seal the sale if your retail store has a clear purchase return policy.

Posted by | Filed Under Pricing 

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