Learning Blog
Tips to Improve Your Retail Business
Written by Lizzie Learn
On 16th Mar 2022
As a retail manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees are properly trained, shelves are packed accurately, the company is promoted properly and you focus on customer service and support.
Retail success doesn't happen overnight, it requires hard work and dedication. You will find useful tips below to help you in various aspects of the retail business so that you can achieve results and push the business forward.
Retail Analytics
Customer and retail analytics are essential practices that should be carried out by all retail managers. Completing an effective analysis will give you a firm understanding of your customers, help you come up with marketing initiatives directed at them and give you the tools you need to make changes, add products and more, which will appeal to your customers now and in the future.
The analysis includes the following:
- Identify with your customers, find out who they are and what they are looking for.
- Complete a profile of your customers, focusing on income, occupation and age.
- Know why customers come into your store. Are they coming because of the products you sell? Or the service you offer? Are you conveniently located? Are you efficient and prompt with service?
- Know the market forces that will affect your customer in terms of pricing.
- Focus on emphasising the areas you know will appeal to your customers. This will include location, opening hours, lower prices, range, and if you are in clothing, consider focusing on plus sizes.
- To achieve success, you will want to offer your customers a choice of unique products at prices that the client can afford.
- Put a system in place to identify how many customers you see each day.
- Ask customers how they feel your store can improve moving forward and what they would like to see.
- Make changes and add products based on customer demand.
Customer Relations
The services you provide your customers will help you boost your business and achieve success. These days, customers expect a higher level of service than ever before and you need to ensure that you tick all the boxes for your customers and draw them to your store on a regular basis.
You should consider the following:
- Ensure that you have an excellent returns policy in place.
- Provide a satisfaction guarantee to ensure that customers have complete peace of mind when shopping at your store.
- Extend your hours of operation, especially during busy periods, to accommodate customers who cannot get to you during the day.
- Ensure that you accept all the various credit cards for added convenience.
- Take complaints seriously and work on ways to rectify the problem.
- Give employees regular customer service training.
- Always call customers personally to advise them if items have arrived that they are waiting for.
- Ensure you have ample customer parking available.
- Keep the customer toilets clean and tidy at all times.
Tips for Success
There are certain things you can do to ensure that your retail store generates a good annual income and achieves success.
The following tips can help you with this:
- Design your advertising to get customers to buy now; generate an urgency.
- Try different marketing campaigns from specials to new products and different advertising techniques to find the ones that work best for you and offer you a better return on your investment.
- Focus on advertising that is unique and makes you different from your competitors.
- Create opportunities that will have your customer making more frequent purchases.
- Get rid of methods that are outdated and replace them with newer techniques that are more technology-orientated and will give you the edge in a competitive marketplace.
- Ensure you have an effective system in place to manage inventory.
- Keep an eye on your prices to make sure that they are in line or below the current market.
- Take the time to focus on merchandise that doesn't move and identify those that are the fast movers.
- Change your displays regularly to ensure customers see a different product every time they walk into your store.
- Identify the average sales transaction and then work on ways you can improve it. Increasing the average spend per customer per day can increase your annual revenue considerably.
- Know the limit that customers will pay for specific items.
- Ensure you implement an effective computer system to assist you with point of sale, inventory management and more.
Marketing
Even the most visited store in any town or city will rely on marketing. You can never give up on your marketing efforts; you need to ensure that you put aside a budget for it each month and use that budget wisely to generate more customers and thereby generate more income in the long run.
Take note of the following marketing tips:
- Consider taking part in trade shows where you can boost your brand and gain new customers. It is also a chance to see what your competitors are up to and the prices they are asking for the products that you both sell.
- Start using newsletters and send them out to customers on a regular basis. You can include promotions and offers in your newsletter to entice customers to visit your store and make a purchase.
- Work with suppliers and identify those you will be able to rely on moving forward to provide you with the best quality products at the best possible prices.
- Try not to have the same lines as your competitors; make yourself unique in terms of brands and labels to set you apart.
- Join forces with other companies in your area where you will both benefit by coming up with a joint promotion of some kind.
- Consider a rewards programme to award your returning customers where they can earn points or cash when making purchases in your store.
Summary
Managing a business in retail requires you to have knowledge and experience of sales and marketing, merchandising, pricing, customer services and much more.
Our Retail Management Course can help you to understand more about the retail industry and the skills needed.
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