Recession, economic downfall or pandemics are all events that can put your business to the test. Surviving in hard times requires determination and a never-say-quit attitude. But in today’s world, with such a competitive marketplace, a winner’s attitude just doesn’t cut it.
So this week, I've gathered 7 of my top survival tips that helped our 5 retail stores in China through some hard times. Here they are:
1. Change your store hours to increase sales.
As a brick-and-mortar store owner, you should first and foremost think about your customer. However, this isn't always the case. The majority of retailers follow the norm, rather than what's best for their own customers.
To illustrate the meaning, we will use the example of John, a small Menswear shop owner in Ireland.
John has a Clothing retail store that opens at 9 am and closes at 6 pm during the week. His customers start work at 9 am and finishes at 6 pm. How many customers do you think John will be able to serve throughout the week, with his current opening hours?
You get the point. It's very likely that John will miss a lot of customers who hold 9 to 6 jobs.
For John to be able to serve his customers better he should change his opening hours to resemble the opening hours of a restaurant, keeping the store open during the evening and on Saturday and Sundays when his customers actually have free time to shop.
Later evening hours will give shoppers the opportunity to take a long look around your store. And if you choose to keep your store open a bit longer on a Saturday, you could bring in a DJ and serve wine or beer to create a party-like atmosphere. People will enjoy the experience and buy more. You could also bring in a DJ just after brunch time on those sunny Summer Sundays to boost traffic to your store on a day when you know your customers are looking for things to do. A great way to attract some free local media coverage too.
On the other hand, if your customers are late commuters who like to shop during the early hours of the day, you can open your doors earlier and serve them coffee or tea. Your customers will definitely appreciate the wake-me-up treat whilst shopping around.
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing a whole new clientele with this little tweak.
2. Use your Facebook Shop function as your eCommerce.
Your customers are already congregating to your Facebook business page, so why not let them shop directly from the site?
With the Facebook Shop function, you have the:
Ability to create product catalogues with unlimited products, collections, and stats
Data integration from your existing eCommerce platforms to your Facebook Shops
Opportunity to develop different types of ads
Direct purchases from the app, and more...
It allows for a mobile-first shopping experience where businesses can easily create an online store on Facebook and Instagram for free. Shops let you choose which of your items you want to feature, merchandise with product collections and tell your brand story with customisable fonts and colours. In Facebook Shops, you'll be able to connect with customers through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to answer questions, offer support and more.
Facebook Shops are easy to manage and require minimum technical know-how to set up.
3. Create an appealing store atmosphere to keep customers longer.
Everything, from a store’s condition to the layout of products, plays a role in customer satisfaction. An unorganised and product clustered store overwhelms the customer. Too many items and clashing colours result in chaos and when overwhelmed, customers tend to walk away.
Products should be orderly and organised in the right locations. Clutter should be kept to a minimum (unless, of course, you manage a hipster store and that’s the vibe and character you want to give off).
It's also no secret that the choice of colour and lighting you choose has an impact on the buyer experience, but don’t ignore the other senses. For retailers, it’s also important to rely on others senses, including smell, hearing and touch.
Invite your customers with an aroma throughout the store and engage your customers through the music you stream.
For a brick and mortar store, the touch sensory is especially important. According to Forbes, there are several advantages to be had with the tactile experience. Customers are more likely to purchase an item they had a unique experience with. Combine this with the fact that online shoppers lack that store experience, which can give your retail shop an advantage over eCommerce retailers. Companies like RJ MTM offer a retail system that helps brick and mortar Menswear retailers stand out, by offering a truly unique in-store customer experience. It's only through experiences like this will bricks and mortar stores be able to fight back again the common eCommerce enemy.
Your customers have the option to shop from the comfort of their home, but instead, they travel to reach you. You are the out-of-the-way option, so make sure your in-store experience is x10 better than the parallel online experience, if you want to keep your customers coming back for more!
4. Upsell, Upsell, Upsell.
Play around with different up-sell offers throughout the year, to find which one works for you. You can, for example, offer your customers a free T-shirt with a total purchase of €300.
Make sure to choose a product that the customer would like, one of perceived value, that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to give away. Display the offer by the counter in an attractive way and train your sales staff to deliver the message to the customers during check out.
It's a win-win. The customer is happy to get a free product by spending a little bit more on a product that they actually wanted, but hesitated on buying in the first place, and you make more on the higher-margin spend or higher SKU spend.
5. Dress your sales staff to impress your shoppers.
It's not revolutionary, but it's actually one of the simplest tactics that retailers displace today. In fact, it's the best sales tool your store has. Whilst changing your mannequins weekly, make sure your staff (including yourself) are dressed to show off your product in the most appealing way. Host a Tuesday meeting to go through styling tips and ideas to make sure your staff is geared up for your busiest day of the week. Your staff will not just feel better, but also have more confidence to sell what they wear.
6. Learn how to sell more expensive items without discounting.
Now that you got your staff all geared up, make sure you keep increasing their product knowledge and retail sales training techniques. This will also increase sales. Once your sale staff are able to convey the benefits of the product's technical fabric, durability or social responsibility to the customer, the price becomes more justified. You'll be surprised what people are willing to pay once they see the value of what they get. €10,000 for a designer watch and €10,000 for a Ferrari invoke two very different reactions don't they - it's all about perceived value.
Keep a weekly meeting to train and test product knowledge with your team.
7. Add amenities people want.
Small brick and mortar retail stores like yours have experienced a great deal this past year, but, your business has survived! Hooray! Online shopping may provide convenience, but it doesn't provide personalised care and attention. So, your business fills a gap.
Once someone is shopping at your store, you're no less convenient than any online business. But when you can differentiate, you're better than your online competition.
So make sure to offer something that your online competition can not.
You can for example:
1. Offer to wrap items and make your store 'The Place' people can shop for that last-minute gift. Shoppers buy things for themselves, but they also buy gifts for others, and few enjoy the experience of wrapping. So opt to raise the bar.
2. Offer additional value like dry cleaning. Work with a dry cleaner to get a good offer that you again can offer to your customers.
Come on guys, don't just be a store. Be a destination!!
Cheers,
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