Independent small retail businesses rarely have the money for big advertising and marketing campaigns. Their stores are usually not based on the latest shop layout fixtures. Their locations are often not the best in town.
No, independent small retail businesses face challenges on a range of fronts due to limited financial resources.
The one area where an independent retail store can compete is in product knowledge. They often have employees in their niche who are more knowledgeable and passionate about their product categories than you will ever find in a mass retail outlet selling similar products.
But how do you get that message out? How can the small independent retail business compete with the massive competitor?
By writing a blog about the niche in which the business operates. Even a single person business can attract more traffic to a blog than a major corporation funding a blog on the same topic.
The key is content. Write fresh, knowledgeable and useful content regularly and build your profile with the search engines. Soon enough, your small business will get known for its knowledge and this can parlay into excellent sales.
Blogging is especially useful to a small retail store since in the blogosphere, money does not talk. Content is king and anyone can create good content. By blogging, you can setup a David Versus Goliath situation for your small store.
Here are some quick blogging tips for a retailer starting out:
Make sure that you do have valuable knowledge.
Learn to write crisp sentences and how to get your message across in 300 words or less.
Write regularly.
Include photos.
Don't advertise, tell stories. Provide context and insight. Make sure that the content is valuable to a wide reader community.
Use headlines with words people are likely to use when searching for your type of business.
Blogging is useful for commentary about topics related to your business but not about your business. Such commentary, if well considered and written can add tremendous value to how your business is seen and provide kudos to you as the author.
Don't start to promote your blog to your customers and suppliers until you have found your rhythm as a blogger and have some content live of which you are proud. It is like inviting someone to your home - you want it to be furnished.
Write with authority. Try and stay away from emotion. This blog should be about business and the niche about which you are most passionate through your retail store.
Remember, big is not always better. Use your blog to show how your passion and knowledge deliver value through the blog and through your own business. Be proud but not cocky as they say.
Track your visits as this is like people walking through the front door of your shop.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Running a Competition
Competitions are an essential tactic in retail to drive incremental sales and add excitement to the retail experience. Run well, an in-store competition can generate excellent business for a retail store. Run poorly, they can cost a lot of money. Here are ten essential tips for running a successful in-store competition in just about any type of retail business:
Know what you want from the competition. Without this you will have no way of assessing its success. The goal could be sales, building your customer database, attracting new customers.
Select a prize which will appeal to your customers and which has measureable value. It will ideally be something which you can put on show in the store as a great prize display attracts customers.
Make qualifying to enter easy - a certain value of purchases or purchasing particular items. How people qualify to enter is all about what you want to achieve from the competition.
Make ordering easy - with a simple form. This needs to be able to be completed quickly at the sales counter.
Gather important customer data: email address, cell number, gender and age range.
Promote the competition inside your store. The goal is to get your customers engaging with the products you want to sell and this takes excellent visual merchandising around this impulse activity.
Depending on the nature of the prize, promote the competition outside your store.
If customers have to enter by creating something, put all entries on show if you have the space. People will come back with their families to show off their entries.
Draw the prize publicly, get more people back in for an event around announcing the winner.
Name the winner publicly and congratulate them.
Consider scheduling regular competitions in-store. Get your business known as the lucky place to shop. This can be a good differentiator over competitors. Ask your employees for their ideas on running competitions. Experiment with unusual competition ideas which are likely to attract new shoppers to your store, especially competitions people are likely to talk about to their friends.
Be proud of your competitions. This means, be loud. Competitions are all about growing your business after all. If you are timid and keep them hidden in your four walls you miss the opportunity. Competitions can really lift a retail store. The key is how you engage with the competition opportunity. be bold, loud and happy in running them and expect a good sales lift as a result.
Know what you want from the competition. Without this you will have no way of assessing its success. The goal could be sales, building your customer database, attracting new customers.
Select a prize which will appeal to your customers and which has measureable value. It will ideally be something which you can put on show in the store as a great prize display attracts customers.
Make qualifying to enter easy - a certain value of purchases or purchasing particular items. How people qualify to enter is all about what you want to achieve from the competition.
Make ordering easy - with a simple form. This needs to be able to be completed quickly at the sales counter.
Gather important customer data: email address, cell number, gender and age range.
Promote the competition inside your store. The goal is to get your customers engaging with the products you want to sell and this takes excellent visual merchandising around this impulse activity.
Depending on the nature of the prize, promote the competition outside your store.
If customers have to enter by creating something, put all entries on show if you have the space. People will come back with their families to show off their entries.
Draw the prize publicly, get more people back in for an event around announcing the winner.
Name the winner publicly and congratulate them.
Consider scheduling regular competitions in-store. Get your business known as the lucky place to shop. This can be a good differentiator over competitors. Ask your employees for their ideas on running competitions. Experiment with unusual competition ideas which are likely to attract new shoppers to your store, especially competitions people are likely to talk about to their friends.
Be proud of your competitions. This means, be loud. Competitions are all about growing your business after all. If you are timid and keep them hidden in your four walls you miss the opportunity. Competitions can really lift a retail store. The key is how you engage with the competition opportunity. be bold, loud and happy in running them and expect a good sales lift as a result.
Small Changes
Some of our customers ask us, 'How quickly do our customers get bored of our interior design? If it is quick, how often should we change it?'
The answer to this question cannot be applied across the board because generally speaking, consumer reactions vary from industry to industry. For example, if you have a retail outlet selling souvenirs, your regular customers may be fleeting ones who are tourists and they may not come into your store again. So, the look and display of your retail stores may not matter as much.
However, if you sell clothing or makeup items, you may yourself a bunch of regular customers who come back to your store time and again to restock or get new fashion items. Then you may need to make some changes to the look of your retail outlet every few months.
Gradual changes keeps the relationship with your consumers fresh. The changes that you make to your retail store does not have to be anything major. A new display shelf here, a new coat of paint or a new painting is all that is needed. They may not even notice the changes on a conscious level but at the back of their minds, after a few changes, they might suddenly ask, 'Did you do something to your store? It looks different!'
See? Even gradual changes can be appreciated in the end.
Major overhaul incites new direction. So you want it big. You want to make a big impression on your regular customers, to show them that you are ready for new changes and something new and exciting is in the pipeline. This works for rebranding purposes or when you want to change the direction of your company. Consumers love a little drama and something unexpected so, give them that if you have the budget for it.
Major overhauls usually bring new customers too if you publicize the new change.
Adding and removing furniture and shelves. Our customers usually aim for the middle path which does not cost a lot of money and yet attracts attention and that is to remove old display units or furniture and replace them with new ones. In fact, if they have the space for it, they add new furniture that compliments their old ones.
Here's to the success of your business!
The answer to this question cannot be applied across the board because generally speaking, consumer reactions vary from industry to industry. For example, if you have a retail outlet selling souvenirs, your regular customers may be fleeting ones who are tourists and they may not come into your store again. So, the look and display of your retail stores may not matter as much.
However, if you sell clothing or makeup items, you may yourself a bunch of regular customers who come back to your store time and again to restock or get new fashion items. Then you may need to make some changes to the look of your retail outlet every few months.
Gradual changes keeps the relationship with your consumers fresh. The changes that you make to your retail store does not have to be anything major. A new display shelf here, a new coat of paint or a new painting is all that is needed. They may not even notice the changes on a conscious level but at the back of their minds, after a few changes, they might suddenly ask, 'Did you do something to your store? It looks different!'
See? Even gradual changes can be appreciated in the end.
Major overhaul incites new direction. So you want it big. You want to make a big impression on your regular customers, to show them that you are ready for new changes and something new and exciting is in the pipeline. This works for rebranding purposes or when you want to change the direction of your company. Consumers love a little drama and something unexpected so, give them that if you have the budget for it.
Major overhauls usually bring new customers too if you publicize the new change.
Adding and removing furniture and shelves. Our customers usually aim for the middle path which does not cost a lot of money and yet attracts attention and that is to remove old display units or furniture and replace them with new ones. In fact, if they have the space for it, they add new furniture that compliments their old ones.
Here's to the success of your business!
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