Should you accept returns in your retail store?
It won’t be long now, before the tide of gifts that ‘weren’t quite right’ get besieged upon retailers. Does your store accept returns?
First off, let’s get the legalities sorted. Each country, and even state will have different laws regarding when you are legally required to accept a return. Generally, these revolve around instances when an item is faulty, is not as described or not fit for the purpose it was marketed for.
But what about when a customer just changes their mind. Maybe they picked the wrong size for that only-seen-once-a-year niece, or you got a yellow one, when everyone KNOWS that yellow just makes you look washed out. There’s even the chance that there was a little bit of buyer’s remorse setting in, so the customer just wants their money back. After you’ve investigated at what you are legally required to do, let’s say that you are within your rights to refuse to return an item when it’s just a change of mind situation. Should you let that person return the goods? Let’s look at the pro’s and cons from both sides on the shop counter. On the customer’s side, the option to return an item is kind of like a guarantee. It’s a no brainer. I’ll buy this thing, if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll just bring it back Cue a sale From the retailer’s perspective, things look mighty different. Do any of these sound familiar “If I accept returns, I’ll be losing money” “I’ll end up with old stock being returned and I won’t be able to move it” “Processing returns is a logistical and accounting nightmare” I’ve heard them all, plus, many others. At the end of the day, you own and run your retail store, so you get to say what the rules are. Whether you choose to accept change of mind returns or not, is up to you. You just need to ensure that you stick to what the choice that you make.
Get Guide on How To Reduce The Number Of Returns In Your Retail Store
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According to a comscore survey, free shipping was such a key motivator, that 93% of online shoppers had taken extra actions, such as purchasing more, or opting for slower shipping, in order to qualify for free shipping. Hey there, I’m Sal from SalenaKnight.com and the Bringing Business To Retail podcast, and today, let’s talk about the REAL cost of free shipping First up, let’s look at the benefits, to you the retailer, of offering free shipping.
From experience, I can tell you that you’re likely to experience an increase in turnover, and you’ll add more customers to your customer database, but I also wanted to go and get some well researched information for you, so here’s what I found:
When Stitch labs mined data from more than 1 million Shopify stores, they found a potential 10% increase in revenue when companies provide free shipping to customers Stitch also found that small businesses are three times less likely to offer free shipping than larger counterparts, despite the fact that 65 percent of customers abandon shopping carts and 44 percent do so because of shipping costs. I also found that when Red Door Interactive conducted similar research, the results showed that when customers were given the free shipping incentive, orders increased by 90% with a 96% confidence level. In addition to this, the company’s Average Order Value (AOV) also rose by 7.32%. So, it’s sounds like a no brainer, right? Offer free shipping, get more customers and more sales. But free shipping is never free. Either the customer is paying for it, or the retailer absorbs the cost and hence cuts into their margins. So before you rush out and offer free shipping, download today’s eguide, and TEST what free shipping means to your business. You’ll need to spend some time analysing your average freight costs, put a process in place of how you’ll deal with the potential influx of orders, and systemise how your orders are packed and dispatched. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. We’re a bunch of retailers chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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Welcome to 2016 Last year, I committed to learning more and getting fitter. Never in my wildest dreams, did I realize that learning was actually the key to getting me up off my butt, and out the door to exercise. Normally on Bringing Business To Retail Tv, we talk about actionable business strategies, that you can implement, to grow your business.
Well, this episode is about you, because YOU are your businesses most important asset. Let me tell you the story of how wanting to learn more, actually taught me how to run For me, 2015 was about learning. I was determined to enrol in some courses, read loads of books and blog posts and all those newsletters that I subscribe to, then delete, because of email overload. Sound familiar? Here’s what I did. Starting with the email. I went and created a separate email address for newsletter subscriptions. This way, I could focus on proper business emails, and when I had some spare time, could flick through and see what I want to read. I know there
Well, this episode is about you, because YOU are your businesses most important asset. Let me tell you the story of how wanting to learn more, actually taught me how to run For me, 2015 was about learning. I was determined to enrol in some courses, read loads of books and blog posts and all those newsletters that I subscribe to, then delete, because of email overload. Sound familiar? Here’s what I did. Starting with the email. I went and created a separate email address for newsletter subscriptions. This way, I could focus on proper business emails, and when I had some spare time, could flick through and see what I want to read. I know there are a load of programs that can help email overload, like
Well, this episode is about you, because YOU are your businesses most important asset. Let me tell you the story of how wanting to learn more, actually taught me how to run For me, 2015 was about learning. I was determined to enrol in some courses, read loads of books and blog posts and all those newsletters that I subscribe to, then delete, because of email overload. Sound familiar? Here’s what I did. Starting with the email. I went and created a separate email address for newsletter subscriptions. This way, I could focus on proper business emails, and when I had some spare time, could flick through and see what I want to read. I know there are a load of programs that can help email overload, like
Well, this episode is about you, because YOU are your businesses most important asset. Let me tell you the story of how wanting to learn more, actually taught me how to run For me, 2015 was about learning. I was determined to enrol in some courses, read loads of books and blog posts and all those newsletters that I subscribe to, then delete, because of email overload. Sound familiar? Here’s what I did. Starting with the email. I went and created a separate email address for newsletter subscriptions. This way, I could focus on proper business emails, and when I had some spare time, could flick through and see what I want to read. I know there are a load of programs that can help email overload, like unroll.me, sanebox and boomerang, and at some point this year, I'm sure I’ll get onto that. What I found though, was I just didn't seem to have big chunks of time to dedicate to learning. Once Google Reader was relegated to the Google rubbish tip, I couldn't even keep track of blogs. I used to flick through them in the line at the supermarket, or whilst cooking dinner. I never got the hang of feedly which was kind of a Google Reader substitute, so, my blog reading went by the wayside. I don't even really know how I stumbled onto podcasts. What I do remember, is thinking it was waaay to technologically advanced for me, and I didn't have itunes (android girl here). At some point, I bit the bullet and downloaded an app that I could listen to podcasts through. I chose podcastaddict (simply because it was the first one that came up) but you can also use Stitcher on Android, or itunes for you apple lovers This was a massive turning point for me. All of a sudden, my 20 minute trip to work was filled with all this new information. My head was spinning. So many ideas I could put into practice! For the first couple of months, it seemed that I was starting every conversation with "I was listening to this podcast and...." In fact, finding podcasts was one of the key drivers (hah, get it, drivers, because I listen to them when I'm driving) to me achieving another goal, which I was failing miserably at. Exercising 3 times per week. All of a sudden, I WANTED to exercise more, so I could have another 45 mins to fit in more learning. I was getting 2 podcasts in a day! I actually started doing 4 walks per week.
All those endorphins and knowledge was making my brain swirl. I couldn't turn it off. I was imagining just how different my business would have been if I'd stumbled across this way of learning earlier. And it made me realise, that independent retailers, just often don't have the time to work on themselves. They are so busy working in the business, not on the business. We've all heard it before. So it propelled me to do something. It’s the reason I launched the Bringing Business to Retail podcast. My aim of the podcast is to bring business experts, mostly from outside the retail industry, to share their knowledge and wisdom. It sounds a bit counter-intuitive, bringing in outsiders, but I promise, you can learn so much from other people, especially when their situation is removed from yours. Listening to podcasts introduced me to Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur. In fact, joining her mastermind, was the catalyst to me selling my retail stores and creating this new business, designed to help you, the small business retailer. I now have a stable of podcasts that I listen to. At the moment, in addition to the Suitcase Entrepreneur, on high rotation are: Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income Amanda Cook’s Wellpreneuronline (I love this, even though I’m not in the wellness industry) Amy Porterfield’s Online Marketing Made Easy (probably my favourite) Tim Paige’s Conversion Cast Soulful PR with Janet Murray School of Greatness with Lewis Howes In the second half of 2015, I increased my running goal to 4 sessions per week. I’ve gone from never being able to run, to running around 20 kilometres a week. Now, that’s not to say that I’m fast, or even great at it. But I do it and I feel healthier for it and I’m learning something new every single time. So I’d love you think about getting hip with technology, and starting to expand your business learning with podcasts. If you’re not sure now to do it, I’ve put a little tutorial on my website and I’ll link to it on this episode’s notes. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. We’re a bunch of retailers chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
Podcasts That Will Help Your Business Grow
Until next week Be profitable ps, if you need to know how to get access to a podcast, watch my cool little video. It's not hard, I promise!
Cast your mind back to high school of college. At some point, you will have heard of Abraham Maslow, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of the pyramid are our survival needs. Food, water and shelter. Move up a notch, and it’s all about safety. These two steps of the hierarchy are what we technically need to function. If you start to move up the pyramid, you encounter social needs, of belonging and love, followed by Esteem and Self Actualisation. What has this got to do with motivating your staff? I recently received and email from the lovely Emma, who told me that she’d been using the Bringing Business to Retail show and the associated downloads as staff training. In the few weeks that she’d implemented it, her team were more enthusiastic, sales were up and there was a general feeling of renewed energy in her store, though she wasn’t quite sure why. Which got me to thinking. And that thinking took me back to my uni days, and Abraham Maslow. As I mentioned before, on the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid are survival and security. In order for your team to have these needs fulfilled, they need the basics of food and water and in addition, the security of a regular income, along with a safe workplace. If this is all that is motivating someone to come and work for you, they are disengaged employees. They are only ever going to come to work, do a half-hearted attempt at their job and go home. They’ll likely bring down the buzz in your store and turn customers away with their attitude. And that’s NOT what you want, right. Rest assured, there are a few things that you can do, to avoid that situation from appearing. When we move up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we come to belonging. For you, the store owner and employer, it’s about creating an environment where everyone knows they are part of a team, even if they happen to work in the store alone. It’s up to you to foster this team spirit, create connections and to instil pride. Now if I’m sounding more text book that realistic, when I spoke to Emma, by her own admission, everyone in her store was in a bit of a rut. It wasn’t that anyone didn’t like going to work, they hadn’t moved down to the demotivated category, but they were on their way. It was same ol’ same ol’, every day. Moving up another step of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we get to esteem. Sometimes it’s called recognition. When you move up the ladder to this level, this is where you’re starting to get really engaged employees. To get to this level, you need to be handing out responsibilities, chances for your team to prove and improve their skills. Give them a sense of accomplishment, and tell them when they’ve done something well. Offer guidance and advice rather than criticism. This team member knows they are a vital part of the team. The key words to keep in mind when you’re at this level are recognition, achievement and responsibility. So what’s the key to a super engaged employee. The one who will work extra and not expect anything for it. The one that every store owner wants. The team member that sells your business because they love working there? When you hit the top of Maslow’s pyramid, you’re at the section he called self actualisation. I like to call it personal growth. It’s where your employees have the same values as your brand, and as a result, they have a personal connection with what they have helped to create, because let’s be honest, if you didn’t have a team, you’d either be rocking back and forth in the corner, or burnt out. The team member at this level is confident and enjoys coming to work. She knows that she has a challenging environment that allow her autonomy and the ability to make decisions. She even loves helping new people come on-board, to share what she knows. Now getting your team to those upper levels is hard. It’s going to require to you let go of the reigns a little, but not just walk away. It’s ok to delegate, but you need to make sure that the person has been provided training and feels confident to keep going. If you overlook the training, you’ll overwhelm that person and send her back down the pyramid, rather than up. And, this is where Emma started using Bringing Business to Retail TV, and the weekly downloads. She has instigated a quick team meeting each week. She even ensures that’s it’s super easy to attend, by broadcasting the meeting on skype, so all of the team members can be present, without having to be in the store. She says she either gets them to watch the episode, or she does a short paraphrase of the episode, and then they spend 5-10 minutes discussing how they can incorporate the ideas into their store, and who will be responsible. To me, that is great leadership. Emma has almost outsourced the learning part, by utilising someone else’s content, which is going to saver her loads of time. However, she also realised you can’t just get staff to read something. You need to talk about how it will work in your store. So, Emma get’s my gold start for the week. If you’ve found this information useful, let me know. I’d love to show other retailers how Bringing Business to Retail tv is helping your retail biz. If you’d like to chat with other retailers on all things business come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. We’re a bunch of retailers chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free. This week, I’d love you to go back through the archives of Bringing Business to Retail tv and see which episodes you could use for team training, so you can start to boost employee engagement. Until next week Be profitable
Have you heard of the term dropshipping? Do you know how it works and is it actually a profitable way to run a business? Hey there, I’m Sal from SalenaKnight.com and the Bringing Business To Retail podcast, and today, let’s talk about dropshipping for your retail store. Let’s start with what Dropshipping actually is. You may have heard other retailers talking about it, or even suppliers who offer to dropship products for you, but you’ve never been quite sure on what the process involves. Dropshipping is when you don’t actually hold the physical inventory in your store. Whether you trade online or have a bricks and mortar store, when you drop shop, you sell a product that you don’t physically keep in stock. A customer will purchase the product from you and pay upfront. You then send the order off to the supplier, who ships the product direct to your customer. Sounds perfect right, its like free inventory. Let’s look at the pros and cons of dropshipping. On the positive side, dropshipping is a great way to increase your inventory lines without having to outlay any money. Fake it til you make it It makes your online store look much bigger, with a wider range. Invest your cash flow elsewhere Dropshipping allows you to use the money that you would have potentially outlaid for a minimum order, to be used elsewhere in your business. Product testing If you’re unsure as to whether a product is the right fit for your store, Dropshipping is a great way to test out a product range with minimal-to-no outlay You have no holding costs, no storage costs and you don’t have to pick and pack the order. You won’t have to pay tax on any stock that you’re holding at end of financial year, as the stock is not on your books With the positives, also comes things you need to consider. When you dropship, don’t expect to get the same kind of margins. Because you carry no risk, you may only make 10-20%, so whilst you’re increasing revenue, there is less profit You have no control over what stock is available So if an item sells out with the supplier, you’ll need to handle the process and work out an outcome with the customer. You need to put a system in place for tracking orders So that you know when the item has been dispatched, as the customer will call you if they have any questions There’s more paperwork When the order comes in, what happens if the customer has ordered from stock you have on hand, along with dropshipped items. How will the process work? Will the customer have to pay a separate shipping fee for the dropshipped items? Ideally, you want the shipping fee built into the price of the item. Additionally, someone has to be responsible for notifying the supplier of the order, unless you have a point of sale system that can automate this for you. You may need to manually adjust your stocktakes to account for stock that is not on hand, so it doesn’t artificially inflate your cost of goods on hand. Little Fish Big Pond It’s likely that many other people will be Dropshipping the same products, so you may lose your unique selling point. Dropshipping is not a complete retail solution. If you chose to take it on board, it can be a great resource for both the supplier and the retailer. It’s your job, as the retailer, to make sure that you have a service level agreement in place, and a process on how to deal with hiccups, when they arise. This week, I’ve put together a checklist that you can use to assess whether dropshipping is right for your retail store. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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Phone companies do it, cable tv networks do it, even banks do it. But are you doing this simple product strategy to increase sales and benefit your customers in your retail store? Bundling is used by many companies. Quite simply, it’s when you put a group of products together to provide a product or service with greater value. You may already do this to an extent, when you put together gift baskets. But is it an overall product strategy in your store? Here are three ways that you could start bundling today and increasing your store revenue. Bundle a brand together If you have a popular brand that sells well, bundle the products together to provide a one-stop purchase for your customer. This allows a customer to try out different products in the range that they may not have purchased separately, because they didn’t know they existed, or didn’t know they even needed them Bundle complimentary products together Shampoo, conditioner, a hairbrush a volumising spray. You’ve seen those packs in the hair salon. It’s a easy choice – everything you need, bundled together. Item don’t have to be brand specific, they just need to work well together to solve the customers problem. It could be matching earrings with a belt for the style challenged, or putting together 3 cushions that work together. Remember, your customer comes to you because you’re the expert. They don’t necessarily see the things that go together, or the process that you should work through. It’s your job to show them how. Bundle popular products with new or less recognised products If you’ve got a product that you think really works, but for some reason doesn’t seem to be moving, bundle it together with a high turnover, or better recognised, complimentary product. The key here is to make sure it’s clear why those products have been put together. Add in a service, guide or tutorial If you’re constantly getting questions about how to use a product, consider making a video tutorial, or create a downloadable guide on how the product works, and add that into the bundle. Once it’s created, you can use it again and again, and it sets you apart from other retailers. Despite the advertising from big business about saving money when you bundle products together, A bundle doesn't have to be offered at a discount if the combined products or services save someone time or provide an added value. Think of gift baskets. They are often sold at a premium because they are ready to go. Bundled products can work the same way, Why bundling is good for your store It increases your turnover. Quite simply, a bundle of products will increase your average order value, so successful bundles will increase your revenue. It’s quicker Instead of scanning individual items, you only have one sku. It saves your customer time It’s also quicker for your customer, they don’t need to hunt around for the products that they may need. It allows you to offer products that are a benefit to your customer Bundling products and services opens your customers up to products they may not have thought to use previously. Makes your store stand out from others Other stores probably aren’t bundling, so this can be a point of difference for your store. As customers tell each other how easy it is to buy from you, it’s going to put you higher up the ‘word of mouth’ list. You may be able to negotiate a discount with suppliers If you are consistently ordering a higher volume of products, you may be able to negotiate a discount, or exclusivity for certain products It’s upselling without all the extra work Upselling takes time, and not all customers are necessarily open to spending more. However, if a bundle of products solves all of the problems they want fixed, it’s easy for them to justify the purchase to themselves. There’s less confusion Having a bundle available takes the guesswork out of a purchase. The customer trusts that when you’ve put together the package, it’s going to be for their benefit. Now, not every customer is going to want a bundle of products. They may like to try the products separately, so make sure that at lease some of the range is available to purchase separately. Here are my top 3 tips to make bundling work for your customer
If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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You’ve just had a decent sized order come in through your website. You wrap it, package it and are just about to log it in for collection by the courier, when you get an email saying the customer wants to cancel. What you do next, is all dependent on the systems you have in place. Hey there, I’m Sal from SalenaKnight.com and the Bringing Business To Retail podcast, and today, let’s talk about how you can reduce order cancellations and keep that money in your cash register. Let’s be honest. Order cancellations suck. You had the money, then poof, it’s gone. And you never even had a chance to spend it! So how can you reduce your order cancellations and keep that money in your cash register? Before you can do anything, you need to have your terms and conditions in place. Make it super clear how the ordering process works. What is an acceptable reason for cancelling? Is simply finding it somewhere cheaper acceptable? I ask you, should YOU be responsible for someone not doing their due diligence? Price matching, now that’s a conversation for a whole new episode. You need to spell out, clearly, what happens through each step of the ordering process, so that your customer can be held accountable. If you find you have a high number of cancellations, then have a pop up at checkout that confirms the customer has read the process and agrees to abide by the terms. Put the system in place once, and it’s done. The onus is then put on the customer to abide by the terms and conditions. So apart from processes, how else can you reduce cancellations of orders? Enforce a restocking/cancellation fee. Make sure you check with your local Fair Trading department to see what you are legally obligated to accept, but if you have no restrictions. Put a $20 or $30 cancellation fee in place. Make the dollar amount a deterrent, based on your average order value. If your average order is $400 or $500, you make want to increase that cancellation amount to $50. You have to remember, that this is your cash flow, and you may end up having to discount stock in order to clear it out, if it doesn’t sell once the order is cancelled. Require payment up front for any product that isn’t in stock. If you have to order something in from a supplier that you wouldn’t ordinarily order, or, if you do an additional order outside of your regular monthly order to get stock in for a customer, make sure that your systems are in place to require full payment upfront, with no change of mind refunds or exchanges. Put a time frame on it. Work out your average order processing time, and ensure your terms and conditions reflect your systems, so that if you are going to accept cancellations, they must be received over the phone within a set number of hours or days. That number should reflect how long it will take your staff to make any changes before the order goes to picking and packing. If you pick and pack immediately, don’t allow cancellations. Outsource the emails The easiest way to take the pain and emotion out of order cancellations, is to outsource or delegate your emails. Whether it’s by another staff member, or a virtual assistant, once you have your process in place, hand this task over to someone else. Here are a few phrases you can use for customers that want to cancel orders. “Our ordering and dispatch service is super efficient and your order is already in processing at the warehouse” “Our staff are super efficient today and the order has already been logged for dispatch and awaiting pick up from the courier, so can’t be cancelled” Remember, if a customer wants to cancel their order simply because the found it somewhere cheaper, they aren’t a loyal customer, they’re a price conscious customer, and will only buy from when you discount to the price they want to pay. The customer you want, I like to call them your ‘A-team’ customers, they aren’t that worried about price. They love what you sell, how you sell it and why you sell it. They’re on-board with your brand. Those people are going to be less hard work and will return, so concentrate on them, by providing a complete customer experience. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
Download The 5 Step Checklist To Reduce Returns
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Back on BBTRtv3, I talked about affiliate income as an additional revenue stream into your business. Affiliate income is where you sell the products or services of a complimentary company, and you receive a referral fee for doing so. It’s a great way to bring in additional income to your store, without having to outlay money for stock. Hey there, I’m Sal from SalenaKnight.com and the Bringing Business to Retail podcast, and today, let’s talk about what it takes, to be a great affiliate. As a retailer, you should have several sources of income. No business should rely on one source of income, and your store only derives income from sales, then you are at the mercy of any external factor that affects consumer spending. Now, you could branch out into several different areas, such as providing complimentary services, creating your own product range and wholesaling, but the easiest revenue stream that you can add into your sales funnel, is affiliate income. Affiliate income is where you sell the products or services of a complimentary company, and you receive a referral fee for doing so. Why does it work? Well, people don’t buy what you sell, they buy why you sell it. That’s a Simon Sinek quote, and it’s true. So the key to effective affiliate marketing, is to pick products and services, that you believe in. When you recommend your customer buy something, it’s your reputation that’s on the line. Hence, you need to love the products that your referring. Now if you’re like most people, when you find a product you love, you want to tell everyone about it. The key difference between that, an affiliate marketing, is that you get paid if that person goes ahead and purchases. This is not and MLM system. It’s professional – you’ll actively sell a product that you love. Your customer is happy, because you’ve solved a problem they had, even if they didn’t know they had it. The other company is happy, because they’ve gained a high quality client that they may not have normally marketed to and you’re happy, because you have a bit of extra cash flow coming into your store. So just what does it take to be a great affiliate, and earn, what could potentially be a significant cash flow stream for your business? Believe, know and love the product (or service) It should be a product that is complimentary to your brand, your product range and your brand ethos. Ideally, the products or services that you’re an affiliate for, work in well with your brand, but aren’t products that you would sell in your store. For example, if you’re a homewares store, you might have an affiliation with a property stylist. Likewise, if you have a children’s store that sells décor, a stylist would work well for you too. If you’re a fashion store, perhaps you’re an affiliate for a day spa or beauty salon. In my business, I’m an affiliate for several products. Those products include things like website hosting, other business programs that focus on areas that aren’t my specialty (like money mindset), website developers and point of sale systems. All of these are products and services that I wouldn’t or couldn’t provide, but I know they will work well for you. By introducing these products to you, it helps you to find solutions to issues that may arise in your business. You expect that I’ve done my due diligence on the product before I recommended it, because you trust the information that I provide. Sell the product like it is your own The top tip, and one that nearly all the others refer back to, it to sell it like any other product in your store. Don’t think of affiliate products as the poor cousin to the physical products in your store. Use them as an upsell. Use them to position a products desirability. They should be part of your product range and advertised, marketed and sold as if they were. Work out how it benefits your customers and let them know Don’t just say yes to any old product or service. When you know who your Ultimate customer is, you know what her pain points are, what problems she looks to your brand to solve. So go find the things that can fix those issue for her. Make sure the referral is worth your while Like anything else in your store, you need to run the numbers. Whilst affiliate products won’t take up space in your store, they do take time and staff training to sell. So the amount that you earn, needs to make sense numbers wise. If you receive a referral fee of $20 for a product, vs, say a referral fee of $200 for a product, weigh up if the $20 product is worth your time and energy. If that $20 referral fee comes from a product with high turnover and limited effort to sell, go ahead and do it. If it takes a lot of explanation and is time consuming to sell, find an alternative. Invest time and money into advertising Don’t expect the other business to do all the marketing and advertising. Just like you’d take out an ad in a print magazine for a product, do the same for your affiliate product. Have point of sale material printed at your own cost, and if possible, create a merchandising display that helps sell the product. Blog about it, talk about it on social media, review it. Sell it like any other product. Have a range of products to refer that don’t clash To have affiliate income as a reasonable or even significant part of your revenue stream, it will mean having more than one affiliate, so make sure you have a range of products or services. Just don’t confuse your customer by having several offerings that are essentially the same. Work out which is the best product or service for your customer, and choose that one. Not only does having multiple, yet similar offerings confuse the customer, it dilutes the strength of your referral. If you’ve used the product or service, document what happened Just like word of mouth, by showing your customers the results that you’ve achieved, it will make the affiliate product more desirable. Show a before and after. Talk about how the other company helped you, the process they took, how you felt before and after. What changes it made to how you do things? This is called social proof, and it’s super important. Have an agreement in place Despite how much you like a product, affiliate marketing is a business transaction, so it’s super important to nut out the details at the beginning. Now, there’s a chance that neither of you has done this before, so make sure you cover areas such as how much of a referral fee will be paid for each product or service, when it will be paid, how it will be tracked and how it will be paid Use your blog If you don’t have a blog attached to your ecommerce store, you should. Here’s just another way that you could be using it. You could maximise your affiliate marketing on your blog by creating advertising space in the side bar or header banners, in a blog post, in a review, and in a before and after. This additional source of information can be used to direct customers to when they want a bit more information, plus you’ll also be getting organic rankings from the Google Gods, which may also feed more customers back to your store. Be upfront Don’t be sleazy. Let your customer know that you’ll be receiving a referral fee if they chose to purchase from your affiliate. Gone are the days of sneaking around. It’s likely that your customer won’t mind and will thank you for being upfront. When you have that social proof we talked about, then it’s not about the money you’re getting, it’s about the problem you’re solving for them. Affiliate income should never be your main source of income when you run a retail store, however, if you chose the right products and services that solve the problems of your Ultimate Customer, then it can turn into a healthy revenue stream that is just part of your overall sales funnel This week, I’ve put together a guide that you can use to help you become a great affiliate. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business to Retail community. We’re a bunch of retailers chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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Until next week Be profitable
In the lead up to Christmas, I had to do something I always dread. And what happened next, reinforced my frustrations, my annoyance with retail, and reminded my why I do what I do. Today, was the 21st of December. Ok, so it’s not the 21st of December when you’re hearing this, but as I typed away, you can appreciate that in the Monday before Christmas, a lot of stuff needs to be done. I was feeling pretty organised. The last thing I needed was to do an emergency dash to the shopping Mall. It was 8am and it seemed my daughter needed shoes. Somehow, she'd managed to get holes in her sneakers, grown out of her sandals, left the pair of shoes she wears most often at school (she'll have grown out of them by the time school goes back, in 6 weeks) and it was too hot for her boots. Oh and that other pair givers her blisters. Skirting the rules of “covered in shoes”, I dropped her at vacation care in crocs (albeit only just fitting ones). This was my one last day to catch up on all the work I needed to get done before Xmas, now I was heading to the Death Star (aka, The Mall). Ugh, shoot me now. Hoping that the fact I was there BEFORE the shops opened would work in my favour (it didn't) I traversed several department stores to no avail, finally ending up at a specialty (read expensive) kids shoe store. There was one other customer, so I had hope that I could be in and out in 15 minutes or so. I found two pairs of shoes that would suffice, and waited. And waited. And waited. The server helped the lady in front of me, but seemed hell bent on avoiding eye contact with me, even though she was virtually pushing past me to get to the shoe boxes. I had my wallet in one hand and the shoes in the other. Clearly, I was a purchaser. 15 minutes passed, and at no stage, did the server acknowledge my presence. All I needed was a simple, “hey there, I’ll be over as soon as I finish up here”. Even a smile and nod would have appeased the anger that was boiling up inside of me. All I could think of was who the hell takes 2 kids shoe shopping the week before Christmas? You’ve got 6 more weeks to do this. I would have walked out. Unfortunately, I had exhausted every other store and found nothing, so I had to wait. But 15 minutes is a LONG time, when you’re waiting to pay for something. All I wanted was for someone to acknowledge me. What made it worse, was that I could see another staff member walking around in back. Now you and I both know as retailers, that there was a good chance the person out the back had something that needed to be done and wasn’t necessarily in a position to drop everything and walk out. Trying to remember this, and breathe, I have to admit that I was seething by the time I was finally served. Now if this episode just sounds like an excuse for me to have a big ranty pants about retail in general, it’s not. What I want to point out, was that if the server had simply smiled at me and made a passing comment, rather than pushing past me but not even saying hello, I probably would have just been mildly frustrated at how long it was taking. This episode would have been completely different. It would have been focused on how, even when it was a busy time, staff were working long hours and probably getting cranky customers left right and center, how with just a simple hello, I’ll be with you shortly” meant that I was happy to wait. I won’t be hurrying back to that store and if anyone asks me where I got Lana’s shoes, the story will probably revolve around how painful the experience was, rather than the great quality of shoes, because at the end of the day, I’m a consumer too. Just like you. Yes, we have the insight of what happens behind closed doors in a retail store. But at the end of the day, we’re still mums and dads, that are trying to fit everything in, and all we want is a little bit of courtesy. One of the things that was always instilled in my staff was that you always acknowledge a customer. If you happen to be on the phone or with someone else when they walk in, smile and wave, or nod, or do something to acknowledge their presence. That simple little trick can make the difference between a sale and no sale. It’s up to you, the owner, to instill this sense of courtesy into your staff, into your stores values and into your brand. Your customers will thank you for it, and it’s likely your cash register will too. Until next week Be profitable
You know the feeling, you’re dashing off to your store, your mobile phone is ringing, your partner/child/ or employee is asking you a question, all the while, you’re thinking about orders that need to go out, stock that needs to go onto the shop floor, bills that need to be paid and heck, did you even have breakfast. How often, do you experience that feeling of being pulled in every direction. You feel like you’re dropping the ball, and as you bend down to pick it up, you see that there are a dozen other balls on the ground that you need to pick up as well. You can’t be everywhere at once, but here are 5 strategies you can use, to make it seem like you are.
If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free. Until next week Be profitable
If you shop at Amazon or eBay, you’ve probably checked the seller’s reviews before you went ahead and purchased. Why, well, if you’re anything like me, it’s so that you can see the credibility of the seller, or the actual product, the have the security that you weren’t the first to buy, that others liked the product. When I say that reviews are important, I’m stating the obvious. You already know that, because you read them when you shop online, before you go to a restaurant or before you book a hotel. Word of mouth, and the power of the digital pen, make the need for reviews on your website, pretty much a given, if you want to increase your sales and traffic to your site. How do you feel about these statistics.
So apart from the fact that having reviews can mean the difference between a sale and not, what other benefits do reviews have for your retail business?
Reviews allow you to have incredible insight into the mind of your customer. They can help you target customer’s problems, so you can be the go to person on how to fix them. When you read your reviews regularly, you’ll be able see see a trend in how your customer thinks, feels and speaks about the product. If you see that a question or negative comment, it’s a great way for you to create a resource, such as a video tutorial, a how-to or a FAQ that you can add into the product description. Having these resources gives you so much more authority than other websites, and may just be the answer to your customer’s questions, so much that they choose to purchase from you.
Reviews are written in the buyer’s own language, so you’ll end up with fresh content, that targets long tail keywords or phrases. This means that the purchaser will use their own search phrases, that you might not have even though of. It can often be hard to think of all the keywords you might need for a product. Reviews allow you to get those keywords in, without major keyword stuffing in product descriptions. Bonus!
You know how when you find a product or service, that you really love, one that went above and beyond, you want to tell everyone about it? Well, this is exactly what reviews allow your customers to do for you. For free. You can’t buy that kind of kudos. Additionally, when you have great reviews for your business on google My Business, you’ll rank higher in their search
Sometimes, people will vent, because they’re having a bad day. Maybe their parcel was late, which was completely out of your control. Maybe their baby was up crying all night, or maybe they just got off a late shift. You never know the reason. Bad reviews give credibility to good reviews, as long as the negative ones are proportionate to the great ones. Not everyone is going to love every product. They’re branding for your business, even when you’re closed Customers will always comment on the service they received, even if it’s a review for a product. This continual, positive reinforcement is brand building for your business, even when you’re not there.
Activate them on your site. Your website may already come with an inbuilt review function. Make sure it’s enabled. If it doesn’t come as part of your website, you can use a third party app like Yotpo , revoo or bazaarvoice Set up an automated email campaign to ask customers to review after purchase If you aren’t already using automated email sequences, now is the time to go and find out how they work. They can make your life SO much easier, make the customer journey so much more pleasurable and automated emails can grow your business. Put an automated email in place, asking your customer to leave a review after purchase. Remember to include your instore customers as well Ecommerce is great, and should be just one of the revenue streams for your business, but don’t leave out your instore customers. They’ve had actual contact with you, your brand and your service, so encourage them to leave a review after they’ve shopped with you. As many as 7 out of 10 customers will look at your site, before they come into your physical store, so these reviews are like having an online catalogue and brand ambassador, working for you, 24/7. Where to add reviews On your site On your google My Business Page Facebook Third party sites like Yelp or tripadvisor. Make the most out of your reviews. In addition to monitoring your reviews to see what extra resources you could add for a product, take the information that people have left in their reviews, and create a buyers guide or blog post on the product. This weeks download shows you how to take those reviews, and turn them into a great blog post or buyers guide, that could help you get sales
If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free. Until next week Be profitable
Group buying sites can get your business exposure. If your business is new, you’re struggling to get fresh customers or have branched out on the products and services you provide, group buying sites might be a short term way to get more business. As a business advisor, I’m not particularly a fan of group buying sites, but I can see that they have merit as a quick way to get an influx of new customers, and cash, into your business. As a customer, I love those sites. Not only do I love a bargain, but I love the fun of trying somewhere new and the adventure of trying something new. From hiking to hair cuts, museums to massages, I’ve tried a lot of group buying offers, and here are the top 5 mistakes I see businesses make, when they use this channel/ The biggest one is on boarding me as a new customer. I call this a pre-welcome, that’s a made up term of mine, so don’t bother googling it. A pre-welcome could also be a “what to expect”. It doesn’t matter if you’re a restaurant or a gym, a health spa or a cooking class, let me know what to expect. What is parking like in the area, do I need to wear anything special, do I need to do something, or refrain from doing something before hand. When I arrive, what will happen. And, what happens afterwards. You could even put the suggestion of upselling into the document. In today’s download, I’m going to give you an example of what a pre welcome should look like, and the steps you should be taking, to make the most of group buying sites. The number 2 mistake I see businesses making, is that they don’t upsell. When you upsell, it should always be for the benefit of the customer, not for your cash register, so when a new customer is brought into your business, you should be looking to maximise THEIR return on investment. If they’ve taken the time to come into your business, make sure they get the most out of it, and be ready to identify how you could help them. In turn, you’ll end up with more money in your cash register The number 3 mistake, is no after care. On the very rare occasion that I get ANY follow up from a business, it’s usually one of those stock standard “hey, tell us what you think” emails. It’s all about the business. It’s never about me. If those businesses had sent me an email with some tips on how to get the most out of my hair cut, or a fun quiz that my kid could do after going to the museum, they’d have a much better chance of engaging me as a customer. So number three is to always have an after care nurture sequence in place, and make it focus on the customer, not your business, and it must have purpose. If you get feedback, what are you going to do with it? Next on my list, at number 4, is that these businesses NEVER ask me to become a customer. I’ve yet to have a hairdresser, massage or beauty therapist or restaurant, ask me to book my next appointment. And of course, with no after-care in place, I generally never hear from those businesses again, so even if I did like the service, there’s no prompting to make me come back again. Number 5 is being treated differently And I’ll admit this one doesn’t always happen. I’ve had great customer service, and terrible customer service, as a result of using group buying vouchers. Maybe those businesses that come to mind always had poor customer service, which is why they Re turned to sites like these to get a quick influx, but I can say, from experience, that I’ve been treated differently to other customers, when I’ve used vouchers. Your business service level should be consistent right across the board, regardless of whether someone is a new or returning customer. If you want these new people to become repeat customers, you need to treat them the same way that you would an existing customer. If you want to take advantage of group buying sites, make sure that you have a goal. Know how many people you want to take up the offer, and how many do you want to retain as retuning customers. Have a system in place to take advantage of the influx of new business, nurture those new customers, welcome them to your business, take care of them, sell to them, ask them to come back, and treat them well once they’ve left. If you do this, then you’ll have a much higher return on investment. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
When it comes to cash flow, there are a lot of business owners that put their head in the sand. But cash flow is the lifeblood of your business, so day, we’re going to make you pull up your big girl business pants, and confront the numbers, head on. I recently asked a bunch of retailers what their biggest fear about confronting cash flow head on was. And the answers are probably going to sound familiar to you. They’re scared of looking at their bank balance, they’re scared there wont be enough. They hate juggling, and that sinking feeling that comes into your stomach, when you receive the latest round of invoices. Now cash flow is a BIG topic, but today, I want to just tackle the 3 biggest problems that I see retailers make, when it comes to managing cash flow.
So many retailers just don’t track what they sell. Your point of sale system has all the answers. You don’t have to guess. It should all be there, waiting for you to download, and spend some time revising. What I tend to find, is that in the rush to get a point of sale system up and running, one of the key factors that get’s over looked, is categorising stock. If you’re a fashion store, you may sort by item type, like dresses, shirts and pants. If you sell children’s toys, maybe it’s by age group, or item type, such as wooden toys. If you sell homewares, you might categorise use candles, wall hangings and cushions, just to name a few. When you create categories, you can see, at a glance, how each type of product does in your store. You can look at the overall profit for the category, the margin, and how much of a percentage of total revenue, the item accounts for. Later, you can drill down into specific items, but categorising your store into sections, easily allows you to report on which areas are contributing the most to your business. And when it comes to tracking, you also need to set aside time, once a month, or once a quarter, to go over your numbers, your stock, your turnover and your margins.
Do you sit down and look over the past month and previous years’ sales, for a particular product. Or, do you just guess. Sometimes, guessing works, when you know your business inside out, but what happens when you grow to the point of being able to hire a manager. Not being in your store every day will dull your senses. If you don’t have a plan in place, and that plan is using the data you already have, then you’re bound to start getting your stock levels wrong, leaving you too short, and missing out on sales, or having too much, which leaves your cash flow tied up in inventory
If you’re tracking and forecasting, you’ll have a good sense of how your inventory is travelling. If you aren’t, you may look up one day, and find that item on the shelf, has actually been there for 6 months. Knowing how and when to get rid of stock is an important part of the business process. Weigh up how much an item is costing you, when it’s not selling. It’s taking up valuable real estate, and what could you have bought with that money instead? In the show notes, I’ll link to another one of my most popular downloads, on how to move old stock. But knowing when to move it, is just as important as knowing how to move it, and still get a return. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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Should you sell stock before it arrives in your store? What are the pros and cons? Pre selling stock before it comes into your store can generate significant cash flow for you. Just look at any Apple product. People line up, sometimes for days, in order to purchase their products, and quite often, they don’t even get to walk away with a physical product . Sometimes it’s months, before they receive the goods they’re pre-purchasing. Apart from having an amazing brand, Apple creates demand by releasing snippets of information in the lead up to the event. They don’t just go hey, here’s a new product, you can have it in 3 months. They create hype and demand. They trade on FOMO, the fear of missing out. Apple use this as a status indicator. Another benefit of preselling, is that it creates scarcity. Similar to FOMO, creating scarcity increases a product’s desirability, and prompts customers buy, even if the product hasn’t arrived. Preselling an item can also validate the viability of a product. If lots of people are talking about it, and buying that product, it gives the product credibility. We call that social proof. Speaking of validation, when you presell a product, you are able to forcast a level of demand. True, the urgency to buy a product will start to dwindle once the product is actually in your store, but using pre-selling as a validation technique, will help you to work out, just how much stock you should be bringing in. Are you on trend? Are you stocking exactly what your customer wants? Pre-selling shows your customer that you’re paying attention to what they want, that’ you’re up to date with the latest styles, trends and products. But arguably, the biggest benefit for preselling, is that it brings revenue into your store. Being able to use that money to pay for the stock, to have guaranteed sales, is a massive benefit and sanity saver. So let’s recap on the strategies you should focus on, when it comes to preselling.
Often, people have already made a decision, even if it’s subconsciously, about whether or not they are going to buy a product. When you’ve created a buzz, when you have that social proof, you increase your odds of a successful product pre-sale. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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When you first put together a website, there is so much going on, you often through in everything you need, load up your products, test your cart, and move on to the next thing that needs to be done. Like everything in life, a good spring clean is in order, to keep your site fresh and up to date A spring clean of your website is an essential, to keep your customers happy, to keep your business trading within the law, and to make sure you don’t get caught out in expensive mistakes. Outdated policies and processes and poor user experience are a sure way to end up costing you money and sales, so here are 7 spring clean must-do reviews for your website
When Google announced that it was going to rate websites that were mobile friendly in 2015, it was a sure way to know that the state of ecommerce as we knew it, was changing. Your website should already be mobile responsive. If it’s not, that the first thing you need to organise. More importantly, is your website actually mobile friendly? Is it easy to shop on your website? Are the menus easy to read and find? Does the layout flow in category and product pages? Have you gone through your shopping cart on a mobile device? How easy is it to navigate through the checkout process, on a mobile device? You should be looking to minimise the steps the customer has to take, the clicks they have to make, and the number of keystrokes they have to enter. Every extra click they have to make, moves them closer to abandoning their cart
You should be reviewing your website traffic at least monthly. Your google analytics account will tell you which pages customers are spending more time on, your bounce rate, which is where someone leaves almost as soon as they hit your homepage and where on your website, their dropping out. For example, are they leaving during the shopping cart process? Google Analytics will also tell you which pages are people visiting most. You’ll probably find that your shipping, FAQ and About pages, rank very highly.
It’s time to spring clean all those pages you set and forget. Laws change, your returns policy may change, your courier company and their rates may have changed. Now’s the time to go back, read over them and make the changes that you need to.
If you’re new to Bringing Business To Retail tv, let me tell you know, that you have to be giving your customer something, in return for their email address. And, it shouldn’t be 10% off. If you’re already offering a pain point giveaway, or as we call it in the biz industry, a lead magnet, it’s time to review what you have on offer, and change it up a little. Get some new subscribers onto your customer database with a new lead magnet.
The images on your website, are paramount to getting sales. Make sure that the images are all the same size, that the pages flow well, and go back and test out the experience from a users point of view. When it comes to images, the themeing should also be consistent, for example, make sure the deep etched image is on the category page, and lifestyle images, close ups and flat lays are within the product page. The more relevant images you have for a product, the less guess work a customer has to do, which makes it easier for them to add to cart.
Which brings us to the number 6 website review must do. Linking products that sell well together. Whether you use flat lays, widgets such as people who bought this, also purchased, or, preferably, you write and link it in the description, in case you haven’t realised, the key to increasing your customer order value, is to make it easy for them to buy. By linking products together, your customer is more likely to top up their shopping basket.
Take a look with fresh eye, on how your menus and navigation flow. Your navigation should be based on how a user will look for an item, not on how you necessarily categorise it in your store. Are your menus grouped sequentially and are your sub categories in alphabetical order?
Is there an easy way for a customer to go back a level, or return to your home page.
Think of a random product, and ask a friend to find it on your website (without using the search button). This will give you an insight to how navigable your website actually is, to a new customer. If you you want a completely unbiased opinion, use a user testing service, like Peek, to give you a real life customer experience report.
When I went to New York recently, I was looking forward to some amazing shopping, but, not looking forward to those pesky currency conversion charges on my credit card, that can add up super quickly. So when I found that my airline Frequent Flyer card could also be used as a pre-paid credit card in local currency, I immediately transferred some cash into it, and watched the exchange rates daily. Exchange rate fluctuations can seriously affect the profitability of a product in your store. Not only is there the actual unit cost, but also the freight to get it to you, and both of those amounts will change, depending on the exchange rate for the day. I’ve seen many small businesses that order a small shipment of stock, for say, a thousand dollars, but by the time the payment comes due, the price may have changed by hundreds of dollars. Those dollars could mean the difference between a profitable product, and one that ends up costing you money. There are a few options that you can utilise, when it comes to hedging your currency. If you have the funds upfront, you can use a pre-paid card, like the one I used when I went to New York. So how to these cards work. Essentially you use them like you would a visa debit card, or a credit card, but you have to load funds into the card, and once they run out, they run out. The great thing, is once you’ve converted the currency, you have a set amount. You’re no longer affected by currency fluctuations and you aren’t subject to those pesky currency conversion fees on every transaction. The downside, if you want to call it that, of this method, is that your funds are tied up, until you use them. There’s an opportunity cost that comes with not being able to access your funds immediately, but there is also the benefit that comes with the security that the amount you have available isn’t going to change. The next option that you can use is Forward Rate Agreement, also known as a Forward Foreign Exchange. Utilising your financial provider or foreign exchange company, you simply fix an exchange rate for a date in the future. If you do this often, you may qualify for a line of credit associated with the account, meaning you only have to pay, when the exchange is due. This ensures that you know exactly how much an order is gong to cost you, ahead of time, which allows you to plan and forecast your cash flow. And my last, super simple way to hedge our currency, is to use Paypal. If you’re already using paypal as a payment gateway for your online store, did you know you can convert currency at any time? Simply log into your account, and find the Manage currencies option. If you have the old interface, it’s in the top right of your overview screen, and if you have the new interface, it’s in the money section. From their, you simply choose a currency, and how much you want to exchange. Once you have exchanged the currency, again, it’s a set amount. And, being able to track and forecast your cash flow, can put you in quite an enviable position compared to your competitors. Having that advantage, can save you thousands of dollars every year. If you’ve found this information useful, come join the Bringing Business To Retail community. You’ll be joining a bunch of retailers from all around the world chatting all things business. Best of all, it’s free.
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Are you using your B&M store, market stall, or pop up shop, to the best of it’s ability. Whilst a lot of retailers shy away from the overheads and the responsibility that comes with having a bricks and mortar store, the fact is, with the overheads, comes a distinct competitive advantage. But, are you using that, to the best of it’s ability. When you have a bricks and mortar store, not only do you need to exploit every piece of real estate in and around it, but you also need to fully utilise the people you hire, and their skills.
If a customer comes in for a specific product, you have the ability to show them products that they may not have ever come across. It’s your job, as the retailer, to make the shopping experience as fulfilling as possible. This means offering cross sells. If a customer comes in for new dinnerware, show them placemats, a fruit bowl or a gravy boat. When opened up to new possibilities, a customer is likely to enjoy the experience more. Trust me, if they’re not interested, they’ll tell you.
a customer can be anti a product before entering your store. Maybe a friend mentioned something, or they saw a review on facebook. Perhaps they don’t even know why they don’t want a product. If you think a product totally suits what they’re looking for, it’s up to you to educate them on why the product will work for them, allay their fears, answer their questions, and let them make an informed decision.
People buy on emotion. Now, no matter how great your images are on a website, nothing beats the physical. Being able to touch, to smell, to try on. I love online shopping, and recently, I had to buy 4 new barstools for my kitchen. They had to have a back, and go with a timber and white kitchen. I thought I had found the perfect ones online, but, my husband was adamant that we had to sit in them. I was so glad that he did, because the stools I’d chosen, were uncomfortable. The back wasn’t high enough, and in real life, they looked, well, cheap. I instantly reacted to those bar stools physically, and emotionally. I also became super clear on what I was ACTUALLY looking for. I’d educated myself (the sales staff weren’t particularly helpful), I was open to what else was in the store, and started looking at rugs as well. Now, when I was shopping on the online store, I hadn’t even thought to start looking at rugs and cushions. The bricks and mortar store had the ability to significantly increase my order value. Ensuring that you’re staff are well trained, know how to actively listen and problem solve a solution for your customer, and that your staff know your products intimately, will have you increasing the money that’s coming into your retail store. Until next week, be profitable
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Consumer sentiment. Technically speaking, it’s a statistical measurement and economic indicator of the overall health of the economy as determined by consumer opinion. Personally, I think the media has a lot to do with the way that consumer sentiment rollercoasters. If the media is telling everyone that we’re heading for a recession, then of course people are going to become more wary about spending. So when your retail cycle is starting to slump, how can you change the lookers in your store, into buyers? When a person comes into your store, they already, subconsciously, are looking to purchase. So, making sure that you give them attention, is the first step to getting them over the line, and for them to have trust in you. Don’t be forced. Don’t ask “how can I help you today”. Be attentive, take in their body language. Do they want you there by their side, or do they want to take some time on their own to assess the product, and just want you to be available when they have a question? Don’t force descriptions on them. How many times have you been browsing in a store, or even a market stall, and the sales person immediately starts throwing facts of a product at you? What’s your first reaction? Likely, it’s “ugh, give me a moment will you”. Try engaging your customer first, rather that talking at them.
Remember to pause. Listen and ask questions. Don’t get into your spiel, and expect the customer to be rapt on your every word. Stop, pause, ask for permission to move on. Be passionate about finding the right product for the customer, not the one you love most. It’s easy to fall into the rut of recommending the same item, because you love using it. And when it comes to getting them to hand over their cash, ask them if they’re looking to buy today, or researching – you can tailor your offering and information, and the time that you spend with them, to maximise their experience, and allow you to navigate between customers in the store. If a customer appears to like a product, but just can’t make it over the line, is there a way to let them try before they buy? Is it possible to take it out of the packet, have a tester, or, even let them hire a product to let them experience it for themselves? Think of those products that people get stuck on, that they find difficult to take the leap, and work out a way that you can help overcomes the obstacles to purchase. And remember, not everyone will make a purchase the first time they walk in your store. It’s up to you to follow up, to create a relationship with them, and to build trust. So, put a system in place, that will allow you to capture their details, and to stay connected with them in the future. And my last tip, to turn a looker into a buyer, is to give them a quote. This too, is a great way to get their contact details, by offering to email it through to them. If a customer is open to you giving them a quote, their also open to you following up. And following up is where 95% of sales are lost. IF a retailer even bothers to follow up the first time, inevitably, if the customer isn’t ready to buy, they just let it drop. It times when the cash register isn’t ringing as much as you want, you need to be chasing up every customer, love your customer, listen to them, find them what they want, and continue to communicate with them, once they’ve gone. If you implement those strategies, then your conversion rate should see an increase.
Download "How to turn a looker into a buyer" Retail Biz Strategy
Is it worth outlaying the money to gift wrap items in your retail store? By the time you've bought paper, ribbons, card, somewhere to store it all, not to mention the time it takes to wrap, the dollars add up.
Should you offer gift wrapping as a retailer?
[Tweet " Do you offer gift wrap services?"] Do you charge for gift wrapping? Let me know in the comments below what offering gift wrap has done for your business.