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Cruising for customers | How to cut inventory – fast! | New Ways of Thinking About Your Competitive Edge
Monday, May 16, 2022
From The Co-Founders
Patricia M. Johnson & Richard F. Outcalt
Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists, LLC
•
Retail Turnaround Experts
photo: Greg Gilbert/Seattle Times
Following the Customer
Recently we read of a "bookshop on wheels" launched by a college English instructor. While certainly not the first retail variation on a food truck, this one has gained praise for its authenticity.
"What’s most surprising when you walk into Blue Kettle Books for the first time is
how cozy and, well, bookstore-ish the tiny space feels."*
Monica LeMoine has converted a hotel shuttle bus into a tiny bookstore, able to hold a highly curated selection of 800 books.
But what really is the driving motivation behind this?
"Providing a frictionless entry point to the joy of reading,"
says LeMoine.
👀 Not a "frictionless transaction,"
as e-commerce giants have focused on
. A
"frictionless entry point to the joy of reading."
The Blue Kettle Bookshop has been built to go to
"events and locations that are attended by people who don’t regularly visit bookstores."
It is scheduled to appear at
family-friendly events all summer long: music festivals, farmers markets, street fairs, even the occasional brewing company.
This startup retailer is not waiting to be discovered by customers. She's taking her shop TO the customer. And she realizes that is
not only online or at the mall. Have wheels, will travel!
Poses some interesting questions, doesn't it?
How and where will you
best be able to connect
with your customers?
Dare you just wait
for them to come to you?
Or, is it time to
meet them at least halfway
?
"Location. Location. Location" is more of a moving target for retailers than ever before!
-----
*
"Newest and smallest bookstore will drive to you," Paul Constant, Seattle Times, May 12, 2022.
Want more of the strategic retailing observations from Outcalt and Johnson? Prior commentary
From The Co-Founders
is available under PERSPECTIVES
on The ROI site.
➡️
How To Cut Inventory –
Fast!
Sometimes retailing doesn’t quite turn out as you had planned.
If you
find yourself long on inventory and short on profits
—whether from overbuying, expanding lines too quickly, or overestimating sales – don’t panic.
You still can whip your inventory back into shape before it devours your profits.
Here are 10 tips – all for free! – to turn your inventory into cash – quickly!
Cut Inventory - Fast!
"Customer Service":
Above & Beyond the Transaction
FREE Access • TOPICAL TUESDAYS Webinar of the Week
Technology increasingly dominates the processes of retail transactions.
While this generally is regarded as a good thing – greater efficiencies, time savings, fewer mistakes, etc – it does have some
"unintended consequences" for the customer.
That is, thanks especially to big box and online retailers, the concept of "customer service" increasingly has come to mean "customer SELF-service."
So,
how is a retailer to stand out?
To be
special
? To
matter
to the shoppers? To
have a competitive edge?
Well, there are ways!
In this challenging and thought-provoking
TOPICAL TUESDAYS Webinar of the Week
, Pat Johnson and Dick Outcalt, Co-Founders of The Retail Owners Institute®, will show how specialty retailers can:
focus on
and
sharpen
their particular competitive edge;
create and implement a training program
to sharpen and maintain that competitive edge;
and
know when it's working!
This
fast-paced session
is full of
consulting insights and tips
. And yes, even some
lofty ways of looking at all this.
Be sure that you and your key staff people take advantage and gain these insights.
FREE Access • Webinar of the Week
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