Time to move on from Covid, and get our minds back on retail. Focus on the merchandise. And the customers. And the results. In other words, it's time to put the fun back into retailing! So, here are a few of The ROI's "attention to detail" reminders that you may want to have at the ready for your next staff meeting. A refreshing change of pace for everybody!
But be careful – music should always be selected to appeal to the customer, not the staff.
Look out. If you offer only price-and-item information, you may lose those first timers. Instead, take advantage of graphics and signage to educate about your merchandise, and to persuade why your store should be preferred.
Take advantage of that tendency; pair older merchandise with new arrivals!
However, they ran out of cash as their creditors ran out of patience. As the owner, focus on cash flow as much or more than sales and profits.
Even right off of the display! You are not running a museum (are you?)
Higher is better.
The other 80% care more about what else your store offers. What value can you deliver to these folks? Don't let that fickle 20% distract you.
Besides total sales volume, monitor total number of transactions and items per transactions, both for your total operation as well as by category.
While your past sales records will be indicators, there are new post-pandemic patterns emerging. Keep this tell-tale sign in mind: when your suppliers start offering deals, it's time to start cutting prices!
Have some favorite back to basics reminders of your own? We'd love to hear about them! Just email us here.
The Retail Owners Institute® has developed a retail strategy for "Inventory Management Going Forward." As we often do, it was recapped as an unassuming chart (see above) identifying the Five Stages of Merchandise Mix Management, from "Before COVID-19" to the "New Normal?"
Each of us, our households, businesses and communities are in different stages of shutdown due to the coronavirus. While we cannot speak to when this will end, we do have some ideas for dealing with the "fog of uncertainty" that hangs over us all.
That's a sign of the times, isn't it? While retailers are more accustomed than most folks to cope with change, 2020's unrelenting flexibility tests have been a challenge. Forget about five years. Retailers have to be ready for the next five months! It's back-to-school and then Holiday. The only certainty about the next five months is that they will probably feel like the past five months. Yet you still must run a retail business. And that means you still must buy and sell merchandise. The opportunities – and the pressures – are mounting.
As the global efforts to "flatten the curve" of the coronavirus pandemic continue, there is another curve that is being flattened. That would be the seasonality of retail sales. And this may prove to be what really defines the New Normal for retailers. The customary peaks of retail spending have been flattened.
Still less than $1 a day! 👀
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