Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In order to successfully run a business, controlling cash flow and money management key. It’s always important to consider how to increase sales and earn more money. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Here’s How You Could Increase Your Retail Sales without Breaking the Bank.
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A lot of people think that they need to spend money to make money, and sometimes this is the case. There are however things that you can do to try and boost your business efficiency without spending anything at all.
Setup Your Store
The very first thing that you need to be thinking about is how your store is set up. Think about it, where are the displays? How long is the queue to the checkout? Does the store seem packed? You really don’t want to force your customers to hunt through racks just so that they can find what they need. Your displays need to be clean and they also need to make it easier for your customers to find any items that they MUST have. There are a couple of ways for you to do this. The first thing that you need to do is use this “power wall” wisely. In the US, people drive on the right-hand side of the road. For this reason, you need to make your right wall into a feature. Customers will naturally turn right when they walk in, and this is a fantastic way for you to capitalise on that. If you are in Australia, New Zealand or even the UK then your power wall will be on the left.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/shallow-focus-photography-of-clothes-994517/
Zone Everything
You need to remove any excess merchandise from the store floor. If you sell shoes for example, you need to make sure that you only have one pair of each size on show at any one time. This will encourage customers to buy because they think that it is the last one, and it also stops your floor from becoming too cluttered. When you sell that size, put another one on display. You also need to keep an eye on your decompression zone. This is the first 10 feet inside your front door. Customers are very prone to distractions when they enter this part of the store, so keep it as clean and as de-cluttered as possible. This will encourage your customers to walk right into the heart of the store, which is exactly what you want.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-black-barcode-1243362/
Queues
It’s very easy for a customer to become spooked if they see a huge queue. They don’t want to wait that long and they may even weigh up whether or not the product they are buying is worth the time it takes to queue. If you want to stop this then put your register at the back. You can also go mobile if you want. A POS payment system is a fantastic choice here because it gives your team the chance to serve anywhere on the store floor and this can keep your customers from leaving without making a purchase.
Staff for Traffic
A lot of stores will ask their staff to work when the most sales are made. You shouldn’t do this at all. In fact, you should always staff according to the amount of traffic you have. Your employees will be able to help everyone much more efficiently and this can lead to you experiencing way more sales. This will also stop your staff from becoming bored when working on the store floor as well, which leads onto the next point.
Your Staff have a Huge Role to Play
You have to make sure that your store is well-staffed. You also have to make sure that they are helping you to boost your conversion rate. They can do this by meeting and greeting customers as soon as they walk through the door. The best way for you to do this would be for you to have a staff member working the door at all times. If you just have them stood there then this can be intimidating for a customer, so have them “tidy up” or look busy around the front of the store. This will help your customers to feel more at ease and it can work wonders for your branding as well. If your team are having trouble engaging with customers, then stop them from asking yes and no questions. For example, instead of them asking “Can I help you to find something?” tell them to ask questions such as “What are you looking for today?” This requires the person who is shopping to engage, and even if the outcome is still negative, at least some engagement happened. Little things like this can also work wonders for your conversion rate as well because it gives your staff the chance to locate products that might be in the back of the warehouse.
