Price is not everything

It is important to remember that price is not everything. Value is. There are many, many consumers out there willing to pay more for an item when they see value.

Benefits such as ... a clean, well maintained store that has an excellent reputation for both quality products and service excellence, professional staff that are both friendly and knowledgeable, staff that is mature and have good attitudes, staff who they have some rapport with and anything else that creates value for the customer.

Because....

There are many things that customers want and/or need, whether they articulate it or not, but they must see the value in what they buy. Let's not forget that people buy with emotion and justify with logic.
Granted, sometimes price is the only thing they care about...but that is usually based on the type of item they are purchasing. That is why international companies like WalMart and local companies like Makro, PEP stores etc as an example similar to them, do well. They get the sales based on price.

But if a customer wants the benefits I mentioned above, then price is not necessarily the first thing they think of when they're ready to buy.

The point is that if you own or manage a retail company, or store, that sells at higher prices...and if you are providing the value that people want...then you don't have to worry.
If, and when, your staff tell you that the competition is selling for less and that is the reason they are not getting the results you expect - ie: to meet their targets - be sure to check it out to make sure you're not way out of line, but don't give in to price cutting just because! It can be a downward spiral and, if you are offering the benefits people want, and if customers see the value in your offering, you don't have to be caught up in that downward spiral. Always refer back to your CVP (Customer Value Proposition) and if you don’t have one, consider contacting Master Retailing as this should be one of the cornerstones of your business.

One thing you must do, however, is make certain you have everything right. And, most importantly, the right staff...the ones who make customers happy to pay more!, in the end it is all about relationship building and creating a trust factor with your clients.

Consistency

All of us are looking for success in our retail businesses. Apart from and beyond everything else, sustainable success requires consistency. What do we mean by that?

We mean being consistently great in all aspects of our retail business.

Short term successes are possible due to some lucky combination of factors. But, we can't rely on lucky combinations. They are too few, and far between.

What we need to do is to set the foundations of our business right so that we can repeat our successes consistently.

This also has a profound impact on customer satisfaction. Your customers expect a certain level of performance from you on the basis of the perception you created. By being consistent at your skill set and service levels, you satisfy the minimum expectations.


And if you put a degree of constant improvement process in place, you'll create a winning combination for your retail operation. At minimum, some of the areas you must deliver on a consistent basis are:

1. Sales Skills (Trained staff on professional retail sales skills)

2. Quick response to all sorts of customer issues (Rapid response procedures in place)

3. Clean, tidy and efficient store environment (Great visual merchandising and maintenance)

4. Streamlined and customer friendly checkout process.

Pretty basic, right? Yet, just wander around the malls and shopping centres and see for yourself how many retailers are failing in consistent delivery of the basics.

Companies who understood this simple philosophy went on to create empires.

All the Success!

Master Retailing

The Power of Association

The Power of Association is too real: It might sound strange, but sometimes depending on your situation, the less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.

Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on and act like a handbrake holding you back. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don’t help you achieve your best and are there for you and motivate you will want you to crawl. Your friends will either stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don’t increase you will eventually decrease you, the same applies to both your personal life and your work life, so ask yourself the question are you adding value to somebody’s life or are you taking away from it.

Consider this:

• Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
• Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
• Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.
• Don’t follow anyone who is not going anywhere. With some people you spend and evening: with others you invest it. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
• Wise is the person who fortifiers his life with the right friendships. You have no doubt heard about “If you sleep with dogs, you are bound to get fleas” or “if you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl”, however if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to sour to great heights. As they say in the classics, “How can I fly like an eagle when I am surrounded by a bunch of turkeys?” Remember Eagles are not found with a bunch of turkeys, but eagles are found one at a time.

“A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.” The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate – for the good and the bad.

Master Retailing wishes you good luck in this epic life time adventure and hope you make the right choices in life.

Tips on Peak Season Trading

Regardless of the economic outlook, you can rest assured that many people will be in your stores this holiday season. They may be working with a tighter budget, or they may not.They may be more discerning, or they may not. Whatever happens you still need to be prepared.

There are things you need to do to have your store, your staff, your management team and your merchandise ready. Here are some Peak Season Trading Tips, to help you make sure you’re doing everything you can to make the most of the holiday traffic that comes into your store:

Study History- Get out last year’s sales records, promotional calendar and staff schedules. Study them to see if there is anything you might do differently this year. If you were the Manager last year, try to remember the things that really caused things to breakdown. Learn from those things and safeguard against those same things happening again this year. Hint: If you do not already do this, make a point of noting all of the things that work really well and the things that don’t so you you’ll have the benefit of that information next holiday season.

Schedules – The Backbone of your Store-Make schedules for the remaining weeks before Christmas, as well as well into January and ensure you include in your schedule who’s going on leave and when, as well as possibly stock counts required after peak trading. Based on your sales targets, you need to figure out what kind of floor coverage you will need for each of the remaining weeks. These can be dummy schedules but they should fairly represent what your actual schedule should look like. It is during the making of these dummy schedules that you will come up with your plan for the holiday season with regard to floor coverage, stock replenishment, deliveries, receiving, cashiers, greeters, fitting room coverage, recovery of the store throughout the day and at night, etc. You’ll get a very good idea of how many temporary or casual employees you should hireif you have the luxury thereof. Hint: Once you know how many temporary employees you will need, prepare to hire at least 1 more and have another two on standby.

The reason you will want to schedule well into January 2012 is because of the trend toward the purchase of gift cards. After the main holiday event, many customers will come into your store to spend their gift card. You need to be as ready for them as you were for the pre-holiday gift buyers. So, whatever you do, don’t become complacent in January.

Employee Illness - Try to recall from last year: Did a lot of employees call in sick? Were there certain days where you were left without proper coverage? How did that affect your business? Were the temporary employees trained well enough to really add value to your business? What can you do to avoid the pitfalls of last year? Hints: 1) hire more temporary workers and train them better 2)make sure your regular staff are considered when making the schedule – the needs of the business comes first, of course, but your regular employees will have some particular dates that they really need to have off for Christmas shopping, family gatherings and holiday preparation 3) send sick workers home so as not to spread illness to customers and other staff members 4) make sure you are not working certain employees so hard that they become exhausted or disillusioned.

Staff Meetings– Don’t forget to schedule time for management team meetings and staff meetings. Some of the meetings will be short meetings just to touch base and others may be educational. Still others should be for fun and celebration. Remember, everyone is stressed during the holidays and anything you can do to make your employees’ lives a little better during this busy time will probably pay dividends. Hint: Appoint someone to organize a pot luck luncheon for some of your busiest days. This accomplishes three things. 1) it promotes a sense of camaraderie among regular and temporary employees and 2) it saves them from having to fight the line ups at the food courts; giving them more time off of their feet and 3) it gets them back on the sales floor where you need them on time.

Maintenance –Always important but now is the time to make certain that all of your light fixtures are working; your exit signs are lit, your fire extinguishers have been checked, your flooring and carpets have no turned up edges that can trip people, your POS and printers are working properly, your doors or door grills are in good repair, ceiling ducts are clean and dust free, fitting rooms are clean and welcoming, shelves are firmly in place to avoid accidents, no chipped glass anywhere, no rough edges on sign holders, the back room is well organized, the plumbing (if any) and any illuminated store signage is working properly, your delivery vehicles have been serviced etc. You won’t want to be spending valuable on floor and customer time taking care of pesky maintenance issues that could be taken care of in advance. Emergencies aside, your concentration needs to be elsewhere so…get it done now.

Don’t forget the rule of thumb of: Happy employees = Happy customers, so from all of us at Master Retailing, good luck, happy trading and remember don’t forget to have fun!J

The Answer to Vacant Retail Space

Having walked around in various CBD’s as well as some major shopping centres, one can’t help but notice numerous and rather large and empty retail spaces. Not only is it unsightly, it also made me wonder firstly what visitors impressions were to those specific area/s or shopping centre/s they were spending their hard earned money with, secondly how commercial property owners profitability is being impacted on by having these vacant spaces, and thirdly how entrepreneurs are letting these opportunities pass them by. I am convinced that parties’ willing, there has to be a win – win solution for everyone involved.

I am sure that many of our retail landlords will not have much to lose but rather more to gain by allowing a Temporary tenant to take occupation at a reduced rental without them having to enter into a long term lease. Landlord conditions could include for example that the premises get vacated in “x” number of days after the landlord has signed up a permanent tenant to occupy the premises.

Some alternatives to be looked at include:

• Internationally Pop up Shops have been around for a while, but still not having taken off convincingly in South Africa, here lies a huge opportunity for smart, savvy entrepreneurs to take advantage of this.
• Due to us entering what for many retailers is the largest trading period of the year, satellite stores could be erected with very low overheads, affording them an increased footprint, brand exposure and additional revenue
• Here the landlord receives an income be it a reduced rental, it surely is better than nothing and the retailer or entrepreneur has an increased income potential whereas the consumer has additional convenience and does not have to get the negative perception and impression of unsightly vacant spaces.

In my books it is a win-win for all parties, Pretty innovative, right?

What are your ideas for vacant retail spaces?

5 SECRETS TO SHOW YOUR CUSTOMERS YOU REALLY CARE

 

Businesses lose billions of rands each year because customers feel the organisations don’t care about their business enough to make an effort to keep them. It takes five times more effort to win over a new customer than to keep an existing customer. Then why does this happen? No training or poor training has a lot to do with it. Here are five secrets to showing your customers you really do care about their situations when interacting with them:

1. Listen!

Take the time to listen to the “pain” the customer is trying to share with you. There is a reason why we have two ears and one mouth. Listen for the content and not the method of communication the customer is using. Use active listen skills such as:

* Nodding your head

* Saying “I hear what you saying,” “I see what you mean,” or “tell me more”

* Stop doing something else and devoted all your attention to listening.

* Look at the customer

* Be patience and not interrupt the customer before adding your thoughts

You might be the first person that day who took time to listen. Make the most of it.

2. Respond

Respond to the customer in the following ways:

* Use inflection in your voice (avoid sounding monotone)

* Don’t use “whatever,” “yeah, right,” “if you say so”

3. Check your body language

Make sure your body language is saying to the customer, “I want to help you.” Make sure you are doing the following:

* Smile

* Stand erect

* Hands at your side, but never on your hips

* Avoid leaning against the counter or slouching in the chair (especially while speaking on the telephone)

4. Show Empathy (Understand the Pain)

Show the customers that you understand their “pain.” Make comments such as

“I can understand why you would feel that way.”

“If I were in your shoes I would feel the same way”

“I would be disappointed, too, if that happened to me.”

Most customers just want to be listened to and understood. Show them that you understand their “pain” and solution comes much earlier.

5. Commit to Action

Let the customer know that action will be taken; and then act. One without the other is just a broken promise. Share with the customer your clear plan of action such as the following:

“I am personally going to take care of this for you. What we are going to do is…”

“I need to get additional information before I take care of this for you. I am going to talk with my manager. Would you mind waiting?”

A couple of basics, just as a reminder:

How's the view?

Have you seen the view that your customer has when paying for a purchase? Sometimes it is not pretty at all.

We see our surroundings all the time and might not really see what's there. Think - tangled cables, used staples and paper clips, old pens and pencils, rubber bands and just about anything else you can think of. The worst part is that all of these things look even worse when they are coated in dust...which is not unusual.

Another thing that often goes unnoticed by management, but certainly not by customers, is the dust that gathers in the air vents on your POS equipment.

As part of your morning opening routine, you should stand in the position that your customers are in when they are purchasing. Take a good look around. Check out the cash desk, the wall or windows behind the desk, the ceiling immediately overhead, the floor and the POS equipment.

If you don't like what you see, you know what to do!

Don't Let This Happen in Your Store!

The setting: A busy clothing store. The Store Manager is serving a customer. A mature, part-time employee who has been with the company for several years comes to the cash desk with her customer.

The background: The customer was making a return of merchandise she had purchased at another store. The part-time employee spent a few minutes assisting the customer - showing her merchandise. She successfully turned the return into an exchange for a different item. So far, so good.

But now:

The comment from the part-time employee to the Manager, in the presence of the customer: "This return is from another store-how do I ring this in so I get credit for the sale? I'm the one who spent time with this customer."

What was she thinking?

The question was reasonable but certainly not in front of the customer. Most retail employees, whose compensation is in any way tied to their personal sales and productivity, want to ensure that their transactions are accurately recorded. That is understandable and, in fact, expected. Even if the company does not manage to credit the associate in this type of scenario, that's something to be discussed between the associate and her Manager in private. The Store Manager absolutely must ensure that employees 1) are aware of how to process transactions correctly and 2) realize that questions/discussions of this nature are for store employees ears only.

The point to be made here is this: Make sure your employees understand that discussions in front of the customer must never, never, never include any reference to employee commissions, bonuses, rewards, incentives, credit for the sale or anything similar. The internal operations of the company/store should never be discussed in front of customers.

Company Culture

 

Having worked for several prominent retail organizations I have seen the impact of both positive and negative cultures on the workforce, the customers and, of course, the success of the business. Have no doubt whatsoever, the head of the organization dictates, through words and actions, what the culture will be. I want to tell you about the incredible culture created by a CEO, and a gentleman, I'll call Sam.

For three years, I had the opportunity to work for the company that this man headed up before he decided to sell his successful enterprise to a large, old school retailer. We were all very happy for him. This sale was going to mean a lot more time for him and his wife to travel and generally enjoy life after a lot of years of hard work and dedication to their business. We were saddened to be losing such a great leader but we knew he deserved the rest and we wished him well.

Those three years were perhaps the most rewarding and educational years of my entire career, one that spans over twenty years. The company was managed in such a way that you had no choice but to feel like an important part of it. No employee was ever treated like a number, unworthy of receiving up to date communication on what was happening within the company. The executive were always aware of the impact their actions would have on store personnel and customers. In this company everyone understood where, and by whom, sales were made and every effort was made to include input from the field whenever important decisions were being made that would affect employees or customers.

The man I speak of did not always have a successful company on his hands. At one time, as I understand, the company had been on the brink of failure. He and his loyal employees managed to save it. It was quite a feat, requiring dedication, a new direction and a new way of being. Sam did many, many things to move his company in the right direction. To detail all of them would require a book, which I hope he will write some day, and a lot more information than I have available to me. I did not know this man as well as some of my colleagues did but I know, for certain, that he is a man with integrity. If he says it, you can take it to the bank.

By the time I came on board the company was doing very well. A brand new culture had been built. That's right...built. Culture is something you build with every word you say and every action you take. A positive culture does not come about by accident. It takes a lot of soul searching and checking with people and just when you think you have it all figured out you have to check again. It takes the ability and the willingness to know and admit that you don't know everything and you don't have all the answers. It takes a desire to get input and feedback from the people affected by a given situation. It takes the guts to take action to fix something that's not working. It takes coaching and loyalty and lending a hand to those who need it. It takes understanding that people don't make mistakes because they want to. It takes a firm, but kind, word to someone who messes up. It takes the ability to foster a feeling of belonging among those who are in your business family. Sam certainly did all of these things and he worked tirelessly to ensure his executive and management teams did also.

Store Managers were invited, and expected, to have an impact on the whole organization and not just their own store. If she made a request there were only two acceptable outcomes. 1) The request was granted and a date for completion was to be given or 2) The request was not granted and the reasons were explained. It did not stop there if the Store Manager was not satisfied with the outcome. She was never expected to settle for an answer that did not satisfy her. The process that ensued was one of open and on-going dialogue until either the Store Manager became convinced and was satisfied with the reason that her request could not be granted or she managed to convince her Manager that the request should be granted. It wasn't over just because someone said it was over.

And the company flourished. Following the news of the sale of the company, most field management stayed in place for some time. Unfortunately, as with all good things, the culture we had come to know and love ended. It was like a period of mourning. Executive and management moved on to new challenges and the business went straight down, at least for the short term.

The new owners will never understand what happened. There will be reasons and excuses but they all amount to nothing. The truth, that they probably do not even realize, is that the great culture was run out of town; obviously deemed unnecessary and not worth saving. It's that simple and it's such a shame.

Those of us who lived in Sam's environment clearly understand what happened when he and his carefully chosen team were no longer at the helm.

The key to sustaining a successful business is to RESPECT the culture - after all, the business is secretly thriving on it; OBSERVE carefully, for a time, and then ACT appropriately

Branding

Fortune Magazine says...In the 21st century, branding ultimately will be the only unique differentiator between companies. Brand equity is now a key asset.

Category Management is a process that involves managing product categories as business units and customizing them (on a store by store basis) to satisfy customer needs. Nielsen

Category management does more than contribute to the success of a retail organization. It is an essential component.

In fact, it's difficult to imagine a retailer winning in the marketplace without relying on the direction that this valuable process provides.

Expertise in Category Management is certainly a competitive advantage.

Some Category Management Benefits: (Source: AMR Research)

· Better In-Stock Rates: 2 - 8%

· Lower Inventory Levels: 10 - 40%

· Higher Sales: 5 - 20%

· Lower Logistics Costs: 3 - 4%

Retail Trends Driving Category Management Practice:

· Changes in Customer Behaviour

· Economic Environment

· Higher Efficiency Requirements

· Strong Competition

What will you find on the Master Retailing Blog?

 

Being the Retail Specialists, we have decided to post informative information about the retail sector, from training to trends to practices. We gather this information from a variety of sources as well as our own research and periodically we will offer our own personal opinions. We appreciate your input, comments and suggestions and hope you will spread the word and enjoy reading our interesting articles. Please also visit our website: www.mretailing.co.za.

We hope that this becomes your one stop source for interesting retail related info. if you are involved in retail in any way this blog is for you.

Beware of the condescending Sales Associate

 

Beware of the condescending Sales Associate - one of the 7 Deadly Sins of Customer Service.

A True story we recently sourced

Recently, a colleague of mine - who happens to be very much a 'techie' - went shopping for a new laptop. He had checked around and found the store with the best price for the one he wanted. All the Store Associate had to do to get the sale was be pleasant; answer a couple of questions and it was done.

During the conversation it became clear that my colleague undoubtedly knew more than the Sales Associate did. And he's used to that because he is very up to date on everything to do with computers, etc. - definitely above average in that area. The Sales Associate should have recognized that fact and adjusted his approach accordingly.

Anyway, my colleague was going to the cash desk to pay for his new laptop and the Sales Associate accompanied him and they chatted about a service agreement that could be purchased with the laptop. My colleague knew all about the service agreement and politely declined.

The Associate would not give in. He pushed and pushed. He made it sound like my colleague's entire life was going to be ruined if he didn't buy this service agreement.

Now, at first, you might think "good for him, he's really trying to sell the high margin service agreement" and, sometimes, we would agree with you. However, this situation went way off track when the Sales Associate started getting ugly. He simply did not want to take no for an answer.

Just a note here...my colleague has purchased many electronic items over the years and is very familiar with the service agreement add-ons. In fact, he was the National Sales Manager for a chain of electronics stores for a very well-known brand. He had plenty of experience with service agreements and, in this case, had already made a well informed decision not to purchase it.

Back to the story...After the purchase was completed, the Sales Associate - who had taken on a decidedly unfriendly attitude - smirked and waved good-bye. And he said "good luck with that." And, yes, he did mean it in an entirely sarcastic way.

He was basically saying that my colleague would have problems with the new laptop and he would be very sorry he didn't buy the service agreement.

Well, whatever happened to ...Let the Buyer Beware? My colleague was prepared to live with the outcome.

What a great experience. After spending several hundred dollars, he had to endure one of the Seven Deadly Sins of Customer Service: Condescension...from a Sales Associate who didn't know enough about the profession we call sales, or the proper behaviour we call courtesy.

Be consistent

 

All of us are looking for success in our retail businesses. Apart from and beyond everything else, sustainable success requires consistency. What do we mean by that?

We mean being consistently great in all aspects of our retail business.

Short term successes are possible due to some lucky combination of factors. But, we can't rely on lucky combinations. They are too few, and far between.What we need to do is to set the foundations of our business right so that we can repeat our successes consistently.

This also has a profound impact on customer satisfaction. Your customers expect a certain level of performance from you on the basis of the perception you created. By being consistent at your skill set and service levels, you satisfy the minimum expectations.

And if you put a degree of constant improvement process in place, you'll create a winning combination for your retail operation.

At minimum, some of the areas you must deliver on a consistent basis are:

1. Sales Skills (Trained staff on professional retail sales skills)

2. Quick response to all sorts of customer issues (Rapid response procedures in place)

3. Clean, tidy and efficient store environment (Great visual merchandising and maintenance)

4. Streamlined and customer friendly checkout process.

Pretty basic, right? Yet, just wander around the malls and shopping centres and see for yourself how many retailers are failing in consistent delivery of the basics.