10 Insider Tips for Retail Success

BY Devlin Smith

Margarita Olivares doesn't operate typical retail stores. In her shops, the walls are pink, floors are covered in animal-print carpet, employees wear fluorescently colored wigs, and merchandise is often furry, feathered or glittery. This combination makes Olivares' two Glamdora--It's a Girl Thing stores a bit of girl heaven.

Operating stores in Corpus Christi and San Antonio, Texas, keeps the 30-year-old mother of four on her toes. It also makes Olivares, who's currently featured in the AOL/Entrepreneur.com series "The Startup" (AOL keyword: The Startup), a great person to talk about what it takes to run a hip retail concept. We asked her to share her secrets for keeping a business running smoothly and successfully, and here are her tips:

Location

• Where you at? Choosing your location is the most important step in making your dream of owning a retail store come true. What good is it if you have a great staff and awesome merchandise but no customers? You should choose a location that has a high traffic count. A new retail store isn't going to have a following unless it's a franchise with a well-known name, [so if you're independent,] you'll need all the help you can get. Ideally, you'll want to be next to non-competitive retail businesses that have steady clients; the overflow from these businesses will drive your walk-in traffic and bring in new business for you immediately. If you're looking into a new shopping plaza, you'll need to ask for the demographics of the area. This will ensure that you're not opening a high-end store in a low-end part of town. Be aware of your surroundings, and take your time choosing the perfect location. Don't choose a location just because it' close to your house.

• Big brother. Mall management has a job to do, and it's to make sure stores coming into the mall or those already in the mall are following all the guidelines and policies that pertain to each individual lease. But management should help new tenants become more familiar with the mall because malls are run by a strict set of rules, and breaking one of the rules can break your pocketbook. Opening late, for example, is prohibited and requires a monetary fine to be paid to the mall. Mall management teams are very professional, and it's best to have done your research before attempting a meeting or negotiating with leasing managers.

Merchandise

• Stocking your shelves. Selecting merchandise for your store can be the most time-consuming and expensive part of opening a business. This duty shouldn't be taken lightly! Before opening your store, you should visit wholesale marts to get an idea of the merchandise you'd like to carry. Decide what your mark-up will be and what's appropriate for your area. Choosing the merchandise can be fun, but remember to maintain a general theme and purpose for your products. Discuss ideas with other retailers at the mart, and ask the sales reps for their ideas and suggestions. You'll find most people are willing to help and discuss their experiences with certain products. This will help you decide and narrow down [your choices to] products that will do well in your store.

• Keeping a theme. I maintain a theme in my store by staying true to our name: Glamdora--It's a Girl Thing. Customers know what to expect when they come into our store: They expect to see merchandise for girls--not many stop in to see what we have for boys. Keeping with our tagline, we include merchandise for girls of all ages: nail files, gifts, room decor, shoes, accessories. They're all chosen for their colors and merchandised by theme. Our stores are hot pink and lime green with zebra and leopard accents. With that theme, I choose merchandise that appropriately fits my store. I choose the nail files in hot pink, gifts in bright colors, room decor in zebra or leopard, and so on. [Sticking] to your theme will help you build loyal customers and create a unique store in the process.

• Stay current and stay true. Don't think you know it all when it comes to trends. Keep up with local as well as national trends. You might see a particular look plastered all over the TV or in fashion magazines, but know your market. Will it sell in your store? Does it fit your theme? And don't attempt to sell anything that's way out of your normal buying budget just because it's trendy. The best thing to do is listen to your customers. Customers will always let you know what they're looking for, but only if you ask. Visit your nearest wholesale mart to preview upcoming trends and new products.

Hiring and Management

• Good kids. It's inevitable--you're going to have young people work for you. Hire a young person who has a desire to know more about your type of business. A person who's really interested in cars but wants to work in your clothing store might not be as suitable as someone who's attending classes in fashion design. When interviewing a young person, ask them about their interests and hobbies, and what they feel they can offer you as an employee. I like to ask what they feel is their best attribute.

• Second in command Check all management applicants' references, and require a resume. Advertise for a manager if your budget allows and only if you're prepared to offer competitive pay. A management candidate should have at least one year of management experience and two years of retail experience. Ask them numerous questions about software, cash handling and, most important, management skills pertaining to customer service and employees.

• Loss prevention. You can always expect theft--count on it and set your prices because of it. The only way to find out how much you're losing is to do inventory. I have a POS [point-of-service] system that's run from my PC and has real-time inventory. It doesn't have to be refreshed and can tell me right then what I have on hand. Keep your employees honest with cameras. If you're selling any small items that people are going to walk off with, keep them in secure cases. Make sure employees bring clear purses to work--or no purses at all. You always have to take precautions.

Drawing In--and Keeping--Customers

• Everything must go! Have a specific place for your sale items. Customers should be able to easily distinguish sale items from regular merchandise in the store. Placing your sales items towards the back of the store will force customers to walk by the regularly priced merchandise before coming across the sale items, thus increasing the probability for sales of regular merchandise. Clearly mark your sales prices on all your merchandise and on signs that will grab your customers' attention. Storefront signs will also increase traffic flow and let customers know there's a reason to stop in your store, and you might grab new customers who [want to] give you a try and see what you have on sale.

• Good as gold. Customer service is key to any successful business. Any smart business owner will tell you that customers are gold and should be treated as such. I always remind my employees that customers pay their checks and deserve their undivided attention at all times. Customer service isn't just telling a customer "hello"; it's also about helping them to their car with their packages and making sure they had a great experience while shopping in your store. Each customer should be treated the same and given equal attention whether they buy something or not. Treat your customers with respect, and always go the extra mile for them. Word of mouth is priceless--your best advertising can come from a happy customer. All it costs is your time.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76368

How Events Get Customers In Your Door

Sarah's bookstore hummed as customers milled about, chatting with each other. Nearby store owners complained about the economy, and competition from big box stores. They closed at 5:00 pm on Wednesday and Thursday nights, because of slow traffic. But Sarah's store was open late, filled with customers those two nights of the week. She seemed to have a secret formula that kept her store thriving.

Events are the secret formula
Events give shoppers a reason to visit. If you don't give them a reason, shoppers may intend to visit, but put it off. Or they may never have been to your store before. An event gives them a reason to check it out for the first time.

What's Sarah's secret?
Sarah knows that events are the key to getting customers in the door, predictably and reliably. She knows that two nights a week in-store events draw a store full of customers inside. Customers that are happy to tell other people about their experience.

Why is Sarah's store busier than the others?
Every week Sarah hosts a writer's group and a book club. Each event draws 15-20 people. Most of those customers are regulars, but occasionally they bring new friends with them.

You can learn to use Sarah's secret in your store.

There are three steps to creating events that get customers in the door:
1) Decide on a goal for the event
2) Create the event
3) Invite guests

1) Decide on a goal for the event
What do you want to accomplish with the event? Events are about customer relationships. Set goals that relate to building those relationships, and getting shoppers into the store.

Your goal might be to attract new customers to the store. It could be to get customers to sign up for a series of workshops. Or it might be to build relationships with your VIP or best customers.

Set goals that are specific. For example:

• If your slowest day of the week is Monday, plan to bring in 5 new customers every Monday
• If the store is dead in the middle of the day, create events to bring in shoppers midday
• Increase visits by regular customers from occasional to weekly

Once you know what you want to achieve with the event, the next step is to plan the event itself.

2) Create the event
The events you run should relate to your customer needs. Create an event that helps your customer learn or do something. The event you choose will depend on the type of product you sell. Ideas could be book club meetings for a book store, running club for an athletic shoe store, or style and fit workshops for a women's apparel store. Events can be free or paid. They can include clubs, classes and workshops.

Whatever event you choose needs to add value for your customer. To help you come up with event ideas, ask yourself:

• What kind of questions do customers ask about using your products?
• What do they need help with?
• What kinds of problems do they have that you can solve?

By helping your customers learn, they come to see you as an expert to turn to for information and advice. That is the value that will keep customers coming back to you, instead of the competition.

Now that you've figured out what kind of event to host, let's move on to the next step.

3) Invite guests
Don't make the mistake of trying to make the event a big, mass media event. Or printing up hundreds of cheap flyers.  Store events are about building relationships, so the invitations need to reflect that. Make it personal, like you would if you invited them to your home. Customers want to feel special like your friends do. Invite guests when they are in your store. Hand them invitations. Email invitations to customers you haven't seen in a while. Put an invitation on your blog. Link it to all your social media; Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Consider making the event exclusive to make it more desirable. Sarah's writers group was exclusive. Only writers allowed. You can make events even more exclusive by asking for RSVPs, or charging a fee. Make sure the RSVP or fee information is clearly communicated in the invitation.

Once you've gone through these three steps, you're ready to host your event.

What if no one buys anything?
This is a fear for many retailers. Hosting an event takes time, planning, and money. With all that investment, what if there are no sales? The truth is, you may not sell anything. If the main goal of your event is to get new customers, you probably will sell very little. The event just gets the shoppers in the door. It's like a first date. The shopper is just getting to know you. It's a chance for you to start building a relationship.

In Sarah's case, she often had nights that went by without sales at the event, but she wasn't worried. These people were some of her best customers. They were book lovers. By visiting her store every week, they would see what was new on the shelves. They would place special orders. They'd come in throughout the week to pick up something they'd seen during the book club meeting. And they told their friends about the bookstore.

Sarah was happy to invest two nights a week hosting events. She knew they generated more business than an expensive advertising campaign would. And other than her time, the costs were minimal.

Summary
To create Sarah's secret to get customers in the door, use these three steps:

1) Decide on a goal for the event
Choose a goal that is related to building customer relationships.

2) Create the event
Plan events that meets customer needs.

3) Invite guests
Create invitations that are personal and build relationships.

Source 

Retailer Tip

Retail Dressing Room Ideas

Gunslinger of Bandera, Texas.

Fitting rooms are no longer an afterthought or something that is thrown into whatever space is left in a retail store. Smart marketers are realizing that dressing rooms are a powerful place. They are a place where decisions are made.

High-tech Gadgets
For those who have the money to invest, the market is being flooded with high-tech gadgets for dressing rooms. Interactive mirrors that allow customers to contact friends through cellular phones and social media have been introduced in a few high-end boutiques, and kiosks that allow customers to electronically ask staff for different sizes are in the works. These are just a couple of examples of retailers capitalizing on technology in their dressing rooms.

Functionality
When designing or looking to improve a fitting room, functionality should be a primary goal. Customers want plenty of hooks to place and sort their garments on, as well as seating, good lighting, lots of mirrors and space to move around.


Gathering Area
A gathering or sitting area is a great way to get more sales from your dressing room without an enormous investment. This is especially true in women's dressing rooms! Women like to shop in groups because they value the opinions of their peers, and giving their peers a comfortable place to sit close to the fitting room makes this easier and a better overall experience.


Décor
The decor of the fitting rooms is not to be neglected. Not only should it meld well with the rest of the store, but it should be comfortable and inviting. Consider carpeting the dressing room, even if the rest of the store is tiled. Don't forget the details either. Hang pictures and artwork, place houseplants, use lush soft fabrics.


Temperature
When thinking about ways to improve a dressing room, it is easy to forget that clients will be stripped down to their underwear in there. Installing an additional thermostat and setting it a few degrees higher is one of those small things that can make a big difference.
From the latest Tack n Tog  Industry Update

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