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Archive for December, 2009

Predictions For What Retail Customers Will Find in 2010 by Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor

This is part two of predictions for both retailers and customers in 2010…

For Customers:

Expect less, pay more. With Wall Street demanding increases, big boxes will continue to run on skeleton crews to keep their percentage of labor expense in-line with lower sales. With lower inventory, better computer modeling of demand and lower costs, sales will still appear but they will be more selective what is and isn’t included.
Hit and run. Many businesses were barely hanging on the last few years. Several will leave with advance notice but more and more you’ll find they left in the night to avoid the landlord locking their doors and keeping their merchandise.
Everything will be cheaper built in order to make price points. That means for many items quality will deteriorate and may even lead to unsafe products. Look no further than last Sunday’s 60 Minutes story about cheap holiday lights causing house fires. Better merchants will educate customers, not just stick a sale sign on their wares.
Coupons and free food will still be the promotion of the day. If you’re willing to be baited and switched or told, “we ran out,” chase the deals – otherwise if it sounds too good to be true, there’s probably a catch.
Expect to have to wait for goods as “just in demand” inventory stretches suppliers to the limits. Think less stockpiled merch and more tags as to how to order it online for delivery in a few days.
Look for states to try to balance their budgets by getting the tax revenues that have given online stores an unfair advantage over their bricks and mortar competitors.

This was part 2, if you want to know what retailers can expect for 2010, it’s here.

2010 Predictions For Retailers by Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor

It’s the end of a year when we as a country stared into an economic abyss and it retreated. From takeovers to bankruptcies, bailouts and the ridiculous assertion shoppers had “fundamentally changed,” retailers heard it all. It was a lot of things but many new developments will challenge both shoppers and retailers as the economy picks up steam.

Johnny Carson

For Retailers:

Let’s make a deal. The hagglers are going to explode on the shopping floor. Many customers took tentative steps at asking for a discount in 2009 and were rewarded on the spot. Expect their new-found confidence to challenge everyone’s prices; if for no other reason than they can.
The iPhone and other cell phones’ shopping Apps will grow to help people price-check, locate similar products as well as pay for all of it. It will be even more important to have knowledgeable sales staff to add rather than scoff at what online access provides customers.
Landlords will hold the line on their rent reductions. They are pressured and over-leveraged and will be less willing to “wait until business gets better.” It may mean becoming their adversary – don’t do it – you both need each other.
Fewer vendors will mean it will be harder than ever to differentiate your merch compared to your larger competitors. Look harder.
Silent partners will open their mouths. Whether that is your wife, husband, significant other or relative they will be looking at the time and money spent in running your business and their return on investment. That means you may have to explain why you are a chronic over-buyer and their money is sitting on your floor gathering dust, not in their bank gathering interest.
Big boxes have too much space for too much merchandise, look for them to open aisles, close off areas and generally look thinner. Smaller retailers should do the same. As online shopping continues to grow brick and mortar stores will have to be seen as showcases and playgrounds to try out items rather than warehouses.
With the economy picking up in many places, your best and brightest employees will be open to looking elsewhere for a paycheck. Even worse, your “Bitter Betty” employees will be even less likely to leave on their own.
Customers will come in intending to trade down. There’s a reason average mattress transactions are down 20%, people can forgo alternatives when it is price-driven. Sales training will be essential to point out why your premium goods are worth it more than ever.
Retail sales will continue to improve for those willing to do the hard work and actively capture sales.

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor

Coming up tomorrow: Part 2- what retail customers can expect in their local retail stores.

For retailers looking to get a leg up on their competitors, I’m offering a free mentor session next month, details at http://www.retaildoc.com/mentor.html.

What Retailers Can Do After the Blizzard of 2009

The news over the weekend was the big blizzard that occurred on the last weekend before Christmas. Shoppers in some areas stayed off the roads due to weather, in New Orleans and Dallas it was due to the big Cowboys-Saints match-up. Quick thoughts for retailers:

First, the event was short but no lingering affects. Roads are open. If you are a Main Street or downtown location, make sure everything is clean and free of snow, ice and slop – it has to look inviting as ever these next few days.
While it may have been painful to not be open your full hours, it is a level playing field; it was painful for your customers to not be able to complete their holiday shopping. You both need each other.
Now more than ever customers will be harried, hurried and possibly harpy. They won’t have as much time to shop around so make sure to get “Their List” and see how many names you can help them cross off.
Consider using the hours you didn’t pay employees this weekend, to stay open a bit later or open a bit earlier the next few days to help ease shopper anxiety. Update social media with what you are doing as well.
Start any seasonal clearance sale one day earlier and make it more substantial – you don’t want any left after this Thursday.
Remember a lot of people held off shopping as they always do when Thanksgiving comes late and were caught off-guard that this was the last weekend before Christmas. Now with one less day, they might be upset so remind your crew to empathize with customers and get “Their List.”
Remember guys are the ones you’ll see more of so read my post how to sell to them
You’re welcoming them to your home- remember that. If anything, the demands for an exceptional experience have been upped because they have less options to shop around. When they do, get their contact information so the next disaster you can keep more of your loyal customers updated on what you’re doing to help them get their shopping accomplished.

Now is not the time to try to discount your regular merchandise or try to come up with a new promotion – it’s too late for that. You are selling convenience in the next few days so add-on to every sale; if you offer gift wrapping (even for a charge) make sure customers know, if you have a liberal return policy make sure customers know and whatever you do – get “Their List.”

Retail Sales Training Tip: Don’t Be A Stranger

Friends Make The Best Salespeople

So many people say, “I don’t like to be sold something,” but often they don’t realize their own friends are the best salesperson. They may not see it that way because they are comfortable enough to tell their friend their problem and open enough to hear their solution. Because of that comfort level, their friend is comfortable enough to offer the solution to their problem.

So what happens when these people land in your retail store?

They are skeptical. In a world where they relied on friends, there is often no one around. No sympathetic ear for the woman confused by the choice for her husband’s razor, no one to reassure the student with only $700 that the notebook will do as promised, no one familiar with their dog to know just the right food.

And so these people comfortable with being sold by friends take a stab at it, make a selection and return to their safe homes; maybe the product meets their needs maybe it doesn’t.

The trick in growing retail sales is finding a way to provide enough sales training that your employees can move merch by adopting the very best traits of a friend. When they don’t they make the customer wary and uneasy- just like a stranger.
© Bob Phibbs 2011

You can see how to find something in common with a customer on this free video of mine.

Learn how to grow your retail sales here.

November Holiday Retail Sales Rise: Pundits Pissed Off

The numbers are in and, guess what? Sales ROSE in November! In spite of repeated reports of how shoppers weren’t coming out.

The Los Angeles Times this afternoon summed it up, “The government’s report came as a surprise but retail sales rose 1.3 percent last month, after a 1.1 percent October gain, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the biggest advance since sales jumped 2.4 percent in August, and more than double the 0.6 percent increase economists had expected”.

Look for the media to pick this up and run the, “Well, it doesn’t mean anything or the numbers are skewed” they’ll have to find a way to spin it badly.