Sourcing out Products for Your Retail Store

A steady supply of high quality products s what you need to secure a competitive and progressive business. In this aspect, there is a need to be wise with your decision on how to source out and find a good supplier that will benefit your business.

Now, in business we have what we call trends. These will define what will be bought by the public at a particular time. Being able to keep up and produce trendy products can give you a temporary boost in sales; however, you need still need to be cautious for trends, by definition, show “a general direction in which something is developing or changing.”

Change is constant and inevitable even in trends, so you should be aware of this when you source out a fashionable product. Remember that what’s popular today may not be after a year, so be watchful on how that trend develops over time and order your inventory accordingly.

So, after you brainstormed possibilities, generated ideas, and identified what trends your customers might be interested in, you may then have a long list of potential products you could source and stock in your retail store.

The thing is you can’t just go on and sell everything that you could. But it’s also about curating the right products to delight your specific customers.

This is a reality especially when you’re a specialty retailer, or want to build a reputation as a store with the greatest items for a highly niche market. They put their dedication to curating only the best products for their store shelves right on the homepage of their website:

The company only sources products from retailers who pass a strict quality standard. Some also refuses to stock items with ingredients banned from their shelves.

The end result is a store in which customers know exactly what to expect when they walk in the door: high-quality, health-focused beauty products that are made with safety and sustainability in mind.

Aim to curate your products in the same way, so that your shelves offer consistent levels of quality for customers. The items you sell can reflect your brand, so choose them with care.

Now, the next thing you’ll be thinking is working with a supplier. Well, there are a lot of ways to connect with people. If you want an easier transaction, you have the internet to make things easier for you. While if you’re someone who prefers one-on-one up close and personal, you could go to trend shows and other conferences which can make your network wider.

The post Sourcing out Products for Your Retail Store appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/sourcing-out-products-for-your-retail-store/

Validating Retail Business Idea with a Focus Group

The idea of focus group engagement in business is to put customers in an interactive experience that exposes them to your business idea. It’s a moderated session that gathers feedback, opinions, and criticisms based on questions or activities that you create. If well executed, this strategy can provide you a return of invaluable insight and help guide decisions on if and how to approach your new business or launch your new product.

Your primary goal is to know whether your new business idea will click to your customers and if it will keep you going. You can start from this goal to guide you in your further actions.

Finding Participants

Your next priority would be considering who should be involved. You want to be able to identify underlying similarities among the group, but some diversity will allow for insightful and contrasting opinions. When thinking of people to invite, aim for a group of at least 5 to 10 with different demographic profiles and variables for this can ensure that you can strike up a lively conversation. The keyword here is conversation, not debate. Try recruiting participants for free through social media channels or community boards. It is also better to have people who don’t know each other.

What questions should you ask?

Lastly, be very thoughtful about the questions you pose to your focus group. These questions must incite conversation and, ultimately, give you the validation you’re looking for.

Here are some traits of effective questions:

1. Open-ended. You don’t want the conversation to fizzle with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. This will not produce great ideas and will just give you countless nods and head shakes.

1. Clear and Concise. You don’t want participants to hesitate sharing their thoughts because their confused about what you’re asking.  Remember to Keep It Short and Simple.
2. Realistic and Relevant. The conversation should be natural if you want the group to feel comfortable sharing their feedback openly.
3. Focused around one thought or goal. Venturing with many branches of ideas can confuse the participants and lead them away from the primary concept which will make it harder for you to synthesize.

The order of your questions can also influence the outcome, so run a test session on family, friends or partners to capture some quick feedback. Allow for 15 to 20 minutes of discussion per question, so plan for eight questions that will get you the validation you’re looking for.

Focus Group Session Proper

After recruiting an eager group of participants and when you already feel confident about your plan, then it’s time to start things up!

Here are some tips to help you out:

1. Choose a location that’s comfortable and conveys a feeling of openness. Provide light snacks and water to keep participants as focused as possible while you have them. If the location allows, seat participants around a circular table for easier flow of conversation.

1. Ask participants to show up at least 15 minutes before start time so that your session can begin in a timely manner.
2. Use the buddy system. Bring along a friend or partner you can trust to take thorough notes. These will be what you revisit and analyze. If you’re able to record the session, do that as well.
3. Arm yourself with tactics to steer the conversation when it gets off course.

One thing to be especially aware of is a phenomenon where other participants just goes with the flow. This usually happens when one enthusiastic participant offers an opinion and the rest of the group then adopts as their own because they don’t want to be seen as a detractor. In some cases, great ideas can come from participants building off one another, but make sure it doesn’t get in the way of absorbing valuable differing opinions.

There are a few things you can do to avoid this. Give participants an assignment a week prior to the session to give them an opportunity to form opinions before hearing others. In the same vein, it helps to ask participants to write down some of their answers during the session that you can then collect and use to steer the conversation. And finally, when you already see this happening, try challenging the group with the opposite assumption and see where it goes.

Using the Results for your Advantage

Make sure you have fully documented the highlights of the session afterwards. Consider recording the focus group to avoid missing any important idea. This will allow you to transcribe the session and more easily draw valuable insights.

After doing this, you can start categorizing the ideas. Then you can start generalizing to have the whole picture of your findings. Now, you should be able to have a fruitful conclusion that will help you with your next actions.

The post Validating Retail Business Idea with a Focus Group appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/validating-retail-business-idea-with-a-focus-group/

The Science of Discounts

DISCOUNTS, DISCOUNTS, DISCOUNTs.

This is a word that instantly brings sparkle to the eyes of a crowd of buyers causing intense change in their behavior, a couple of boosted hormones as an initiation to the process of your transaction.

When it comes to creating discounts that will trigger buying behavior, setting up sale prices is equal parts psychology and marketing presentation skills. So, the question is how can smart retailers move merchandise by appealing to the human psyche and how can they influence the customer’s behavior to favor their business?

There are innumerable strategies used in promotions. Listed below are some of the most commonly used types. Your primary goal is to gain insights into which of these drive sales with your particular customer base. If you must, experiment with each until you find the lift you’re looking for. Trying everything can also help you identify which works the best, suits your business and provide your ideal results.

Percentage Reduction

This is likely the discount type you’ve seen most often, and it can be applied to a specific product or your entire store. For example, get $50 or 50% off. This is also one of the most effective types because the shoppers are encouraged to buy (even more than they ought to) because of the reduced prices of the goods. It also causes a panic buying mindset to the customers. This leads them to buy and buy and buy.

“Buy one, Get one FREE”

This can be used to encourage shoppers to consider additional items in your store. For example, you can advertise “Buy one, get 50% off the second” or “Buy one, get one free.”

Bundle sale

Tempt shoppers to buy multiple items in order to unlock this promotion type. This works best on smaller ticket items. For example, buy five items and get the sixth for free. This can help encourage impulse purchases, and helps increase the average sale amount per transaction.

Rewards for a purchase

Shoppers love freebies. If they’re on the fence about a purchase, or if they’re choosing deciding between you and a competitor, a free gift might be just the push they need to purchase. Providing a more favorable reward can give you an edge to be chosen by consumers.

Rebate

In this scenario, the saving occurs after the initial purchase and is decided by the shopper. Although the barrier to savings is higher, this works well on higher-ticket items, if the discount is worth it.

Testing variations of the above discounts can be costly. Keep your eye on profit margins and ensure you’re comfortable crunching the numbers. Engage with everything only when necessary prevent this from causing excessive expenses or it might leave you with loss of significant assets.

Now, you might be thinking why do discounts work?  Well, business is a persuasion game. People invest their money but also they are looking for the best deal that they could ever find. And because people love free items so much, they will also consider anything that can be as closer to being free.

The post The Science of Discounts appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/the-science-of-discounts/

Online Contests for your Retail Giveaways

Almost everyone have engaged at least once using the social media. It is indeed a part of our daily lives to exist in the online world. Given that, business owners also adapted to use this reality as to achieve their goals for the growth of their business. Many strategies are now being produced to satisfy and maintain the interest of the online audience.

Well, who wouldn’t like a free stuff? This is one of the primary reasons why online contests are a thing nowadays. However, giveaways aren’t just great for the winner — they’re an opportunity for you to grow your retail business. With a little bit of product as a prize and some marketing effort, an online giveaway can help your business grow your email newsletter subscription list; increase awareness of a new brand or product; drive customers to your website or into your store; gain valuable data from existing and future customers; increase social media followers; and get rid of excess inventory as prizes.

These are just some of the possible benefits that you can derive from running an online giveaway gimmick. Now, let’s dive into the steps you’ll need to take to run a flawless online contest.

First, you have to identify what’s the goal for your giveaway. While there are many reasons you might launch a giveaway, your objective might look something like one of the options in the list above. Whether it’s increasing website traffic, growing your social presence, or increasing sales, it’s important to clearly define the goal from the beginning of the campaign. Being specific can also help you in determining if you are achieving progress with your objectives.

It’s important to also make sure that the success of your campaign is traceable and that you’re set up to analyze this data throughout and at the end of the giveaway. Nail down what metrics are most important before you launch your online contest, as these will be based on your goals for the overarching campaign.

Next, you’ll need to identify the prize or prizes you’ll be giving away. Remember, better prizes can help further boost engagement and shares. However, stay away from offering some generic prize. Instead, make the prize relevant to your brand or products. This will establish your relation and connection with your customers.

It would be better to give away your own products as prizes to ensure that you’re attracting entrants who are interested in your brand. Giving away a TV might just attract people that like big TVs and aren’t really interested in your business or its offerings. Giving away some of your own product is also a way to clear some hard to move items in your inventory that is cluttering up your shelves.

Now, there are countless types of contests for eager retailers to try. While we’ve included a roundup of some of the most common types below, you may still need a bit of inspiration to come up with the perfect contest content. If you’re planning your next round of giveaways for the year, consider planning your online contest around one of the following factors.

This strategy would render great benefits to your business as long as you know what you’re doing and you understand the needs and wants of your customers. This will be a key to a progressive growth that will make your brand stand out among all others.

The post Online Contests for your Retail Giveaways appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/online-contests-for-your-retail-giveaways/

Tips to Lower Expenses Without Compromising Quality

For the past years, Cross-cutting in the business industry has always been about compromising the quality of your product or having to say goodbye to the kindest people working with you. But, the reality is, this doesn’t always have to be the only outcome. In fact, this could result to something beneficial for the business. So stop swallowing the hard path because there is another way to come around and achieve success.

Reducing expenses is one of the priorities of business owners. This is another way to boost the revenues in your business. It’s an important, but not necessarily straightforward, issue to tackle. On one hand, cutting costs can happen in a variety of ways. But on the flip side, you could be sacrificing quality.

Quality should never be compromised or sacrificed because it will have a huge impact on your business. Believe it or not, lower quality of goods or services will also harm the way your customers behave when having transactions with you. A bad impression can be earned by doing so. And just for your information, many business paid the toll by falling into bankruptcy or if not, suffered a major reduction in their income.

So, what should you do? You might be thinking that this is a dead end where you are cornered with no other choice.

The key is no other than turning efforts to customer retention could reap more financial rewards, and more importantly, be a more cost-efficient means of boosting sales. Repeat customers are likely to spend more, too, and that amount is likely to increase over time. Profits also increase and operating costs decrease with this additional spending.

Retailers can improve their customer retention rates through loyalty programs, reaching out to customers who reach milestones (such as a year since their last purchase or an upcoming birthday), and improving customer service. Learn how to implement these and other customer retention strategies.

Now one of the simplest yet important ways is to keep close and watch your expenses and then perform an audit for you to determine the unnecessary which you can cut out. Many of these unnecessary expenses are from the operational expenses that we incur either daily or monthly.

After being able to cut off some of these, you might want to support your income and boost to maintain the arrival of revenues. You might also take advantage of this by engaging to business relationships such as partnerships with trustworthy entities.

Another strategy that you can do is by automating vital tasks in your business. Just make sure that when you do this, you will be able to cut the expenses and focus them on more important tasks. All you need to remember is you must determine repetitive tasks that are not necessary to be man-handled.

Lastly, you can resort to outsourcing of services. Through this you can make sure that your processes will be handled with expertise by consulting firms. Another suggestion is to outsource your logistics and supply channel instead of maintaining your own distribution center.

There are a lot of opportunities tied to cutting the expenses. Though there is no one-size-fits-all solution for cutting costs while maintaining product quality. Problem-solve the areas where your costs are generating the least value so you have more capital to focus on growing your business.

The post Tips to Lower Expenses Without Compromising Quality appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/tips-to-lower-expenses-without-compromising-quality/

Cash On The Streets: Off Store Retailing

Many trends arise in business particularly in retailing. Going on the streets and off store may be unexpected but believe it or not, it is one of the most successful nowadays. As you can observe, many retailers already transferred from their brick and mortar store to a wheeled property to distribute and market their goods and services.

Food trucks are the most common example today. This is particular to food business whereas more and more of them are opting to serve their meals on wheels. This is due to the outstanding reviews and studies which places food trucks on top of the lists of the greatest strategies in business.

Annual revenues for this kind of business has now reached billions not only in the United States but also all over the world. Truly mobile business has made an impact in the retail industry whereas it has shaped how business engages in the transaction with the buyers.

Now, let’s examine the factors and the reasons why this major turn has made a huge difference in marketing and how it can truly benefit the retailers. We will also find out the proper strategy on how you are going to be able to implement it.

First, you have to consider the costs that it will take comparing it to the start-up costs of a brick-and-mortar store. You also might want to include the costs to rent such a space, purchasing displays and equipment, hiring staff, etc. This is on top of the overhead costs which include insurance, inventory and maintenance — are also much less expensive than those of a storefront. Take into consideration the money saved on advertising alone. Traveling retailers are often hard to miss, and your storefront is what introduces you to your customers first.

So, knowing our economy, it is undeniably not friendly especially to business owners so if you are considering or wanting to be more practical, then it will be easier to decide.

On the other hand, mobile retailers have the luxury of working with a smaller amount of real estate and a smaller inventory. As a result, they can be agile in their approach by testing the waters of a particular market before committing to something more permanent either in location or with inventory. So it could be a better choice then.

But the most important thing that you must consider is the overall experience that you will be giving to your customers. This is what will make the greatest impact. Well, Mobile retailers are in a position to offer a unique and fun retail experience that stands apart from fixed storefronts.

Customers prefer things what will give them the best convenience and comfort. That is one of the rules of business. That is why we can say that it is an automatic advantage of turning into mobile because it is rich with that particular factor. Given all this information, make sure that the next decisions will be worth your while and your money. Off you go!

The post Cash On The Streets: Off Store Retailing appeared first on POP FUEL.

source http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/cash-on-the-streets-off-store-retailing/