Cost of Selling: Why The Seller Goes To Pay

When you do business, obviously your goal is to earn from the revenues. But, a common mistake that many business owners commit is thinking that business is only about revenues and they often forget that even if you are into the industry of selling, still you have to spend and pay for what your business needs. Most do not recognize the fact that everything you sell is technically an investment as you need to put your money into it first before you earn later on.

Now, in order for you to know the importance of knowing the costs of what you are selling, you first have to understand how it works and what is its role in your business. In that case, you only have to remember three key terms; Material, Labor, and Operations.

Unless you are a reseller, you’ll know that your product will require complimentary materials and parts regardless if you will manufacture them or buy them from third parties. But, aside from that you also need some manpower and on top of all that, you will also be required to shoulder the cost of shipping the needed parts to your warehouse and assembling these parts. That would be followed by human resources from labor, to rent, to equipment, electricity to run the operations, employees to sell said products in your store, as well as sales and marketing and finance and all the other departments. See, selling is expensive right?

It’s either all of these will apply to you or only some would. So let’s elaborate each even more so you’ll further understand and see what information can be useful for your business.

Materials

Commonly, this cost would be for the parts used to build or assemble your products. It is different from all the raw materials and ingredients needed for the products to be complete or it can also be any and all items purchased for resale and/or to create the product itself. On the other hand, it can also be possible that your products won’t be built with parts but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to spend on them because you can also include here the cost of the containers, plastic, carton or cans used to transfer the products.

Labor

Labor is not only about manpower. For many big companies especially those who have plants, warehouses and etc, labor costs might also include the parts or machines required to create the product as well as all supplies required in the production. Keep in mind that you also have to pay for the shipping parts and equipment to the warehouse to create the product, including containers, freight, fuel surcharges, etc and of course the workforce (people) who put the products together, ship the parts, etc. But don’t forget to include the costs for warehousing, including rent, utilities, etc. because sometimes, these are the some of the most costly.

Operations

Lastly, in your operations, you have to pay for your office staff which refers to everyone who is directly involved in the product as well as for the use of software, hardware, office rent and other utilities which are also important. Know that your operations may adapt to changes which may incur more expenses in the future.

The importance of the costs of selling is to help you determine whether your hard work would be productive and beneficial in the end. Doing the computations would tell us whether our decisions give us worthy results and if we earn enough. It is a review to help us do something on things that we can still improve. Just remember to do it right and to do it fairly.

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How Important Is It To Have A Deeper Understanding of Your Brand Identity?

When we first think of a business, what we think of first is the baseline components of it; the logo, tagline, etc. But we focus more on what we want to sell, to whom, and how can we convince people that we are the best by saying we are better than our competitors. This drives us to develop a habit and a cliché business management style that focuses on being cheaper or affordable but still more effective.

But the question is, did any of that give you an understanding about what your business really is? Obviously, no because what you become is a full-time competitor that only focuses on sales. Businesses like these won’t last long and if they do, they stay on low level till the rest of its time.

Meanwhile, for bigger and more established companies, it took more than mastering the rules in supply and demand. It is about being able to establish not just a name but an identity that is not only unique but remarkable.

Brand identity is all about creating experience and handing it out to all of your customers. A successful introduction of identity is like making people taste a good dish for the very first time. Making them feel good is what you aim. It’s jackpot if you become their instant favorite. Right there and then you now you’ll keep them. But if not, still, it’s okay. You can still go the long process where you can establish the relationship. It’ll take time but you reach your goal all the same.

Of all the businesses around, it’s a tough challenge to become something unique or different. But keep in mind that it’s still possible to be special. Providing something that will be remembered as your own is not only about making something new. But it can be about making an old thing feel like it’s something new. You have to be incorporated not only to a need but to a certain feeling.

Desire is a greater motivation than a need.  When people get something that they desire, they treat it as a priced possession and it could develop an irresistible feeling making your business live on. So, it’s really good to invest on that.

Going back to the main point, before you will be able to employ and introduce your identity to your customers, it must first start within you. By bringing out the essence of your business, come out with a message. This doesn’t have to be directly sent to the market because there are other ways that you can make your customers understand it. You can have it on different forms, such as in your ads, your color scheme and even packaging.

Making your product a symbol of something is the most ideal outcome. But again, before you can do that, you have to be able to incorporate your product and services with simple feelings such as joy and triumph and should connote to empowering message such as beauty in humility and simplicity.

Brand identity should not only be what your customers imagine when they hear your brand name but it must also be about what they feel in their hearts and from their memories of past experiences.

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Importance of Initial Knowledge and Effective Gimmicks in Retail

Knowledge and strategy are two important things that a business owner must possess to succeed in Retail. Before engaging in a business of course it’s required of someone to conduct initial research that will give him knowledge about the world he is entering. Everyone should keep in mind that business-mindedness is not purely innate and those who are just street-smart won’t survive for too long in the industry.

There are trainings that one can undergo because one does not only acquire knowledge he must also know how and when he must apply it. Aside from that, there are a lot of available tools, modules, and software to aid in business management.

After all of these, now you can consider yourself as initially ready. But, take not that your preparation doesn’t end here but in fact, it’s just barely beginning. Let’s say you successfully launched a brand and a store with your own set of products and services, would that be enough? Again, the answer is no.

After starting your business, you’ll reach a point where you now need to deploy your creativity. This is through planning a strategy and coming up with gimmicks that you can offer to entice your market.

One or two gimmicks won’t be enough. You have to plan consistently and make sure to build a momentum to keep your customer interested. Having this good start will help you make a good impression that you can soon turn to customer loyalty.

One of the gimmicks that you can think of is the making of events. If you have a physical store, it should start with your launch. Do not settle with plain information dissemination. Make it fun and interesting for your customers by having games, promos, giveaways and by inviting celebrities. After that, make sure you have a line-up of other events that may consist of promos and even sale. You can target either your general target market or your patrons. Don’t worry, because it is not required to always put grandeur in it. Again, part of your research and planning is to find witty gimmicks that won’t cost you so much. The point here is for you to make a unique customer experience that will be remarkable and unforgettable for your customers. This is how you will stand out with your competitors.

As you can see, your knowledge and your strategies must work hand-in-hand. As time pass by, there will be changes in the trends and there will be a need for innovation and development. Through these times, you must always be prepared to deliver something new.

Successful businesses started with this and are still continuing to do this even after being established. The best tip is to never stop doing research, never stop planning and never stop the flow of ideas that you can apply to make more gimmicks to give to the consumers. Through this, not only you will retain them but you will also attract new ones. The cycle never stops.

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How to be a Successful Brand Online and Offline

Some says traditional form of retail is still the best, while some says online is now the new best platform for businesses. But instead of comparing and debating what’s better between the two, why not just be good at both?

It is understandable that your medium will also depend on your services and your target audience, so you might not really need the other platform then it’s up to you. If you want to sell online or just have a brick and mortar shop then it’s your discretion. But for those who plan to engage in both directions, let me discuss its perks and tell you how you can do it.

First of all, a business with combined online and offline presence is a good combination. Physical transaction is essential and by far still the best and most preferred by customers. Having a store your customers can visit opens a door to establish a good and lasting relationship between your brand and the customers and also gives limitless opportunities for additional sales.

Meanwhile, your online domain is where you will reach wider audience faster and more effectively. You can engage with different communities and you also use various tools to advertise, and promote new products, services and even promos. Plus, here you can also transact and offer online selling and delivery services to your faraway customers. It is also important because it’s where people look for and talk about different trends either about fashion, jewelry, lifestyle and many more. That can be easily used to know what products and services would sell best and who you can sell them to.

See, each platform can stand on its own as each existed and was used on different times and different purposes. But imagine being able to integrate both and utilizing the different benefits that you can get from them? That would be great as it is being used not only by most businesses nowadays, but even those that are already established.

Now, here’s what you can do to master the online-offline combination of business.

Build partnerships with other related businesses. Business partnerships will help the growth of your business much faster. Knowing how to negotiate with other businesses can lead you to bigger ventures. But it requires thorough planning to impress them with your business plan and profiling.

Invest on your retail space if you must. Make sure you have a presentable shop and staff. Provide a comfortable place for your customers where they can go around and feel pleased for that will make their shopping experience enjoyable.

This can be combined with a good online plan starting with a system that will allow customers give their feedback and suggestions and assign someone that will deal with the concerns to assure your customers that you are concerned and willing to assist them with their problems. This is what will help you build a good reputation and may also develop loyalty from customers. You can also make use of the positive reviews and ratings for potential customers.

With all these in place, you can manage your business and expect sales and revenue on both ends. Just make sure you are open for innovation and develop better strategies in handling your multi-platform business to achieve ideal results.

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How Social Media Shaped Retail By Being The New Trendsetter

For most people nowadays, social media is much more than just means of communication or form of entertainment. Through the years, it has also made its way to penetrate the retail industry by being a tool for marketing, advertising and promotions as a means of product selling.

But most importantly, it has become a trendsetter which is where peoples’ lifestyle depend on.

This is the function which can make businesses flourish and succeed. So, business owners must make use of this effectively for it to favor their advantage.

Conversations on social media are the primary means of setting these trends whether it’s about food, fashion or technology. That’s why businesses no matter how big or small finds their way to the social media world. Truth be told, it’s where you literally interact with the whole world.

Almost everyone in the world has their access to technology and into the internet. These people use social media to socialize which means they have a network of other different people that could extent to other parts of the world. They use categories based on preferences and interests, ideas, gender and age to group themselves and these will define their discussions and behavior. Using this information can help businesses determine their target audience or if they wish to go on the market in general because they sell common goods, still they can know what customers want and need best.

These trends that happen on social media must be the foundation of their business direction. Every product, promo and services must have a correlation with these trends because it’s what people will patronize in you.

Through time, being used to analyzing trends can help you develop a skill in predicting changes and the path where these trends lead to. It will help you strategize and plan for future business ventures that will help you become more successful and established.

As you group, you might also expand your dominion over the social media world. This means people will become more used to having you as part of their lives and when you finally reach a certain stage where you now have control in the trends itself, that’s the time you can start driving it the way you want to and the way it favors you compared to before when you just adjust to it. You can see this, on famous brands where they can declare promos, sale almost anytime they want and people will surely patronize because these brands are already established.

Mastering the industry you are in works hand in hand with your online presence. If you are already an expert with what you are selling, it would be easier for you to reach out and entice your target consumers. By that time, you will just be like an experienced and famous singer or artist going around with his world tour without worries because he already knows how to do his craft flawlessly.

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The Importance of Retail Brand Identity

They say the retail industry is a big competition. This means every business is a contestant. It explains why establishing a unique and remarkable identity is a must for a brand. Here we will discuss more about how important a retail brand identity is for the success of a business.

Observe some of the successful businesses nowadays. Putting aside the nature of their products and services, what common characteristic do you find among them? How do you think they were able to entice a lot of people to patronize them overtime?

Notice that most of these empires are now built on rock-solid ground. But they didn’t start like that. It took time, determination a lot of different things before they achieved their current position.

Their color and logo has become a familiar image for the people. They are incorporated to the basic needs of the people. So every time they think of buying something, they already have a brand in mind. Aside of the price, it’s the people’s trust which makes them patronize that particular brand. You can start with this part when starting your business. Use the fact that trust and loyalty can be earned by being able to make people recognize and acknowledge your brand. Create your unique brand name and logo and incorporate it with high quality service and products plus wise business management. That’s how you will be remembered.

Along with your identity is the target market that comes along with it. You have to specify and determine them completely so that you will also be able to position your business where you can engage with them effectively. Your target market depending on age, gender, preferences and other demographics will help you identify what platforms you should use. Upon knowing that, make sure you utilize your resources in a way that these platforms will work to benefit your business and company.

After knowing all these basic components, you should have an impactful launching of the business.

Proper advertising and promotions to motivate and maintain recall.

You should also have art direction with a harmony of colors and themes that will unite and lead to a specific and solid identity.

The ultimate important of having a unique identity is that it sets you apart from your competitors and gives you an edge towards your target market.

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