Customer Data to Offer Right Incentives and Boost Your Business

Knowledge is power. All retailers are aware that this is very applicable in the business they are in. What better way to gain knowledge than to analyze data and take based on the lessons derived from it?

Customer differ in terms of their buying behavior. This is due to a lot of factors that influences them before and after they go in and out of your store. But based on their purchase history and personal data, you can extract valuable data that will let you know how you can incentivize your customers so they will continue to patronize you.

Understanding your customers and knowing what motivates them to be loyal to you will give you an edge towards your competitors and it can level up your service so you can boost the amount of revenue you are getting from it.  Follow our discussion below about tips on how to put your valuable customer data in good use.

Identify Your Store’s Busiest Hours

Only through data can you know what your store’s peak hours are. This is important as it is the period of time where it will be crawling with customers who will stand on long waiting lines. That seems like a good thing but it’s not, because it can delay your revenue or even lead to its loss if people are left waiting for too long without you doing anything about it. What you can do is to decongest your store during peak hours by incentivizing your customers to persuade them to shop at a different time.

Using your knowledge about your customers’ behavior can help you to improvise strategies such as offering discount and giving away rewards so it can change and you will be allowed to pave the way for a smooth flow of cash to your business. This would also give you the opportunity to create a better workflow for your staff and improve your services during your store’s busiest period.

Analyze the Performance of Retail Chain Stores

Part of owning a Retail Chain Business is knowing that different stores will have different performances. Some of them will be successful and patronized while some will be stagnant and ignored. But, gathering accurate data is not simple, especially without a fully integrated system that will reconcile data of different stores because only through it can you clearly and instantly see the performance of each store and analyze its weaknesses for you to know how to address them. Some good ideas include a discount offer at a particular time or an event for customers who have not been at that underperforming store for a certain period of time.

If you have a retail franchise business, then knowing what stores are included on the list of poor performers is even more crucial as it can help address bigger issues related to customer service or stock levels that are not easy to identify.

Know Your Customers’ Feedback on different Products

It is also essential to know what customers want and what they think about your products. This will also help you monitor and control the stock levels of your most bought products as long as you have strong data tools. But not just that, because it also helps you gain knowledge about market trends that you can maximize for extra profit for a certain period of time. Plus, it gives you a head start of the time when these trends need to be replaced after they become outdated.

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Turning Website Visits into Actual Profit Through Facebook Retargeting

Just like in the physical world, window shopping happens online; people who browse your website are not automatically buyers. Some of them may just be looking around if something will get their interest. But you don’t always have to just sit and wait for their decision because there’s something you can do about it.

With a strong retargeting strategy, your ads can effectively reach these people, sending them right message that can influence their decision-making process. You can base this strategy by looking into the user history of your customers and visitors. Being able to create a retargeting funnel will help you have a smooth interaction with your customer that will eventually lead to an ideal outcome, which is turning potential sales into actual purchases.

It would also help a lot if you think of a creative way to address their questions and concerns, social proof to solidify their trust on your brand, and a way for them to remember the products that they just viewed.

Aside from serving as a form of advertising to people who have already browsed through your website, retargeting can also be used with Facebook for you to reach potential customers who showed initial interest in your business or product. This can be monitored through their online activity such as liking one of your posts or going to your website and adding some items to their cart.

A huge amount of additional sales can be missed out without retargeting ads, imagine how beneficial it is for your part if your website traffic is actually being converted to your revenue.

But before you can take advantage of Facebook retargeting, you must first integrate Facebook pixel to your website. To understand further, here are the other benefits of Facebook retargeting:

It is a Promising advertising strategy that leads to immediate ROI

Since retargeting is about focusing on people who have already shown interest in your brand and products, it is more likely that you entice them to buy. Unlike using Facebook ads to those who are not familiar of your business which can only result to brand awareness and website traffic, but not necessarily sales.

Audience that are not that interested to your products are less likely to contribute to your sales and in order to change this, you will have to spend more time and resources first to build their trust on you.

It Allows You to Tap into Specific User Behaviors

Facebook Retargeting gives you the power to share specific ads showing relevant products that are interesting to potential customers. This is perfect if your business offers more than a single product.

For you to know which products a particular website visitor is interested into, you must know which pages and products he/she viewed. Then you can use retargeting ads that only shows the particular products that are in line to the customer’s interests.

It helps influence more people to complete a purchase

Studies show that only a small percentage of website visitors naturally ends up making a purchase on their first visit. But because you are doing an intervention through retargeting, there is an increasing chance of bringing more people back to your website to finish their transaction.

This works effectively for people who abandoned their cart of didn’t complete checkout. Retargeting ads will then do a final push to gain sales and drive your conversion rates up.

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Feeling Lonely? 5 Ways to Cure the Entrepreneurship Blues

When we think about entrepreneurs, it is easy to generalize them as ‘people’ persons; individuals who possess exemplary communication skills and rapport. After all, that’s what business sounds like right?

But contrary to this common knowledge— or assumption rather, experts say that doing business is for introverts too! That’s right. In the wide world of entrepreneurship, there are people who loves isolation as much as they love doing business.

But this doesn’t mean that it is possible for every one to thrive while living a solo lifestyle because there’s loneliness and depression too. Many people might still be unaware of it but these mental issues are real and even introverts can experience them.

These problems that cause loneliness have dire effects that affects lives even to a deadly extent especially when matched with the stress which is part of doing business. This is why business owners should also have mental health management plans too especially now that most of them are working from home due to the lockdown caused by the ongoing pandemic. It might be a radical change to have a different setting or routine so people need to cope.

In line with this, here are some work-from-home tips and tricks that will help entrepreneurs remain productive and not become lonely:

Take a Breather

Working from home is just a different setup but the amount of might still be the same. Meaning pressure remains. That’s why it is important that whenever you feel everything’s too much to handle and there’s no progress anymore, take short breaks to breath and empty your mind if this is what will help you focus. Don’t torture your mind and force it to think.

Another way to do this is by going outside momentarily (practice social distancing amid the ongoing pandemic) or by doing some tasks such as answering emails or talking to clients while at your garden or in a nearby café.

Regularly Check on Yourself

As an entrepreneur, your mind is your greatest asset. But it is your body that turns ideas into reality as it does most of the work. That’s why it is important that even when you are busy, check on your health and consider having a fit body. Perhaps you can use apps to track and monitor your physical activities or your diet. You can also join communities or group classes where you can learn a lot about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy food is also a must. Make some plans, ask some people, or do research about what your body needs based on your current lifestyle and condition.

Maintain Social Connections

No matter where you are in the world, technology always has its way to connect you with people. Especially because you are a business owner, one way or another you still have to connect with others. Distance is not really an excuse to cut off ties with important individuals and stake holders.

You can also do face-time or video call meetings if you really can’t meet personally. You can also send emails to one another to transact or discuss about ideas and proposals.

Joining online groups or attending seminars and forums would also help a lot not only for you to gain knowledge but also to widen your network. Being part of a community or going on several events increase your chances of meeting prominent personalities or key persons that will be essential to your business.

If you are running an online business, perhaps you can find a way to bring your shop into the real world. It can be through bazaars or conventions where you can meet not only customers but also other retailers that you can change ideas with.

You bring life to your business. It won’t succeed if you are not well with your personal life. So, mind your well-being and don’t just focus on what’s going on with your business to the point that you don’t care about what’s happening to you anymore.

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Understanding What Makes the Cost of a Rent a Retail Space

Part of making a business plan is understanding all formulas and equation involved in doing your business. Aside from the resources, product manufacturing, and sales. One important element in your business is the rent that you will be paying for your retail space.

It is important not only because it is part of the capital that you will be investing in your business but also because it is part of the requirements when applying for a loan from the bank.

Regardless of these reasons, it is important for you as the retailer to fully know and understand what makes up the rent that you will be paying. It also gives you an idea if it’s wise to get that retail space or if there’s a better option that you can choose.

Here we will analyze and dissect everything that you have to know about retail space rents so you will be enlightened and capable of having the right decision when doing business.

The first tip that you have to consider is doing a comparison on the available properties around the area where you want your store to be opened. Usually, there is an average price per square foot on most areas. Now, you can try to compute its monthly rent by multiplying the total square feet to the price per square feet then divide it to 12 (months).

Suppose that you were able to get a price per square foot, it is safer to give an allowance by increasing it a bit on your business plan in case of last-minute adjustments.

But take note that aside from the raw rental price, there may be other lease terms that you have to settle with the landlord. You may be met with a couple of demands that may add up to the monthly rent though you can bargain for it so you can achieve an agreement with a favorable deal.

Along the additional costs that may be passed to you by your landlord as part of the lease agreement is the maintenance costs for common areas and amenities such as the parking lot, lighting, etc. The landlords may also pass along the cost of the property taxes for the space as well as its insurance premium. This will protect them from damage to the space while you are leasing it. The cost of this premium can be passed along to the lease.

It is common to have all of these costs passed on to you. It is called a “triple net” lease. So, you have to make sure that you check everything about this condition as may add a significant amount to your base rent. Be fully aware and only sign if it’s manageable for you because otherwise, it will just cause you some trouble.

It is also important to calculate the estimate possible rent increases along with the other fees and utilities. Rate increase should be clear to you along with its frequency. It should also be well-documented to prove that both parties fully understand and agree.

You can also consider other alternatives to this such as finding a temporary space or startup incubator areas which are far cheaper when opening your business. It could serve as a testing ground if you will be able to infiltrate the market within that area so there won’t be huge losses when your business flops.

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How to Change Consumers Perspective on Marketing Surveys

The term marketing research might sound important to business owners and managers but it can be a boring jargon for customers. For them, it is just about a barrage of unnecessary emails and notifications that they don’t want to open because they know that when they do, they will just be confronted by technical questions.

This is what businesses must change because market research is mandatory. So, they can’t do anything to set it aside without compromising their business. But, they can make people change their outlook and instead be willing to lend their time on it. Here are two major tips on how to do it:

Change your ways

Maybe, it’s not the emailed survey that’s wrong at all. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s ‘emailed’ which is what people find boring and intimidating because we all know that email is usually more formal and business-like. So they automatically feel that it’s boring when they receive it outside of work. But, what if it’s other messaging platforms? Isn’t it more efficient and lighter to take? Correct. As we know it, messaging and social media apps are used to communicate with family and friend. This is also where they usually express their thoughts making it the perfect place to integrate and ask information.

Develop a better approach

It is proven by data that survey questions are being avoided by people because they are not comfortable with its usual robotic tone. This is why questions will be more welcome if you change it to mirror the qualities of human conversations. This is also how you would be able to get authentic feedback. Bt first, this will require you to improve your understanding on the prevalent chat culture and how you can provide the same experience in your engagement activities.

To be honest, market research still needs to go a long way before it can cope with the fast changing world. But, if business owners would now start to rethink research to re-examine the channels, technologies and tone, then there might be a chance. Progress, no matter how slow is still progress. So, there’s no reason not to be welcome it. Now, instead of imposing traditional ways of marketing, now business will relate to their market. It’s time for the industry to adjust and go to the different levels and points of life to meet with their customers who came from different generations and walks of life. Right now, what we need is to innovate and learn how to follow consumers’ lead because the industry’s future depends on it.

 

 

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What Makes Unified Commerce System a Big Thing in the Retail Industry?

For those who are not that aware of it, one of the changes made biggest influences of technology in the retail business is made through enabling the creation of a unified commerce platform through the reconciliation of systems such as the front-end and back-end into a single platform with a goal of delivering an efficient service to customers in all possible engagement points.

It also aims to alleviate operations and calibrate it to have more efficiency and precision. A successful unified commerce platform makes the processes much easier to handle and it gives a venue for business owners to have a wide, clear view of how their whole company runs. Now, in achieving all this, it involves transitioning to the digital world through a Cloud-based platform which will store everything data in a more secured and protected place.

This Cloud technology is also the key in putting together all cross-channel data while it enables retailers to make forecasts based on trends and patterns leading to the development of more effective strategies to engage with the customers and interact with them in their preferred channels. In short, unified commerce is all about creating a better customer experience.

The way people purchase today has become spontaneous, whereas online and in-store transactions are being done interchangeably. So, businesses must be able to offer services that will make it easier for customers to buy regardless whether they are doing it in a brick-and-mortar shop or through an online site.

Online selling must also provide adequate and accurate product data to customers as part of bringing convenience which is one of the major purposes why it exists. All channels must have consistent and informative product descriptions and recommendations that are relevant and in line with recent purchases. This is where real-time data becomes crucial within the organization and its systems. Thus, unified commerce comes in as the perfect solution.

In addition, unified commerce systems help retailer achieve transparency in their inventory. This is important especially for those who are selling across multiple channels because updates on inventory quantities should be done real-time. It is what will ensure that inventory levels are always spot on and prevents overselling. To keep it simple, unified commerce system also serves as a guide to make sure that there are always products available for the customers to buy. Otherwise they will be informed ahead of time.

Ultimately, unified commerce helps retailers in improving the services they are offering such as shipping and delivery. Through it, customers can be given more options thus, improving their experience through the freedom of having more choices.

Versatility in purchasing and delivery is something that is rarely present on business operating with conventional ways. This means the capability to integrate modern innovation in giving the most convenient transactions to customers starting from the buying of products up until their delivery on the shopper’s front door is what will make businesses boom in the industry.

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Online Business Ideas that Starts with Talent and Creativity

Indeed, entrepreneurship comes along with lots of training where required skills are honed and adequate knowledge is learned. But aside from these things which can be acquired. There are also some kind of businesses that starts by thinking big, being creative or making profit out of an inborn gift.

Commodities or services are not the only things that sell online. In fact, artistic products which are of great value even long before are now also taking over e-commerce. What’s fascinating about it is that more and more people are now trying their fortune out of things that they are born to do and are passionate about.

But, running an online business is still not easy even if you are an expert of what you are selling. It still requires the right strategy and enough preparation. It will also take a lot of courage because it will be a tough journey and there will be lots of challenges along the way.

But if you are really eager and you think you got what it takes, but is not that confident of the kind of business you want, here are different business ideas with some explanation that might help you make up your mind:

Personal Clothing line

Selling something that people use everyday is an example of doing wise business. Aside from food, clothing is also one of our necessities. So, with the right price along with interesting design and durable material, you’ll surely have lots of customers.

All you need aside from the capital and the manpower is some creative ideas and you are all set with your startup clothing company. There are lots of product sourcing apps you can choose from and optimize to establish your own clothing line. Some of these can also help connect you to apparel printers and clothing manufacturers.

Bring your designs to life by transforming your creative ideas into real and profitable products. This way, you don’t just give yourself fulfillment but also earnings that will help you nourish your talent and fashion taste even more.

Art

Selling art is like handing out pieces of yourself to people and being part of their daily lives whether in their homes or headphones. This is what artists such as musicians, painters, and photographer can do with an online store that they can design and where they can sell their crafts. For those who does painting or photography, they can sell their work as prints, canvases, and framed posters while musicians can either sell their beats, songs, samples, and more as digital downloads. Digital art is now also becoming a trend such as comics, animated films, portraits, vector art and more!

Their talent, with the help of online applications for their online store, enables them to make a good platform to market their works and make a source of income out of what they are passion about.

Freelance Work (writer, designer, or developer)

There’s nothing as fulfilling as getting paid to do not only something you’re good at but also in love with. This is something that artists including freelancers enjoy doing. Writers, developers, and graphic designers can start a business as freelancers by using their talents to accomplish projects for clients all over the world. Plus, it can make them good amount of money so it can give abundant income.

Another good thing about being a freelancer is that one is in control of his/her time, and possibly his/her income. So, it’s good for those who still want to enjoy their life and spend more time with family, friends, or for their hobbies and interests.

Building a portfolio is important in this line of work. But it can be done over time along with gaining experience on different industries where they can work alongside with other professionals. This can also open other opportunities and let’s them discover new interests and even skills that they do not know before.

 

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