Running Your Retail Business More Efficiently Through Outsourcing

Owning a retail business requires you to know a bit about everything. It also means that you definitely be doing a lot of everything. But, just like most retailers, you might be missing a very important secret that will help you with your business. This involves delegating and outsourcing some of the tasks that are keeping you busy.

As a business owner, time among all others is one of the topmost important resource. Itis highly perishable and cannot be restored. So it is a priority to use it wisely and save it when necessary. This is where outsourcing, or offloading some tasks off your to-do list, can come in handy. The formal definition of this concept says that as outsourcing occurs when a business pays an outside supplier to provide goods and services, rather than doing the work in-house. The practice started in the 1970s and grew popular in the 1990s as a way for companies to reduce their internal cost structure.

There are times that outsourcing means hiring staff to handle some of your workload, or delegating more tasks to trusted employees. But even entrepreneurs who run their business entirely by themselves can outsource some of their more tedious or time-consuming jobs to part-time, external helpers. Of course you also have to consider if the costs will be worth it. If that’s the case, then you’re doing a great job and a wise move. Otherwise, you have to stop and come to think of it more thoroughly because your decisions will highly affect the outcome of your business.

Now, going through the process of outsourcing, you have to follow a clear and straight path to achieve success. To help you out, we have listed some important things you have to keep in mind to have a smooth transition from traditional operations to outsourcing. Well, first thing’s first is you have to figure out what tasks are the most important use of your time. As the boss, you’ll know best what tasks need your attention and what can be the responsibility of others. Consider outsourcing tasks that are commonly delegated (there are entire industries created around helping small- and medium-sized businesses free up more of their time), tasks that are cost-effective to outsource (opposed to those that would cost heavily to delegate), and those that are simple for others to do. It’s easy to take for granted how well you know the ins-and-outs of your retail business, so be sure to create materials to get anyone you bring in up to speed quickly about your business and needs.

The point here is that outsourcing serve as a great way for you to find the time and resources to be able to focus on more important and more general issues in your retail business, and hopefully also free up time for a healthy work-life balance.

So, having now a deeper understanding about outsourcing tasks, you will be able to decide better if you really are in need to outsource for your retail business.

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How to Identify Automate-able Retail Process

Saving up time and resources is one of the top priorities of any retail owner. Aside from plainly earning and boosting up sales, being able to skip the hardest processes in the business is their greatest accomplishment.

On the modern time, almost anything runs and is developed with technology. Retail processes is of now exception to this. So instead of shedding unnecessary sweat and blood, some of these tasks can be automated to make life simpler and the processes smoother for you. But, how would you know what among these tasks can be automated? Of course, you cannot just invest without knowing where it is best to exert your resources. So, let’s help you out with some of the tips where you can start determining what tasks you can automate based on your business.

CUSTOMERS

Of course, most of all, they are the lifeline of your business. Without them, you won’t earn or won’t exist at all. So better start asking them whether it’s in person or through email, uncover areas of your business that customers might feel can be run more smoothly. Automating some tasks can address some of their pain points and streamline workflow — which frees up more of your time and helps out your customers.

EMPLOYEES

As your workforce and your staff, they help and aide you throughout your business process which makes them sometimes more familiar and exposed with the issues and problems with your system more than you are. Also, they can be full of ideas when it comes to being more efficient. Solicit anonymous feedback to draw out the most honest answers.

SCHEDULE

It is also important to keep track on your schedule. You can do this by performing an audit on your work activities. Write down every task you do over a week and the amount of time you spend doing them. Identify where you’re spending time that doesn’t direct benefit from your energy. What else can you be doing?

COMPETITORS

Lastly, be observant of your competitors. They are the one who’s always up for something that will make them better than you. Through them you can learn things that you can also consider for your own business.  You can then develop these strategies to avoid being just a copycat but instead perform better in your business.

Now, apart from knowing these, you also consider other things before you automate tasks within your business. You start by asking some questions which can help you determine whether it will be helpful to automate it. The following listed below are some of the factors that most businesses consider when automating a task.

Repetitive – tasks that just goes over and over again and doesn’t require a person to do them is one of the tasks that you must automate instantly.

Simple- Easier and simpler workflows can be automated to give faster and better performance in your business.

Time and money Saver- You’ve got the magic words. If automating this can benefit you big time, then there’s no doubt in doing it. Just remember that it must always be worthy of its costs before doing it.

Scale-able- as your company grow, there are tasks that aren’t as plausible as you grow so it is better to keep them with little manpower. This is where automation takes place.

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Booming your Storefront with A Pop-Up

Pop-up stores are now one of the latest developing trends in the retail industry.  This concept offers a unique buying experience and the novelty alone can be enough to attract buyers. And when it comes to competing for attention at giant expos where retailers are set up shoulder-to-shoulder, many forgo the crowded expo hall floor and focus just on temporary storefronts.

Being able to run a pop-up store instead of plainly attending the expo also means less elbowing for shoppers’ attention, and potentially capturing more foot traffic from all the other. At this time, with the advancement of modern technology, sticking to plain traditional ways will leave you far way behind your other competitors. That is why now is the perfect time to insert new and more effective strategies to make you stand out among all others. Here’s how:

Standing out with your Pop-Up Store  

While the pop-up shop provides an interesting alternative to the traditional expo, not all retailers can opt out of major events entirely. Many businesses rely on expos to increase brand awareness, boost sales, and form new partnerships and connections.

Come to think of it. With those retailers all around the marketplace all catching the attention of the potential customers, how do you increase visibility and compel passersby to stop and shop? How do you compete with the other retailers selling similar products?

Now, you may not be able to skip expos entirely. But you can make them more successful if you bring the pop-up store experience to the event and make your business stand out.

First, you have to create the right vibe with both your product and the people.

Obviously, your first goal is to draw the eye of the crowd. But, this doesn’t mean putting up flashy (and potentially gaudy) signage or hustling people into your booth. It’s more about creating a vibe that reflects what your brand is about, why you sell what you do, and who you want to provide products for.

For pop-ups and events, we usually offer a more visual experience of what the brand stands for.

Remember that part of what goes into the experience is the people themselves who run the booth. It’s important to bring the right team to the events, who can speak to the brand and the product in a way that encourages people to come back to us online.

Second, utilize the small shopping space.

Pop-up stores can pop up anywhere. You can find these little shops on popular sidewalks, in a corner of another store, in a private room at a swanky restaurant, and even at markets inside converted vans and trucks.

Customers can step right in and shop like they would at a traditional brick and mortar store. The beauty of the mobile boutique is that I can bring the shopping experience almost anywhere.

Try observing local pop-up stores in your area, and note how they maximize the use of small spaces. You can get efficient display ideas from looking at what these mobile, on-the-go retailers create and replicate that for a similar experience at an expo.

Lastly provide the customers a chance to try before they buy.

Nothing’s better for a customer than the best quality of product and service. By giving your potential customers the chance to try the actual product first before their purchase, you can assure them the best quality that they can get from you. Pop-up stores don’t hustle customers in and out of their tiny spaces. They invite shoppers to jump into a wonderful little hidden world where their products become delights to enjoy. Through this, you can assure them high quality product and service experience as well as reduce returns and refunds.

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Shaping the Future of Your Brick-and-Mortar Store

The impact of e-commerce created a major explosion and change to the retail industry. And ever since the first product was sold online, we knew our lives were changed forever. At first it seemed as though the days of brick-and-mortar businesses were numbered. But it continued to exist because many we still fighting for it.

Nowadays, everything seems to depend on technology such as the internet. It is really hard to do things the way they used to be done. Having physical stores requires a struggle because an even greater competition is existent. And it is somewhere we cannot physically see.

So, here, we’ll discuss what the future of brick-and-mortar stores will look like and how to adapt and make changes in order to keep your business growing in the time of continuous technological innovations.

Providing Better Customer-Experience

Brick-and-mortar retailers need to offer so much more than “stuff.” Shoppers want engaging and personalised in-store experiences, ones that go beyond the traditional retail space. A growing number of major retailers have started offering complimentary workshops and classes to client.

Pop-up shops are another way to attract customers to your store for an experience they wouldn’t find online or at any other retailer. These temporary, short-term retail events have been a growing industry, accounting for approximately $10 billion in sales, this according to many major companies who have all started hosting pop-ups as a way to increase brand awareness and draw customers in store.

When it comes to brick-and-mortar retailers, hosting a pop-up shop at your store not only creates a unique and limited experience for clientele, allowing you to potentially attract new customers, but helps you test out new revenue streams and develop relationships with other retailers in your community. Consider partnering with another business selling complementary products or items with a similar aesthetic. In order to keep customers coming back and attract new ones, it’s time to start thinking beyond the typical sale and start offering your customers immersive, memorable experiences.

Innovate Personalised Shopping

The future of customer retention for brick-and-mortar stores lies in personalised experiences. One way is to offer tailored shopping experiences or personal shopping services. Another method is to truly home in on who you’re trying to target as clientele and build a shop curated specifically to them.

Utilizing Advanced Tools

Customers are more tech-savvy than ever, and so much of the reason why e-commerce businesses are crushing it is because shoppers are increasingly comfortable in a digital world. In order to survive, brick-and-mortar retailers must start incorporating digital elements into the in-person shopping experience.

Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is also useful to retailers and shoppers alike as an easy way to track inventory digitally. Similarly, Augmented and virtual reality as well as wearable tech are already popular in the gaming and entertainment industries. It’s only a matter of time before shoppers expect to see their retail experience transformed with this technology. Augmented reality may assist customers in navigating through larger stores or provide additional product information, while virtual reality can allow shoppers to seamlessly experience and “test” products before purchasing them.

Technology enables a smoother, more personalised experience for shoppers in store, and in return, helps retailers understand their customers and provide a better experience.

 

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Reputation Management and Knowing About PR

In retail business, marketing is process of communication where there is a message to be delivered to possible clients. Also, this is where the business’ reputation and branding will be instilled to the customers which they will also discuss among each other.

It is important in marketing how people will perceive your brand. So the question is how can you influence your brand and what other people say about you. This is what we will discover and discuss below.

Good Public Relations, can go beyond maintaining a positive image in the public eye. It gives you a way to engage in reputation management while increasing the reach of your business.

But there’s also potential drawbacks here: this involve PR firms or marketing agencies who promise to help with public relations but gets a little bit pricey. That’s why outsourcing PR may not be a realistic option for retailers with limited budgets.

Thankfully, the world of PR doesn’t look the same as it used to — and that’s good news for retailers, especially those who don’t want to pay for press exposure.

Understanding Reputation Management

PR can be referred as any activity that helps you manage your reputation, or how the public perceives your brand. Ultimately, this depends to good — and frequent — communication.

PR is all about an entire process of communication between you and your audience through various mediums. It’s not just about buying advertisements or paying for people to give your company attention.

This is also why PR can provide considerably more value for you than traditional advertising. You receive attention from a third-party, be it a media outlet or an event or another type of influencer. That provides validation and makes the story you want to tell about your brand more believable.

Clearly, you have a exerted interest in positioning yourself in the best light when the news comes directly from you. By getting press and media attention, a separate entity is sharing information about you. It’s a great way to practice reputation management in a way that lends more credibility to your brand.

Public relations relies on earned attention. Which begs the obvious next question: How do you earn attention from decision-makers, media influencers, writers and reporters, industry insiders, and event organizers who can all help shine the spotlight of publicity on your brand?

And how do you earn that attention in the right way, so that you retain the control of your business’ reputation?

Handling Your Own PR and Reputation Management

In reputation management, there are three important elements to handle your own PR as a retailer: This refers to a compelling, interesting, and truly newsworthy story to share.

While great, high-quality content to help you communicate the story (which includes a press release, pitch emails, and supporting content for your PR campaign)

Also, strong connections and sincere relationships with members of the press can help you communicate your story to your audience.

Finally, here’s a bonus tip for you: the ability to clearly, quickly communicate when something unexpected comes up. Most of PR is proactive, meaning you’re actively managing your reputation by creating and sharing stories deliberately.

 

 

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Putting Your Retail Products into the Starlight

Whether your are eyeing for your retail business to grow or just to start it all out, any business can actually benefit with the boom of popularity or increase in sales from a trending product. But how can a retailer do to achieve this kind of buzz for one of their products or services?

Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to predict what will go viral, but there are some things you can do to help your product reach must-have, viral status with your audience. Before you decide to invest the time and effort into trying to make a product explode online, make sure that the product you’re promoting is worth the effort. When something becomes popular, it inevitably comes under more scrutiny, so quality is key.

Business nowadays has become more than just the capability of being able to supply according to the current demand. But by creating impact to actually make more demands yourself by putting your brand into the limelight.

So now, let’s take a look at some things that you can do to make your retail product go viral.

Almost everyone knows that timing is everything. You’ll need to plan when your product will hit the market and when your marketing campaign will run. Timing is crucial when it comes to how to go viral.  For the purposes of creating a lot of buzz, you’ll want to center your launch around a relevant event. For example, launching a holiday item a few weeks or months before Christmas, rolling out a clothing item in time for the appropriate season, or launching a product in time for a relevant event — like a concert or local festival.

If your product doesn’t naturally tie to a specific event or date, then make one for it. Centralize your marketing campaign around the big launch date — give the date a product-centric name and make sure it’s hitting shelves or online everywhere on the same day. This single message helps customers remember the day, builds a sense of urgency to be an early adopter, and increases the chances of your first wave of inventory selling out.

Next, you’ll want to build anticipation for your launch through paid and organic marketing. If you anticipate your product going viral, put the majority of your paid marketing behind building anticipation before the launch and let the organic, social buzz take over from there.

Uniqueness

It’s not enough to simply offer the same products as everyone else in your market.

You can capitalize on the power of differentiation by offering a product that is distinct from your competitors. Products that go hand in hand with other trendy and up-to-date materials that people use day by day. Surely, products like these will never come out of light.

Sharing is the key 

Sharing on social media platforms is a necessity to be able to achieve success. And there are a lot of ways to motivate social sharing, this includes coming up with a contest where entrants must follow your account and share the contest information with their followers.

You can also encourage your followers to share your product by creating a content that makes them laugh or creating visually engaging content that people are more likely to summarize and share. Also, ensure that your content is topical and current (i.e. relevant to an upcoming holiday or news event.)

Social sharing is important — many retailers are stumped on how to go viral with organic social media reach. When it comes to organic sharing, people tend to share content that connects with them. In a similar article it says that the importance of connecting with your audience and telling a story is stressed and if people are going to share your product, they need to be able to tell its story. That can be as simple as a clear statement about what the product does, or as complicated as a really interesting origin story.

Emotional Connection

The thing is, people are more likely to share something that they connect with on an emotional level as much as they’re likely to develop brand loyalty and recommend your product to a friend. In addition, eliciting an emotional response to your product is a great way to make consumers feel good about using the item.

Many entrepreneurs highlight the emotional relationship that the brand has forged with their consumers. From their nostalgic holiday campaigns, their brand have become a master at pulling at the heartstrings and creating content that people love to share.

When building this connection with your audience try to create content that really connects. People build real relationships with brands that they can trust, that appear authentic and have a defined brand identity.

Consumers were also put into ties with brands that effectively make them feel nostalgic. These brands have had great success with nostalgic content that reminds people of another time or their childhood.

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CUSTOMER COOLDOWN: Dealing with Angry Customers

A fact that everyone in the retail industry must accept and understand is the fact that that we cannot please everybody. There will be times that things won’t go as plan and we will be facing the consequences in the  of a furious customer. So, the only choice you have is to be prepared.

The thing is, it is not as complicated as it may seem. In fact, you can view dealing with angry customers as an opportunity to put these great customer service tips into practice to make a lasting impact on your business and your customers. Every time a customer offers their feedback, good or bad, it’s an opportunity for retailers to address customer needs.

This is now your chance to transform someone’s mindset about your brand from negative to positive through your way of handling their concerns aside from just solving the problem itself.

So, The next time you come across a shopper who’s less than pleased, keep these strategies in mind to diffuse the situation and turn the interaction into a great customer relations.

Listen

The usual problem when people started to argue with someone is that, both parties will close their ears and will not listen but instead they set their focus on how to come up with a rebutt which often makes the situation worse.

So, to avoid being caught up with all the commotion, the lesson is to practice active listening instead.

Active listening refes to a structured form of listening and responding that focuses the attention on the speaker. The best practice in active listening is to genuinely pay attention to what the speaker says — and then repeat the speaker’s words back to them.

But, this doesn’t mean you will just parrot what your customer says. It means, in your own words, you repeat what they tell you. Practice better listening through paraphrasing, as it also increases your understanding of their point of view. This way because you demonstrate that you received what they said, understood what happened, and get how the situation made them feel.

Most people simply want to be heard and understood. And with this form of listening, it will allow you to do that for your customers, which can quickly bring the energy down in a heated conversation and lead them to a point where you can engage in a dialogue about solutions.

Be Cool

We all know that the customer is not always right. It is frustrating to know that they’re to blame for the problem that’s causing their anger. But you must not fight fire with fire. Matching their emotions won’t get you anywhere except deeper into a bigger argument or fight.

You and your employees can practice techniques that make it easier to maintain composure (even when the customer loses theirs). Just like active listening takes practice, so does keeping your cool.

Try these tactics and allow your company time to practice these before anyone is confronted with angry customers:

Take a deep breath. Holding your breath from time to time is an effective response to stress. Simply taking deep breaths can keep you calm during these tough situations.

Ask questions. Instead of simply reacting to the customer’s emotions, you can start by collecting their information. This can give you time to calm down. Also, asking questions can soothe customers, too. It forces them to articulate their problem and situation without receiving any blame or accusations from your end.

Receive and acknowledge the customer’s communications. You don’t have to agree with all the things that the customer says, but you can just acknowledge them by saying, “I got it,” or “I understand.” Though staying calm doesn’t immediately solve the problem, but it’s one customer service tip that can contain the situation and prevent it from escalating.

Be Responsible and offer Solutions

If you’ve followed the above customer service tips, you can likely handle the situation to a point where you can open a dialogue about solutions to a customer’s problem.

You may not be able to completely rectify the cause of the customer’s anger, but you can invite them to talk about potential alternatives that work for them. You can also suggest possibilities as appropriate for the situation.

Admit that your store did make a mistake so start with an apology and take responsibility for it. When there’s an error on the retailer’s end, sometimes just taking ownership of the mistake can help calm a furious customer.

So, with that being said, you might need to also eat any costs you incur to resolve the customer’s frustrations. You can use this as an opportunity to audit whatever process caused the problem in the first place, and make adjustments as necessary to prevent future issues.

Set your level of Tolerance

During tensed times, you will be dealing with irrational and emotional customers. So, you need to determine how much of their behavior you’ll tolerate.

What you need to do is to give them a chance to calm down. You may also have to take the lead on de-escalating emotions when they run high. Then, that’s when you invite them to work with you to resolve the problem. You can express that you want to help, and you’d like their cooperation in addressing their concerns. Finally, if a customer is being rude, hateful, or just plain mean, you can politely ask them to leave. You’re not required to solve everyone’s problems — and with some customers, there’s no solution you can offer.

Their anger is not about you, your team, your products, or your company. If they refuse to deal with the situation in a respectful, reasonable manner after you’ve given them a chance to communicate their anger and invited them to seek a solution with you, it’s time to walk away.

Most importantly, your best way to deal with these angry customers is by preventing them to be mad entirely. Though, it’s not always possible, but if you proactively think about your customer experience, this can help you think of potential problems and positively impact how people interact with your products, employees, and your company. Proactively setting up a successful shopping outing saves time and energy that you won’t need to waste on dealing with angry customers.

 

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