Tag: retail operations
How to Grow a Retail Business: From 1 Store to 5 Stores
Single-store retailers that have found success often start thinking about the prospect of setting up shop in other locations. This is a natural step that many businesses take, and for good reason: expanding to other locations puts your business in front of more people and opens up opportunities for growth. But as you think about how … Continue reading How to Grow a Retail Business: From 1 Store to 5 Stores
Tips for Smooth Store Operations This Holiday Season
The holidays are a time of cheer, celebrations, and (unfortunately) stress. Days are busier, nights are longer and the overall well-being of yourself and your store staff is often compromised due to the extra demands that the holiday season brings. There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to preparing for this … Continue reading Tips for Smooth Store Operations This Holiday Season
8 Ways Retailers can Streamline Store Communication and Execution
Running a retail store is complex, and it might be difficult to know just where to start when you’re smoothing out your processes. But making retail operations run more efficiently should be at the top of every retail executive's to-do list, and the tips below will get you on the path to streamlined success. 1. … Continue reading 8 Ways Retailers can Streamline Store Communication and Execution
The Business Case for Using Checklists and Inspections in Retail
Your retail business is inherently complex. It has many moving parts and a multi-faceted cost structure. Cost of goods sold, labor costs, leasing fees, hydro costs...these costs are real and have a direct effect on a store's bottom line. Control your costs and if you sell a product for which there is demand in the … Continue reading The Business Case for Using Checklists and Inspections in Retail
4 Retail Store Layout Tricks That Increase Sales
Merchandise will sell itself when it looks good. But when it doesn’t, even the best product can sit on your shelves gathering dust! You need an environment that attracts customers, entices them to spend time in the store, and encourages them to purchase impulsively while they are there. Here is a list of 4 store … Continue reading 4 Retail Store Layout Tricks That Increase Sales
7 Manual Processes Every Retailer Should Quit Doing
Retailers — actually, all entrepreneurs — are busier than ever, with most business owners feeling like they don’t have enough time. Research by management consulting company The Alternative Board found that 72% of business managers feel overwhelmed by their roles and responsibilities. Can you relate? If so, then you should make it a priority to … Continue reading 7 Manual Processes Every Retailer Should Quit Doing
How to Create a Memorable In-Store Experience for Your Customers
More than 1 billion shoppers find the products and services they need and want online today. It has become increasingly difficult to get customers into a physical store and even harder to keep them engaged long enough to make a purchase. The good news is, with the right techniques, you can improve the overall in-store … Continue reading How to Create a Memorable In-Store Experience for Your Customers
6 Tips for Hiring a Retail District Manager
Any multi-store retailer would agree that having a competent district manager is critical to success. Tasked with overseeing the operations of all stores within a given district or area, a district manager needs to juggle several retail components, including staff development, compliance, sales, customer satisfaction, and more. Needless to say, the individual that you hire … Continue reading 6 Tips for Hiring a Retail District Manager
Mentorship in Retail
The retail climate is mercurial to say the least. You may already feel overworked as you are required to do more with less. All the focus is on delivering results to stay competitive. How can you get the edge? How can you get the team to deliver? Keep in mind that positive or negative business … Continue reading Mentorship in Retail
5 Tips for Dealing with Unsuccessful Retail Programs
It happens even to the best brands. You conceptualize and execute a retail campaign to get your product into customers’ shopping carts, only to see lackluster results. The campaign, to put it bluntly, flopped. It’s a frustrating position to be in, but how you handle and respond to program flops can help you learn and … Continue reading 5 Tips for Dealing with Unsuccessful Retail Programs
5 Consumer Trends for Brands (and How to Keep Up)
The CPG landscape is more competitive than ever. The shopping habits of consumers have changed dramatically over the last few years, and brands who fail to keep up risk losing market share to more innovative and forward-thinking companies. Don’t let this happen to you. Ensure that your brand stays relevant by keeping an eye on … Continue reading 5 Consumer Trends for Brands (and How to Keep Up)
Why Store Execution Matters
Retail veterans love to say that "retail is execution" and "retail is detail"? Let's find out what they mean and why execution is so important. Vision vs. Reality The vision is what head office envisions. The vision hopes to deploy merchandising initiatives and seasonal programs to produce a certain outcome such as higher sales, lower … Continue reading Why Store Execution Matters
How to Implement Two-Way Communication Between Stores and Head-Office
If you have retail stores, or franchisees, you need to send and receive information from stores. How to do this effectively is less obvious. Let's dive in. From head-office to the stores Head office needs to communicate information to all/some stores, in all/some regions. These packets of communication travel "downward" and may be used to … Continue reading How to Implement Two-Way Communication Between Stores and Head-Office
10 Operational Failures That Hurt a Retailer’s Image and Sales
On this blog, we focus on retail best-practices and store execution. Our mission is to help retailers execute better as well as identify and correct issues that cause loss of goodwill and loss of revenue. A top 10 list of retail failures is relevant to the scope of our blog and our audience and we … Continue reading 10 Operational Failures That Hurt a Retailer’s Image and Sales
“Old School” Retail Sayings
There is something about "Old school" sayings. Somehow, they seem to capture tried-and-true wisdom. As retail professionals, we tend to use them to illustrate core values of the retail industry. Recently, David Johnson a member of the District Managers and Retail Operations group on LinkedIn, asked members to share their favourite "old school" retail sayings. … Continue reading “Old School” Retail Sayings
6 Reasons to Measure Brand Standards
Most customer-facing franchise-based groups, especially in industries such as hospitality, food service and retail, publish and distribute brand standards to their franchisees and operators. Brand standards govern broad areas of the operations of a franchise, including customer service, product preparation, merchandising, cleanliness, human resources, security, loss prevention and fire prevention. Brand standards are what makes … Continue reading 6 Reasons to Measure Brand Standards
Who Benefits from Retail Audits?
Sure, retail audits drive sales, increase customer satisfaction and mitigate risks in multi-unit retail. But how exactly will retail audits benefit you? Here are some of the benefits you might expect from retail audits. Head Office Lower total cost of ownership than Excel™ and paper-based visits. Home-grown solutions are often lacking and needlessly expensive to … Continue reading Who Benefits from Retail Audits?