If you’ve been following the news recently, you might have seen how Sainsbury’s accidentally made its plans to try to drive 50p from every customer public. Although there was a significant customer backlash to the public incentive to Sainsbury’s staff to ensure every customer walks out of the store 50p worse off, the reality of retail is that the shop is there to generate income, and maximising that amount of income is an essential part of the job.
Ultimately, what this means to you is that if you work in a retail environment, you have a range of strategies that help you maximise the profit of your business. Are you lacking in the strategy department? Don’t worry; we’ve brought together a collection of the best retail strategies to ensure that you’ll always get that little bit extra out of every customer.
Engage Every Customer and Fulfill Their Retail Needs
When a customer walks through the doors of your store, it’s important that there’s always somebody there to meet and greet them. There are three main reasons for this.
The first is that it makes your staff approachable and generates a good rapport between the customer and your staff. The second is that it prevents theft, as each customer knows they have been identified as soon as they walk through the doors. The third is that it enables your staff to efficiently isolate the need of the customer, allowing your team member to quickly fulfill that need.
Introduce Inviting End Caps
The next method of getting that little bit extra out of your customers, is to place end cap displays strategically throughout your store, enticing customers with special offers, deals and bundle packages that they simply can’t resist.
A good way to get started with a display like this is to order them in bulk from a supplier of freestanding display units like P&D. Once you’ve ordered your displays, you should conduct some research to discern the purchasing habits of your customers which will allow you to see the best place to position your goods in store. If you know that in one corner of your shop you’re more likely to sell bundle packs than in another corner, you can obviously use that data to help you position end caps effectively.
Leading Point of Sale Questions
Finally, just because a customer is already at the till doesn’t mean there aren’t more opportunities to tease some extra cash out of them. Asking leading questions like “Did you find what you were looking for?” just before the customer is about to pay is a great way to make sure every customer has found what they need, and that they didn’t miss something on the way round.
You can also try to upsell additional products or increase the volume of the product they’re already buying. This is a classic cinema trick, where you’ll always be asked if you want to “go large” on your popcorn.
