A business is created in order to bring profit to the entrepreneur. Growing profitability is the main indicator of the successful development of your own business. That is why today many businessmen are faced with the question "How to increase sales in the store?". Indeed, in modern conditions, the market is literally oversaturated with competitors offering a wide variety of products. Today this issue is relevant both for beginning entrepreneurs, and for those who have been doing their business for more than one year.
It is worth noting that the answer to the question "How to increase sales in the store?" rather ambiguous. There are many ways and tools that affect profit growth. Do you want to familiarize yourself with them in full? Then read the book by A. Parabellum and N. Mrochkovsky “200 Ways to Increase Sales and Profit”. The same article will discuss the most effective ways to increase the profitability of a retail and online store.
Sales Features
It is known that each business is unique in its own way. There are also retail features. They consist in the fact that it offers goods for piece sales. Customers of these stores are ordinary people. They represent that resource on which the main attention of the entrepreneur should be concentrated. A businessman should be aware of the needs of an ordinary person and build on this knowledge the strategy of his business, as well as organize various events that would lead to increased sales.
The main task of the seller is to bring the goods to the buyer and competent implementation. How to find out about the preferences and needs of consumers? This technology will help the entrepreneur . They confirm their effectiveness in matters of sales of goods. However, before using such technologies in practice, you should find out what is going wrong in the store and why there is a decrease in sales. In most cases, such an analysis can solve many of the problems that have arisen.
Factors and conditions affecting profitability
External factors can affect a store’s profit decline. Among them are political and economic crises, cataclysms of nature, etc. A person cannot change such circumstances. However, other reasons have an impact on the reduction in profitability. Moreover, many of them sometimes arise through the fault of the owners of retail stores. Mistakes occur due to the short-sightedness and passivity of the leadership, misallocation of premises, the presence of a large number of competitors, as well as due to the lack of transportation, etc. The list of negative factors can be continued indefinitely, but most often the store’s profits fall due to:
- expressionless design;
- insufficient and, conversely, too wide assortment;
- poor quality service.
In solving these three problems, a good result and return on business to the entrepreneur will be ensured. After that, he will not think about how to increase sales in his store, and how to survive surrounded by competitors. To those who act, and do not take a wait and see attitude, success will certainly come.
Particular attention must be paid to the buyer. These days its location will need to be won. Today it’s not enough just to sell high-quality goods. People go, and then again return to where they were pleased to shop.
Customer acquisition
Anyone who is trying to get an answer to the question “How to increase sales?” Should remember that the modern buyer is distinguished by high demands. Today, people's preferences depend on their impressions. That is why the more they have positive reviews and pleasant emotions, the greater the likelihood that these customers will return to the store again to spend their money there.
The buyer likes to go into a comfortable room, see attractive prices for him, communicate with cultural and polite sellers, and also take part in interesting promotions. All this allows you to increase the sale of goods and increase revenue growth.
How to competently work with a client base? First of all, you need to analyze store traffic. It will allow to single out from the total mass of visitors those people who are ready to shop at a given outlet and come here again and again. These regular customers should become the most beloved customers. They need to be appreciated, indulged in discounts and delighted with new products. Such clients are usually loyal and active. They know about the store and often go into it. Even if regular customers just looked in, but didn’t buy anything, they need to be met, and then be very friendly. Next time, when the need arises, such a client will come here, and not run to a competitor.
As for casual visitors, they are completely indifferent to where to buy the right thing. They mainly note the convenience of purchases, prices and assortment, preferring promotions and sales. Among random clients there are many visitors. They certainly do not belong to the target audience of the store. Despite this, it is also impossible to ignore them. Service should always be at its best. Any customer who visits a store should leave it in a good mood.
Customer retention
How to increase sales in trade? To do this, you can lure buyers from their competitors. They lure people, as a rule, by the price or offers of a new, unusual product. In this case, you can use a lot of marketing moves. However, do not forget about the rule that exists in all areas of trade. Keeping your customer is always cheaper and easier than finding and attracting a new one.
What needs to be done for this? In order to keep the customer, you can use many ways. The main majority of them is attention and a special attitude to each person. The individual approach in retail is very effective. The visitor needs to be given the opportunity to feel special and desirable. To do this, he will need to give souvenirs, congratulate on holidays, using SMS mailing or e-mail, provide a discount on his birthday, give thanks for the purchase. Such signs of attention, without a doubt, will be appreciated and will help increase sales of the company.
One who sells clothes can be stimulated by consumer sales. At the same time, measures to reduce prices must be justified. The buyer needs to bring to the attention of all the nuances, otherwise he will think that they are trying to sell low-quality or defective goods. Those who are looking for a way to solve the problem of how to increase the sale of clothing should not go deceitfully. In this case, there is a great risk of losing regular customers, which will necessitate the search for new ones. Entrepreneur approaches should always be honest.
Advertising opportunities
How to increase sales? For this, the businessman will need to advertise his store. However, this should be done only if the buyer has something to offer. Otherwise, any investment will not bring any benefit.
The range should be fully equipped and worthy of customer demand. Having achieved this, you can begin to draw up a plan of promotional activities. Their scale will directly depend on the financial capabilities of the entrepreneur. But regardless of the monetary investment, advertising should stimulate and inform. Emotions in the retail market play a huge role. The client audience should be interested and passionate.
Work clothing store
How to increase sales? There are many ways to do this. But the most effective and common of them involve the use of the following:
- television and radio;
- social networks;
- printed products, namely stickers, leaflets, booklets, etc .;
- banners, bright signs, pillars;
- regular customer cards (privileged, bonus, accumulative);
- mass events with animators.
This list may be continued. After all, the possibilities of the advertising market have no limits. The owners of many stores spend a lot of money on creating a unique PR. However, how to increase retail sales, if advertising in the end did not bring the desired effect? This happens quite often. Money has already been spent, and there is still no influx of customers. There may be several reasons for this. They can hide in a wrong place, an unclaimed assortment, in unattractive commercials and texts that not only do not attract potential customers to action, but also annoy them with their obsession. The latter, by the way, can even scare away buyers.
Effective advertising
How to increase retail sales, while avoiding mistakes and unreasonable investments? Act in the direction of increasing the profitability of the store should be careful, taking into account the needs of only a regular consumer who lives near the outlet. In this case, leaflets stuck in elevators, banners installed along the roads, and promotions held in the store themselves work well. Such a concentration of advertising allows you to bind the customer, ensuring that he returns to shopping at this point of sale. Such stimulation should be continuous. However, in order to attract customers, do not show excessive zeal. Very often, buyers are so accustomed to discounts that they stop buying goods in the hope that they will soon become cheaper.
Store image
What attracts customers to a particular outlet? Its design and range, which directly affects the image of the store. Agree that from a visit to a particular outlet may be different impressions. And the more beautiful the design will be, the better the assortment and the more affordable the product, the more favorable will be the company's image. At the same time, you should not focus on creating an excessive pathos look. He can just push people who think that everything is expensive in this store.
Merchandisers and designers should be involved in window dressing and display of goods. But their services are not cheap, and with a modest budget, it is not worth spending money on them. In this case, the design will need to be organized on its own. To do this, just look at the store from the side. Its unattractiveness and lack of expression will certainly alienate the visitor. He will just pass by.
Product Layout
In retail, there are certain rules, taking into account which, you can have a positive impact on increasing profits. So, one of the ways to increase sales is a competent display of goods. She must be:
- Clear and affordable. The buyer must be given the opportunity to touch the product, smell it and twist it in his hands. This is one of the rules of the retail industry. It is believed that the client will take the goods to which he can freely reach. If the item is below or above the designated area, then it will remain on the shelf without receiving proper attention.
- Implemented with placement logic that the buyer understands. A person should easily navigate in the store in order to find for himself what he needs. For this, the goods are distributed into groups and staffed by brand.
- Made using the current theme for design. In this case, the showcase must demonstrate the goods. In a clothing store, the perception of things must be periodically refreshed with permutations, as well as mannequin updates. This is a very effective way to increase sales. Indeed, very often people buy exactly what they liked on a mannequin.
In addition, prices, especially those that are low, should be clearly visible and at the same time correspond to reality. If the buyer understands that the cost of goods on mannequins and display cases is lower than those on the shelves, he will consider himself deceived and will no longer come to the store.
Sale of consumer goods
How to increase product sales? In the work of such stores, which, as a rule, use a self-service system, a special technique is used. It takes into account the pattern of behavior that exists in the actions of buyers.
First of all, it is worth considering the layout of the trading floor. It should be such as to provoke the buyer to make a movement in all departments. Sometimes this is ensured by the isolation of the space itself. In this case, the visitor, having arrived at the checkout, will go through the entire store.
Unconsciously, customers move around the trading floor counterclockwise. It should be borne in mind that the first third of the racks that they got along the way are considered with more attention than all the others. In this zone, the entrepreneur should do the calculation of the most expensive products that require increased sales. Based on this principle, cheap goods belonging to the category of basic necessities should be located in the farthest part of the hall.
How to increase bread sales? For this, shelves with him are located near the cash register, at the exit of the store. This technique serves as a kind of reminder to the buyer.
Entrepreneurs need to pay attention to the position of products on the shelves. The best selling area is at eye level. That is why it is recommended that the most inexpensive and sought-after goods be placed on the upper and lower racks. During their search, the buyer will certainly pay attention to the entire range.
In addition, to increase sales at the grocery store, it is necessary to determine the product that will be classified as a “steam locomotive”. This is a daily demand product for which a minimum cost is set. Such, for example, may be bread or sausage. It is important to find a supplier offering similar products at the lowest price. You will need to sell such a product with a minimum margin. He will attract the buyer in the first place. This approach allows you to ensure the growth of sales of related products, which set the usual margin.
Using music
Any buyer will prefer shopping in the store where a comfortable and inviting atmosphere is created for him. It is unlikely that someone will like crushing silence, the creaking of carts or other people's conversations. That is why one of the indispensable trading tools is music for stores, increasing sales. And it’s very vain that many of the entrepreneurs in difficult crisis times start saving from it.
Sometimes a logical explanation can be found. For example, a store is a discounter or management does not want a large number of customers to accumulate in the hall. However, sometimes the outlet suffers significant economic damage from the silence created in it.
Music that boosts sales also raises brand appreciation. After all, a person will have a completely different attitude to the company, having heard during shopping a pleasant and calm melody or popular compositions of the last decades.
Music that boosts sales can increase profits by 18-20 percent. It is noted that after silence is established in the hall, people out of habit still buy goods. Somewhat later, some customers begin to visit competitors. The remaining regular customers make their purchases very quickly, and they have a feeling that something is wrong with the store.
Internet business
The question of how to get the highest possible income also worries entrepreneurs who are developing their own business in the vastness of the global network.
How to increase online sales? To do this, you will need:
- Make the site easy to use. This factor affects the level of comfort or irritation of its visitors. With the website’s website thought out to the smallest detail, using it will be pleasant. In this case, there will certainly be more purchases.
- Develop responsive design. Currently, many users use mobile devices for online purchases. This is a significant audience, the comfort of which must be taken into account.
- Segment target audience. To do this, you will need to advertise the store on sites of a certain focus. This will help to find the target audience and increase sales.
- Set up promotion channels. This requires a preliminary analysis, which will increase sales.
An equally important point is the use of the newsletter. Each online store has its own customer base. These are the buyers who have already bought goods here. And they all know that this online store can be trusted. In this case, you should use the distribution method. It will allow you to remind yourself of the client from time to time. The text of the message should not be long. It is necessary to give it the appearance of a small newsletter, which contains all the latest store news. Do not forget about the catchy title.