Retail offers businessmen many opportunities for a successful business. At the same time, increasing sales in retail is a challenge due to market oversaturation. The initial drive and emotional highs too often end in disappointment.
To be successful on a long-term basis in retail, you have to learn how to speak the same language as your target group and generate excitement for your products. You can find out how to do this in detail in this article.
Why it is Important to have a Suitable Strategy?
Boost sales, double sales, achieve big sales - from every side you hear the demand for profit. Completely understandable! Because if you want to be successful, you have to sell. Sustainable customer acquisition is the basis for existence and steady growth. Those who run their business with brains should also be rewarded. There are a number of effective sales strategies in retail.
However, it is important not to jump from one strategy to the next, but to find a suitable strategy and integrate it into your business in the best possible way. We have summarized the best of the sales-increasing measures for you. Grow sales with ideas in retail - we'll help you succeed!
9 Tips to achieve your Dream Revenues
Sales promotions aim to increase customer traffic, drive sales and generate more profit. These retail tips will take your business to the next level.
1. Assortment Design in Retail
Product mix depth and width describe the assortment design in retail. The breadth of the assortment is determined by the number of product categories or product groups that the store offers. The depth is determined by the number of product types within each product group.
At this point a small example:
Width of the assortment: milk, meat, fish, bakery products, wine, magazines, etc. The more different product groups there are in the store, the wider the range.
Depth of assortment: cheese - hard cheese, processed cheese, soft cheese, mold cheese, etc. The more product variations, the deeper the assortment.
What is understood by Product Mix Policy?
Product mix policy includes all goals, tasks, and main directions of product mix creation defined by management. These include the following key points:
Creation of a product portfolio
Principles of the management of an assortment portfolio
Building relationships with suppliers, buyers, and intermediaries/li>
The target tracking should at all times take into account needs of the market, financial situation, production and distribution capacities in accordance with the strategic objectives of the store. The product mix policy is a guiding principle by which the development of and compliance with long-term goals is aimed.
Core and Complementary Product Ranges - the Difference
Core and complementary product ranges describe two different types of assortment. The decision about the offer of the core product range / peripheral product range has an impact on the product mix width and on the shopping experience of the customers.
The core product range is the main source of sales. The complementary assortment, on the other hand, describes the additional items that are mainly offered as peripheral goods and supplement the product range.
Product mix design is one of the most important tasks of marketing. When business is suboptimal, most managers decide to change the product range. This involves deciding which products will be offered or removed from the portfolio.
Reasons for Assortment Change
Improving the shopping experience
Change in demand behavior
Expansion of the product range
Change in business policy
Elimination of the gaps in the product range
Economic and political situation
Changing the product range also proves effective in expanding the target group. The broader the portfolio, the more customers can be addressed. A precise sales and market analysis provides a good basis for making decisions about changing the product mix.
2. Online-Marketing for Retail
Increasing sales through marketing is one of the most important goals of every company. In the age of digitalization, online marketing plays a particularly important role. Digital Signage and Internet offer almost limitless opportunities for advertising and customer acquisition.
Boost sales in marketing - these are the Advantages:
Greater reach – digital cross-border information sharing enables access to a larger customer audience
Reaching target groups - digital networking between people with similar interests and preferences promotes customer acquisition
Monitoring - Online advertising offers precise analytical possibilities, which are effectively used as a basis for advertising activities
Product association - online marketing links products with the corresponding advertising. This not only facilitates the buying process, but also provides the customer with a pleasant shopping experience.
Online marketing is the future. However, the interaction of online and offline marketing promises the most success.
3. Offline-Marketing in Retail
Offline marketing originated with the appearance of the first advertising sign a long time ago and is still relevant today. In recent years, marketing has undergone huge technological progress. Classic advertising experienced many new trends and was mainly shifted to the online sphere.
However, this fact does not exclude offline advertising measures. Experienced business people know that a well-thought-out mix of online and offline advertising promises the greatest success in so-called smart retail.
When choosing an offline advertising strategy, a business owner should focus on the target audience. Small business owners already know the wants and needs of their customers. Operators of large business chains identify them through surveys and analysis. It is important to allocate the advertising budget to the appropriate advertising channels only after identifying the main target group, which is responsible for the largest revenue.
Offline marketing includes the following channels:
Print media advertising
Out-of-home advertising in high-selling locations with a concentrated target group
Advertising on television
Trade Shows
Advertising in radio stations
Distribution of brochures and discount coupons
The digital transformation is pushing offline marketing more and more into the background. Nevertheless, it is important to implement offline advertising in the marketing strategy. After all, print media and personal contact often have a more credible and serious effect on customers. Especially older generations feel more addressed by offline advertising.
4. Sales Promotions
Winning more customers in the retail sector is possible through regular purchase incentives. Attractive sales promotions offer a real opportunity for sustainable customer acquisition and sales promotion.
Retail sales or customer promotions are temporary measures designed to increase sales of goods and services. Retail sales promotions are important in all industries and create effective incentives for every target group.
What Sales Promotion Activities are available?
When it comes to introducing certain sales promotions, a distinction is made between seasonal, cultural and individual sales promotions.
Seasonal and cultural actions are actions implemented during certain seasons or on special days of Christmas, Halloween, Mother's Day, Black Friday, etc.
The individual sales promotions usually relate to new products as well as services and promote awareness of the new portfolio item.
Ideas for Actions in Retail
Popular promotions include:
Competitions
Coupons
Special offer discounts
Raffles
Bargains
There are no limits to creativity and idea generation. Brainstorm with your team to generate new opportunities for sales promotions.
5. Cross / Upselling
How to kill two birds with one stone? How do you manage to sell something to a customer, even if it was not planned by the customer? The magic word is cross-selling and upselling.
Cross-Selling – What is that?
Cross-selling involves offering additional goods or services from the company. The aim is to leverage existing customer relationships in such a way that more is sold. The main advantage of such sales for customers is to receive more benefits from a single source in order to save money and time.
Another advantage of this strategy is the feeling of security. Customers who have already established a relationship of trust with a particular provider are more likely to purchase additional products.
Example:
If a customer wants to buy a tent, as a seller you can immediately offer a complete set: Lamp, sleeping bag or camping utensils. The customer usually does not take such advertising as intrusive, because they form a unit with the desired product. If the customer finds the whole package profitable and useful, there is a high probability that he will add the suggested items to his shopping cart.
Upselling – What is that?
The upselling strategy consists of contacting a customer who already owns a basic version of a particular product. This customer is offered an extension or a newer, more expensive version.
An upselling strategy often used by IT service providers and companies that offer various types of Internet services. For a small fee, the user can upgrade the existing version of the product or book additional add-ons for it.
6. Implement Sandwich Boards
Sandwich boards as so-called customer stoppers allow especially creative use in in-store marketing. These boards can be individually designed and offer multifaceted advertising opportunities. In this way, you promote various advertising messages and sales promotions and draw customers' attention to your products.
Many sales tricks in retail can be realized by sandwich boards. They inform clients about various sales promotions. The customer stopper should be placed preferably in the places with a lot of walk-in customers. But also as a display at the entrance of the store, advertising boards offer many advantages. They not only convey important messages to your customers, but also show your individuality.
Customer stoppers as blackboard allow a personal design with a lot of charm and creativity. Plastic or metal poster stands are an ideal basis for interchangeable posters. As a special eye-catcher, digital sandwich boards are suitable, which are increasingly used in the age of digitalization.
7. Lower Purchase Barriers
Purchase barriers usually arise in two situations - when it's a new or high-priced product. In both cases, as a salesperson, you need to address customers' uncertainties. If you are introducing a new product, it is advisable to offer a lower introductory price or free samples. This will help attract first-time customers.
For high-priced products, it is important to convince the customers of the quality and advantages of the product. If possible, offer financing right away and show existing references. In order to break through financial barriers with customers, you should create a feeling of security and trust among them.
8. Offer Price Differentiation / Discrimination
Customers are as different as their financial possibilities. Price differentiation or discrimination is a proven marketing tool and an important component of product range and pricing policy. By offering different price categories, you cover customers' different willingness to pay and improve your profit potential.
A distinction is made between five types of price differentiation:
Time-based price differentiation refers to different points in time. Pricing is based on time of day and season (e.g., lower prices at happy hour)
Regional price differentiation depends on the regional goods market and local pricing. Price differentiation of products is done taking into account the location (e.g. the price of gasoline on the highway is often more expensive than in a small town)
Personnel price differentiation relates to specific groups (e.g., student rates).
Functional price differentiation takes into account different uses of the products (e.g. different software prices for private and commercial customers)
Price differentiation according to quantity is designed according to the number of products purchased (e.g. quantity discounts)
Price differentiation makes it possible to expand the target group and address both financially strong and financially weak customers.
9. Price Adjustments
Price adjustments are mainly price increases. If you have higher procurement as well as administrative costs as a distributor of the products in the retail trade, you should compensate these by a price adjustment.
So that the customer base does not feel ripped off, an appreciative and authentic approach is enormously important. Smaller price adjustments are usually accepted with understanding. If you have to adjust the product price on a larger scale, you should communicate this openly with the customer and give honest reasons.
Conclusion
There are a variety of measures to increase sales in retail. In addition to expanding the product range, price differentiation, various sales promotions also enable a steady acquisition of new customers. A precise analysis of the target group as well as a well-thought-out mix of offline and online marketing measures pave the way to a successful business.
