Act Now for Future Retail Success
Is there anything you could have done better in your retail business this Winter? What could you could be doing now, to prepare for next year? Buying-wise you're probably almost done for next year so now is the time to be looking at your customers: who are they; what do they buy; where does most of your business come from?
You might be surprised.
Here at Crossover, we talk a lot about stock management. But there's more to being a good retailer than the day to day operations. All of the products in your store can be bought elsewhere, so, how do you keep customers comingback to you? It might be a cliche, but it's essential to know your customer. And information is a great way to help you build that essential rapport.
Imagine being able to check a customer's buying history when they come into your shop. You know they usually buy a certain type of golf ball, but there's a better version on the market now. Do they want to try it? They bought Summer golf shoes 6 months ago: have they seen your Winter range? The more detailed the picture you can build of your customer, the more useful your reports will be ... and the better your buying decisions.
Most golf shops we work with are member-based, but some rely on visitors or walk-in trade. If this is your business, we'd recommend you ALWAYS capture customer names, so you can get to grips with your repeat business. If you don't do this, how will you know if people are coming back?
Last year, Carl Bianco, PGA Golf Professional at Woking Golf Club, had a Business Health Review with Crossover, to look at how the business was performing. Carl was convinced over 75% of his sales came from members, but something in the stats just didn't add up. Since then, Carl and his team have attributed every sale to a member, or one of 11 other categories: Members guest, society visitor, casual green fee, artisan, PGA courtesy, etc; which has given him a complete picture of who buys what, and how that affects buying, shop displays and marketing newsletters.
Some of the reports have come as a shock to Carl. For example, when it came to non-hardware purchases, (which tend to be impulse sales), Carl was surprised to learn that only 45% were actually attributed to members, and 55% to visitors. He has now used that information to develop an alternative approach and now displays, and stocks, the shop strongly in favour of impulse sales from the non-members, which has been very successful.
Use these Winter months (especially the snowy days when the clubs are shut!) to look at building customer profiles, start adding customer information to every sale, and this time next year, you'll be reaping rewards. XPOS is the perfect epos business management tool to help you collate any information about your customers: Even the most basic reports could drastically impact on future buying decisions and improve margins.
Top Tips:
- Always ask for a customer name
- When you make a sale, use the Notes field to document purchase information, such as shoe size, or customer information (custom fitting, preferred brand)
- Log whatever information you can that might be relevant
- Run regular customer/sales reports in XPOS to see WHO your good customers are for better buying decisions in 2018
Make 2018 a turning point for your retail business and we guarantee you won’t look back!