Hi Customer,

Personal Notes: Getting Organized
Featured Program: Seeking Your Advice
Featured Article: Is Your Store Stale?
About Us: Who is Impact Retailing?

Volume I, Issue 02

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Hello,

Our two senior high students are in the process of writing their grade 12 diploma exams. I am amazed that they are actually taking all the nagging about getting organized to heart. This became evident last night when the Math tutor came over and stated he was surprised to find calm... no panic about the Math finals being written this morning. As Barbara Corcoran, real estate billionaire from Shark Tank stated at a recent conference we attended, organization will win you more then straight smarts.

Looking at how we organize ourselves as professionals is key in building our reputation, our stores credibility and also serving our customers. So here are some quick reminders on things you can do to get organized:

1. Chunk off your day into blocks of time, 30 to 60 minutes.
2. Set aside one or two blocks of time a week for planning.
3. Write down things you need to do, people you need to call or e-mail.
4. Bring Forward (BF) items in your calendar for reminders.
5. Fill in blocks of time on your calendar with your listed items that need to be worked on.
6. Mix up your day with a variety of activities to keep yourself engaged.
7. Set a timer to keep you on track or have reminders in your electronic calendar.
We love our Blackberry's and Outlook calendar's and rely on them to keep us on time.
8. Put target dates for projects in your calendar and work backwards to block off time to accomplish this work.
9. Use color in your filing or coding system. Red is MUST do, Yellow means try and get done today and green is open time.
10. Put on a large wall calendar, all important dates, marketing events, sales projections, etc.
Never out of site, Never out of mind.

As it turns out we got a call this morning after the exam and were told that it was amazing to understand all the questions and felt really good writing it. The whole experience was energy in versus energy out.

Becoming retail savvy,

Thank you for all the great comments and insights.
And we really want to hear from more of you. So please do not leave it up to others to express your needs.
We are asking for your advice
Click here to: Share with Us!

Our quick survey of 10 questions, will take you 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Results will be shared in upcoming issues of Be Retail Savvy!

A Special Report is being developed to provide the Why and What on:

5 Basic Ways to Increase Retail Profits.

With 10 years of experience as a Store Operations Manager of a provincial retail chain, sharing this type of information was what John did regularly. This will be FREE for individuals who subscribe to our eZine and participate in our survey.

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IS YOUR STORE STALE?

Do you feel ho-hum when you look out onto your sales floor?
Is your layout boring?
Do your displays and fixtures look unexciting?

I’m reminded of a situation that happened years ago when I was Store Operations Manager for a retail chain that had several locations throughout Alberta. Paul the owner, had his store for more than twenty years and both he and his store were a staple in the community for even longer. I had been visiting Paul three times a year for several years, and with each visit, I would do a 7-point analysis that outlines both the stores’ strengths and weaknesses.

One area that really stood out was the traffic flow in his store. I realized... Bob and his staff had not made any changes to his layout and merchandising plan for — 20 YEARS! His customers were able to enter his store, walk directly to the product area of choice and head straight to the check out with an item.

They probably could do it blind folded.

They had become so conditioned to his store format and product placement because… everything had ALWAYS been in the same place. A real problem if Paul wanted to increase revenue from existing customers. These customers were not being exposed to his promotional areas, new products, end cap displays and bulk areas or any impulse merchandising displays.

I made it my mission to convince Paul that changes would increase his gross profits. But the store had always been doing well and he was comfortable with the status quo. After 5 years of visiting it seemed MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – Paul did notice a need to improve his customer service check-out. These changes could only be done by bringing the check-out off the wall and creating a U-shaped check-out island. In doing this, it would affect the entire layout of the store and provided me the opportunity to finally change things up.

After working with the management staff, we were able to decide on a new layout and merchandising plan that everyone was comfortable with. My staff and I arrived on a Sunday evening, began working early Monday morning and by that Thursday afternoon we had completed the entire retrofit, working while the store remained open.

The following Monday morning Paul called me. He related all the positive comments from customers and one comment in-particular. A regular customer came up to him and began to complain about the number of items in his hands. As it turned out, this customer planned on buying just one product, but because of the store CHANGES... that took place the week before... he ended up being exposed to all these other sections and products. He ended up spending 4 times what he had planned.

Paul thanked me and understood now why I had been so adamant about making changes all those years, even though sales had been at a level he was comfortable with.

My adage is "THERE ARE ALWAYS WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR STORE".

So take the time today to observe your customers traffic patterns. Your observation will depend on the size of your store and number of different sku’s offered.
1.  Is walk by traffic coming into your store? Are you a destination store?
2.  Are customers quickly finding what they are looking for? Beeline?
3.  During power hours, how many products are people purchasing?
4.  Look at your carpet or tile, are there any definite weathered patterns?
5.  What is the average length of time customers are in your store?

Answers to these questions would provide clues to whether or not your store is stale to your customers.

Do you need to change it up?

For a pre-plan quesstionnaire visit impactretailing.com/questionnaire.html

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John and Karen are the principles of Impact Retailing Inc., a company dedicated to helping retailers and store owners build better businesses. They are entrepreneurs who have been working in and with retail businesses for the last 30 years.

If you liked today's issue, you'll thoroughly enjoy our Retail Design and Development Products and Services. These will help you start or develop your retail business. While John is known for his expertise in creating shoppable environments that consumers love, clients state his biggest impact is his genuine understanding and passion for retailing. His philosophy of developing and designing spaces to increase visibility and sales are the keys to a successful retail operation and being passionate about what you do.

Karen's expertise is in building awareness through marketing and research with a background in developing Adult education programs and products for online and live audiences. Being an entrepreneur for the last 14 years she sees a need for sharing of knowledge, building a community of support and becoming savvy in what we do.

You can learn more about our products, services and programs at http://www.impactretailing.com/

Impact Retailing Inc. 10932-16 Avenue, Edmonton, AB Canada T6J 5G6 1.800.563.4359

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