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Retail Partnerships

Written by: Will Atkinson

Article Overview: Partnering with restaurants and other retailers can be a powerful way of driving traffic and loyalty.

Retail Partnerships

It may seem counterintuitive, but why not leverage other stores and restaurants that have good customer bases to drive traffic into your store?

Think about it. Pick a nearby store that sells complementary items, and offer their customers a reason to come to your store. If you are a ladies boutique featuring dresses, hats, handbags, etc. then find a well respected and popular ladies shoe store, and offer their customers a 10% discount on their first purchase at your store. Maybe the shoe store will reciprocate and you can do some joint marketing. There is very little work involved in such a partnership, and there's no cost or competitive downside.

You can extend this and even hold workshops or open house days to showcase your products together, helping customers see the link and how well they complement each other. This is a great way to build loyalty and strengthen each brand as well.

Of course, this idea will work in any vertical, not just ladies' accessories. An automotive performance shop could team up with a wheel and tire shop, sharing discounts and driving traffic to one another.

This is a simple technique, but executed properly it can pay big dividends for both parties.

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Article Tags: dividends, downside, dresses, hats, joint marketing, ladies boutique, loyalty, nbsp, nearby store, open house days, partnership, performance shop, restaurants, shoe store, showcase, tire shop, traffic, wheel



Related Forum Posts
Happy Worker as of Dec 31 2007 - Here's mine... I'm now off to make an offering to the business planning gods for their help in getting to these goals & beyond. To the combined success of Prophets 2 Profits! ----------------------------------------- 1) Corporate a) Retail - Sales reps covering all major markets (1M or more) - Retail product launch plan - 1 more retail release (TBD) b) The Toy Agency - Systems for: o Creative process o Pricing o Manufacturing o Logistics - Marketing agency strategy in place - 1 new customer every 2nd month (5 new customers); 1 of which will be rev of >= 500K/year c) Business - Creative talent pool management strategy & process - Outsourced and/or weekly bookkeeping - Monthly budgeting & forecasting - Better banking organization (Line of Credit, CCs, automate billing for appropriate vendors) - Team total of 5 - Larger office d) Web site - Daily updates - Start of separation of Blog/TTA/Retail 2) Personal - Most weekends “off”! - Entirely separate personal finances; basic personal financing plan - Family….?
Re: looking for partner - Partnerships in business can be tricky. Most partnerships fail. Here are a few points to ponder before starting a partnership: - Should have common goal and vision - Level of commitment in business - Expectations from business and each other. - Good sense of self-worth - Financial Position – Have a good experience in related business with strong financial standing I suggest you to go on Google type “Partnership Assessment form” and Partnership Assessment Tool” You find some good results. Further apart from this forum look into on social media and business sites.
Re: Has anyone used the SBA's Micro Loan program? - [quote="Kevin Lee":1gvayekb]Hi Barbara, Personally, I would prefer to just use my own money, and if I needed more, I would consider enlisting the help of a partner. I want to limit my risk and liabilities as much as possible.[/quote:1gvayekb] I disagree with the partnership advice. The only ship that wont sail is a partnership. Partnerships make business messy and complicated. If you need the funds to expand just expand slower. If you need the funds to stay open you need to look at your business plan a little more closely.
Re: We all embellish, so are we all liars? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":3chumhxz]For instance, what if a customer asks you where a specific sales representative is but you don't know where he/she is? Retail expert Doug Fleener says "Rather than appearing not to know what's going on, it's safer to go with the standard reply: 'Dan's (i.e. sales reps' name) not available right now. My name is... May I help you?'" ("The Profitable Retailer" 216).[/quote:3chumhxz] Hi Kevin There have been a couple of businesses in my local area who have done this only to become unstuck when we found out that Dan (or who ever we were after) had not worked there for months and the business (a one man band) was only trying to cover it up to appear larger than it was in reality. My honest opinion was that the business went through a few employees quitting and they didn't want us to think they were an unstable company.
Partnerships - I didnt have time to read through everyone's reply here to Robert, However, I read through Roberts first few posts and a few of the other's replies. Partnerships must total 100%, and with three partners, one of you is going to have to hold 34%. I strongly suggest that's the one who invented the product. A lawyer would probably advise you of that anyway. I also suggest that you speak to your own lawyer, find a few who specialize in patent's as well as partnership agreements and consult with them about your concerns. This way you get a few professional opinions. This will ensure that you 1) have professional opinions outside of your group and 2) that your partner (who also happens to be a lawyer) isn't going to pull the wool over your eyes somewhere along the way. Some lawyers are very good at hiding things in contracts...they are caled loopholes. You'd be surprised how many stories i've heard of partners stabbing the other in the back later down the road (even those partners that are family and close friends). You must always look out for number one and protect yourself and in your case, your invention too. You have to absolutely remember one thing...you are the inventor...without you they wouldnt be able to hold a share of your invention. You are "the God" here and honsetly, it's nice to cut them in and share the wealth, but why so evenly? who ever said they get to have so much when you have basically done all the work? If your gut is telling you something is amis, and that's what it sounds like to me...that you're very uncomfortable with this. Listen to your gut instincts. I certainly would make some changes if I were you.


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