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Don't Slash Prices, Do In Store Promotions

Written by: Scott Kreisberg

Article Overview: How to get more customers in the store? These days it seems to be the question that most retailers are asking and is a much more optimum solution than the slashing of prices. Yes, buyers may be looking for bargains, but they also value a fun and entertaining shopping experience. If you provide that, the customers will come.

Free Download - Retail Metrics: KPI’s – Stock to Sales Ratio By Scott Kreisberg
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Don't Slash Prices, Do In Store Promotions

How to get more customers in the store? These days it seems to be the question that most retailers are asking and is a much more optimum solution than the slashing of prices. Yes, buyers may be looking for bargains, but they also value a fun and entertaining shopping experience. If you provide that, the customers will come.

First, use your POS system to assess customer purchase and return history that verifies customer satisfaction, allowing you to offer new items at preferential pricing that a valued customer might want.

Using information on your customers, their demand and some market intelligence, leverage that knowledge to build a strategic, targeted approach to pricing, promotion, assortment and other crucial merchandising functions.

Take a look at whether the category roles and image items you identify are really perceived that way by your customers. For example, do your traffic drivers actually yield profitable traffic or do they encourage cherry-pickers? The technology you have in your store can help you determine the answer.

Since it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, and dissatisfied customers vote with their feet, smart retailers pay very close attention to customer relations. This means that every employee needs to treat every customer like the precious resource they are, since they are the future of your store.

Once you have set up your store based on the above, it's time to get the customers in. The LA Times recently had an article listing some examples of in-store promotions currently being used by retailers. These will give you some ideas on how to create your own in-store promotions. These include:

Keep in mind that once the consumer is in the store, your focus should be on merchandising. Avoid filling racks with discounted products and minimal staff. Merchandisers should move appealing products to the front and promote by using eye-catching displays.

Maintain the value of your retail brand with a clean and well-presented store front. Regardless of the economy, consumers want to enjoy their shopping experience. Make sure your store front is a warm and inviting get-away from the daily economic downturn.

Lastly, keep in touch with your retail results. Use your store technology to know what promotions are effective and where consumer experiences are lacking. Be proactive about making changes to merchandise, prices, and customer service programs. Staying in-tune with your customer is the key to staying on top for 2009.

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Home > Retail > Scott Kreisberg > Dont Slash Prices Do In Store Promotions
Article Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer screenings, career counseling, cherry pickers, customer purchase, customer relations, customer satisfaction, dissatisfied customers, free blood pressure, la times, li li, loyalty discounts, market intelligence, nurse practitioner, optimum solution, precious resource, profitable traffic, smart retailers, store promotions, traffic drivers

About the Author: Scott Kreisberg
RSS for Scott's articles - Visit Scott's website

Scott Kreisberg is a pioneer in being the first in selling point of sale software systems to retailers in the 80’s when they were still using cash registers, and first-handedly changed the face of retailing. His journey to shift retailer misconceptions about using a computer in their retail business and point of sale, was a long one and today Scott’s company, One Step Retail Solutions, has transcended the retail service industry becoming the leading retail technology service provider in the U.S. Scott has watched the economy hit 3 major slumps and a vast majority of his clients survived those economic downturns. Now, he’s taking his clients through the next economic disaster. Scott is also host of Internet TV series, "Smart Retail" on the Internet channel http://smartretail.tv.

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