Posted on

Divide & Conquer

What comes first the chicken or egg…………

 

I find myself often asking this question relating to the customer experience and visual concepts. 

It is difficult to influence one without the other. 

Before any visual decisions are made, understanding the service your going to deliver is key. 

Be specific 

  • Weekly Target 
  • Daily target 
  • Hourly target 
  • ATV 
  • Customer count
  • Time Management 

Enhancing the selling experience is the answer and that is implementing silent service. 

The customer need to be able to serve themselves this should be the basis of creating your visual directive. 

Do not implement faffy displays that need staff attention. This about how many customers your need to sell too and how many items they need to buy, your layout and displays must reflect this. 

Good example of this is having items folded if your market is to sell copious amounts of these items then having them folded is sending out the wrong message. 

Customer can of course serve themselves  from pile of folded clothes but as people shop this becomes untidy in turn becomes difficult to shop because the shelves are mess. 

Or it’s acceptable that folded t-shirt will become untidy and the customer just accepts it. 

Options to think about it; how much money does this generate regarding sales and can you fit out more density verses hanging the same stock the most like answers is no, but do you need copious amounts to make an impact? or can you achieve better results with less density.

I believe tidy organised store exists but its difficult to have balance with the brand experience, visual concept and customer service they are all key so functionality (TIME)  plays key role here. I previously worked as Area Retail Trainer within the charity sector and this massively opened my eyes into the concept of time and how when person is being paid id import to utilise their time productively because time is money.  Understand the importance of time and managing your peoples time is key and relative to fully managing your brand.

Below are few question to consider:

What is “Your concept of  T I M E”?  

What stops you from achieving? 

Do you plan day, week, month? 

Do you delegate actions? 

Do you complete task list for each staff member? 

Do you plan development to be best version of you? 

Do you plan for online digital training session? 

Are you plans inline with brand purpose/ vision? 

My concept of time are to achieving the Brand KPI’s so planing them accordingly into your day is a must.

Development is also key whether you want sale Assistant to be the best version of themselves or your coaching them to take the next step, planing make this easy. 

Continuous traning and development is vital part of today’s culture. Be committed to developing both you and your team through live training session, team meeting and workshop.

 

Posted on

ARE YOU FULLY LAUNCHED……….


PHOTO: ALYSSA ROSENHECK FOR TAYLOR INTERIORS 

ARE YOU “FULLY LAUNCHED”……………….                                                                                

The second the clock strikes 9am are your “Doors Open” and ready for business?

We all want to make money and understanding whether you’re a BRAND or BUSINESS is a decision worth making. 

I am going to be asking a lot questions, all of which are crucial to you knowing the the answers, because if you don’t how can you expect your people to deliver results, especially in monetary terms. Keep thinking about the whether you’re a BRAND or BUSINESS and I’ll return to this point later. 

I have a proposition for you……………

               

For now, the questions below are poignant:  

  • Who is your customer? 
  • What your USP? 
  • Are your foundations set? 
  • Who’s Accountable for sales?
  • Why have you chosen the location(s) your in? 
  • Are you identifiable from your visual concept?
  • Does your Visual Merchandising define you? 
  • How do your customers interpret your business or brand? 
  • What recent research have you completed about your business? 
  • What is your best seller? 
  • What are you renowned for?
  • What do you want to be renowned for?
  • Who are your people? 

You decide whether you’re a Brand or Business and knowing the answer to the above questions will help you determine this……..

Following on from the 5 main priority areas, do not be lured in by aiming for profit first. This of course and absolutely should be apart of your daily goals and  your vision for growth. Think about the long term, therefore people are your asset and key to your brands/business success.

The order I follow: PEOPLE + PRODUCT + SERVICE + SALES = PROFIT  It’s never let me down yet! This is the key to success, that simple sum above has all the answers, we just need to follow it daily. Your people are the 1st key to your businesses success so communicate and invest time in developing them.  I hope this snippet of information has had positive impact on enhancing you to elevating your business.  Next week I discuss why silent service is imperative. 

Posted on

The C word………..COMMERCIAL

In the retail industry this word as such impact so what is the meaning of  C O M M E R C I A  L

“THE INVOLVING OF CUSTOMERS INTENDING TO PURCHASE GOODS”

B A L A N C E

Finding a balance  between enticing visuals and being commercial can pose it’s challenges as we all want to show our creativity.  The problem is visuals are open to debate and being commercial isn’t.

I see a lot of higher up’s quickly shooting down visuals even through the manager has followed the VM guide. I believe the reason for this is regarding your store performance (basically if your take money you can petty much do what you like) YOU will always be in the (firing line) wrong if your store isn’t,  performing! Having said that if this is happening consistently with you or multiple stores, then having clear communication of what being commercial is/means to your RM  needs to be clarified.

One things that is extremely important is understanding the WHY and why your actioning the task. In many cases this is fundamental to you buying  in and actual completing the task and doing this correctly.

Do not be afraid to challenge actions, easier said then done I know! These are your KPI’s you graded on so be confident in your decisions, you know your market and customer profile. All in all don’t forget to ask WHY, what you did was wrong so you can learn  from it.

Next time your given task I would the S M A R T  acronym SPECIFIC,MEASURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT & TIME BOUND

Have clear concise points for each heading and forwarded them to your Line Manager or Regional Manager for review and changes. Have detail where necessary, especially if you don’t have enough product or have changed layout priorities to reflect your store space.  Be sure to ask for there impute stating you want the layout to be successfully and implementation to run smoothly. It is incredibly annoying to have someone rip apart your shop floor once the layout as be implemented stating it’s “productive feedback”.  If this is the case it’s about working smarter not harder. Politely inform them that these actions were agreed too because you had planed accordingly.  Things change, of course they do! But being in the know is key to achieving, so never be afraid to ask!

 

Great leader will inspire you taking you and your team on the journey to success! They will not kick you when your down! Remember: If you have implemented something wrong this is poor reflection on them too and there strategy should be to understand what went wrong and why.

T H E   A R T  O F   P L A N N I N G   Y O U R   L A Y O U T

Read through whole VM GUIDE first before planning your layout

  • CUSTOMER SERVICE- The more detailed a display the less likely a customer will buy from it. Think wearable outfits.
  • SILENT SERVICE- Can customers select products easily.
  • THE JOURNEY- Everything about the layout needs to be easy to shop because the less time you have to help customers with the basics the more time you will have to sell THE WANT PRODUCTS. In a nutshell the easier it is for customer to find what there looking for, the more they will buy.
  • CUSTOMER EXPERENCE- Understand your customer and deliver inclusive, exclusive service.
  • LAYOUT- Be realistic when implementing creative visuals will you be able to maintain high standard  and service customers. Determine your layout to suit your customer experience.
  • STAFF- replenishment and rejects remember if your staff can’t find products and put them away correctly your customers won’t find them either.

C O N C L U S I O N

All in all plan and plan, to plan……Do not under estimate the importance of planning this will allow you be to ahead of the game and iron out the creases without having negative impact on sales. Also be aware of customers mindset because everything your doing is for them.

Windows are great way to excite and entice your customers with your  brands lifestyle alongside wearable  fashions.

As previously mentioned, once in store internal display should be easy to shop allowing your customer to be enticed and elevating them throughout there journey.