The Retail Buzz

New Strategies for Retailers that get New Customers and Keep Them Coming Back to Your Physical Store

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/238260659

Leverage market conditions and new opportunities. Hear about strategies to optimize the marketing mix and build a competitive advantage.

Learn:

• Some specific exciting in-store promotions that draw customers in
• How to target your most profitable existing customers
• How some pricing rules may be obsolete and limiting your revenue or profit potential
• How to know if your traffic drivers actually yield profitable traffic or if they encourage cherry-pickers
• The buy online/pick-up in-store' model
  And much more!

Kevin McAdam, author, speaker and Vice President of One Step Retail Solutions will present this idea-inspiring webinar to really get your creative imagination working on how you can attract new customers and maximize return on existing customers.

It makes sense to maintain or actually increase marketing spend and sales resources during a recession. Over the past 50 years, companies that have been aggressive in these regards experienced a 275 percent growth rate improvement during the first full year of recovery. Whereas, those that pulled back on their marketing and sales spending increased revenue by only 19 percent during the recovery period.*

But how to spend your marketing dollars and on what? One of the most famous cliches in advertising is the one from retailer John Wanamaker: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." But with the advent of technology systems, this is no longer true. Find out how to know the return on investment of your advertising dollars, how many new customers it brings in and how many old customers it motivates to buy more.

Attend this free on-line webinar and find out new strategies for acquiring new customers and keeping existing ones. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

*Nielsen's Predictive Macroeconomic Impact System (PMIS).

One Step Retail Solutions has embarked on an internal campaign with its employees to shift focus from economic doom and gloom to higher, positive energies.

What started with an executive order to the marketing department instructing them to start promoting “good news” to its staff, clients and public soon took on new dimensions at One Step. The initiative started with broadcasting regular and frequent emails about good news in the retail sector, expanding its reach using the Blogosphere and Twitter.

The Marketing Dept. searched and compiled good news relating to the retail industry from various resources on the Internet and distributed the news along its various channels. While most of the news resources were still mostly promoting gloom about retail, there was one source that provided the bulk of good news; and that was on Twitter.

Twitter led to many sources with messages of encouragement and success in retail, despite the recession. One source led One Step marketers to get a daily dose of inspirational stories from DarynKagan.com which also pumped positive fuel into good news pipeline.

It was one of those stories that sparked One Step’s next campaign: the Live to Give campaign, based on a story of a woman whose life turned around by putting her attention on outreaching to people and giving something each day.

Today, One Step launched its new campaign effort in an email inviting employees to participate by performing one act of caring each day for a one month period of time, stating it was strictly on a voluntary basis.

The campaign promotes that employees can do this by giving something to another person (a gift) or doing something for another (like a pay-it-forward act of kindness). They can do this on a fellow co-worker, a client, a stranger in the street, their friend, a family member, or anyone.

Each staff member participating in the campaign can keep their own log of what they did (doesn’t have to be to whom they did it to necessarily). They can choose to share their deeds daily, weekly, at end of campaign, or not at all. The idea is to enable them to look back at things they did, if they so desire.

The company believes that the Live to Give campaign will put the focus on where it should be: outward instead of inward.

Almost every day news stories pop up about retailers using clever tactics to reinvent themselves in an effort to entice customers to shop in their store.

Anything from reduced prices to hefty discounts when purchasing more than one item to brand labeling to free stuff to really clever gimmicks is the new approach for retail today.

These value-oriented retailers is something we've been "tweeting" about on Twitter, and I'd like to highlight some of the clever ideas retailers have come up with:

• A triangle of success for retailers featured a reopening of a climbing area, heightening the value of the retail stores in that community. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/c6bgdv
• Barnes & Noble got innovative by entering the Blogosphere with Blogging Booksellers posting short video blog posts. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/cmfs4w
• Upscale men's retailers offering drinks in an effort to get men to linger and shop more. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/c8jajt
  
• Popeyes uses strategy of using real people in ads, highlighting the brand's personality. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/cextbv
• Office Depot applied its expanding "Try and Buy" concept to a full aisle for ACCO Brands' Wilson Jones binders. Story at: http://jijr.com/YAQ
• Kid apparel retailers stand out with Dress Up Kids campaigns. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/cv9tsh
• KMart launched a Twitter promotion offering free shipping on online orders with promo code only to Twitter users. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/cc9b5d
• A retailer's Webisodes introduce online instruction to customers for DIY projects. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/ccy67o
• Walmart's Great Value private label expansion signaled new trends in retail. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/c2ouoa
• Warehouse Express introduced ratings and reviews to offer customers detailed product experiences. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/dk52fr
  
• JoS A. Bank Clothiers gives money back if customer loses their job and lets them keep suit. Story at: http://tinyurl.com/czn4ve

There are so many ways a retailer can pump up their efforts to lure shoppers - holding parties, workshops, you name it. These were some that I came across within the past month.

I'd love to get comments about more ideas or what you've done to get more customers.

By Scott Kreisberg

Every retailer has a unique set of security challenges and, in the retail world, your security challenges never end.

More retailers are realizing that using perimeter and anti-virus technologies alone are not enough. As someone once said, it's like locking your doors but leaving your windows open. Now retailers must take a lot more security measures.

Some vital strategies retailers need to take for preventative measures against retail loss include:

• Security for your network
• Security against theft
• Protection of data
• Prevention of administrative errors

In today's competitive environment, a retailer's shrinkage performance can mean the difference between a good year and one that fails to meet expectations.

Recording what occurs in your store is also very important, whether it be before, during or after an event. Digital video surveillance and POS monitoring can deter common forms of employee theft, register theft and fraud.

Going on for some time now is "sweet-hearting," as it's known to retailers, which is when the cashier lets friends and family walk out with more than they paid for. It is quite common in the retail sector.

To prevent this, security software is necessary which uses a motion analysis algorithm designed to spot each instance when an employee may have bypassed the checkout price scanner with a grocery item, or passed a barcode-side-up over the infrared lens. It then checks with the store's point-of-sale system and cross-references time stamps to confirm the missed scan.

Read full article ...

Retailer runs every day operations of store using POS software

Store manager Soung Kim runs Sportech, a sports apparel and footwear retailer specializing in racquet tennis, talked about his experience using point of sale technology in the every day running of the store.

Sportech has been in business for 16 years and expanded its store from 2000 square feet to 5600 square feet, and plans to expand to more locations in future.

Kim stays in tune with the business side of things, keeping close track of the store's merchandise with Retail Pro POS software to avoid over and under purchasing. He follows what is coming in and says, "It really helps keep track of the business aspect of it, as it is a business."

Kim ensures that store employees are very helpful and actually give shoppers customer service. Developing and maintaining customer loyalty has kept their customers coming back. He frequently does a large mailing to them with coupons. Sometimes he teams up with doctors and local podiatrists to come in and do a clinic to help teach his customers different aspects of using proper footwear and apparel.

To know what his customers are purchasing, Kim checks the buying history of his customers in the POS software. He uses this information to motivate customers, who are pleased that they know them by name and what their history is.

Kim doesn't work alone however. Any time he needs to discuss a problem or technology issue, he relies on One Step Retail Solutions who provides technical support for him anytime of the day, even weekends.

Kim attributes a 10% growth in business to utilizing point of sale software. He uses it daily to easily manage all aspects of running the retail store operations, enabling him to stay on top of inventory and improving the customer's shopping experience.

Extraordinary People Give Back to Their Communities When It Matters Most

So much for all the "bad guys" stories you hear during these challenging economic times. Here are some great examples of small businesses that see this as the perfect time to do good.

There is a group of Americans who have done extraordinarily generous things. Call them Recession Angels, people who have taken their own money and given it to employees and their communities just as everybody else has been cutting back.

One retail owner gave bonuses instead of pink slips to give back and stimulate their small town's economy. Watch video

This retailer decided recently that the town of Brewton needed its own stimulus and that his 24 employees deserved a little something extra. So he doled out $16,000 in cash bonuses. He asked only that his workers donate 15 percent to a charity or somebody who was in worse shape than they were, and then take the rest and spend it at local businesses. To track the local impact of his "stimulus," Cottrell handed out the bonuses in $2 bills.

Full story: Recession Angels Rise to the Occasion

Compliments of One Step Retail Solutions