Surefire way to boost store's salesEditor’s note: MRA members and retail
consultants Bob and Susan Negen took exception to a recent “Ask Michigan
Retailers” answer about store hours. They accepted the invitation
to write a column expressing their views. by Bob and Susan Negen, Searching for a way to increase your sales
and profits and develop deeper customer loyalty? It’s simple: increase
your store hours.
One of the most important things you can
do to increase sales is to make it as easy as humanly possible for your
customers to shop with you. And you cannot sell through a closed door! Your hours should be tailored to the schedule
of your customers, not to your schedule. This means staying open all day
on Saturday, staying open late on some weekdays and opening on Sundays. Quite often this means hiring and training
new people. Many storeowners are hesitant to take on the extra cost and
responsibilities of longer hours. Although change is never easy, in this
case it pays. In an informal, entirely unscientific survey
of over 50 retail storeowners who stay open on Sunday, every single one
of them said their sales more than justified staying open. Most responded
that Sunday was usually as big as most weekdays, yet they typically kept
shorter hours. Remember, 67 percent of customers stop shopping
with a business because of perceived indifference. If your customers come
to your door and you aren’t open, they will think it’s because
you don’t care about their business. They won’t tell you about
it, they’ll just go away. If you want to stay in business in today’s
incredibly competitive retail environment you must put the needs, wants
and desires of your customers first. This means longer hours - hours that
fit the schedules of today’s super busy consumer. Love your customer….the money will follow. |
Your
customers can shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the local superstore,
on the Internet and with catalog merchants. Yet quite often they have
to work very hard to shop with the independent merchants and other small
businesses in their own neighborhoods.