So you’ve hit the mid-point of your year, you’ve just come through what was supposed to be one of your busiest times… a time when you should be “bringing home the bacon”. You can usually take some comfort in that. But, for some retail businesses it isn’t so comfortable this year. The months that were supposed to help you “catch up” from a long winter didn’t happen and in fact you may be headed for some uncharted territory. So what can you do?
Step 1: Plan Your Inventory
You need to plan your inventory buys appropriately. Ensuring you have the right inventory in the right classification at the right time is the key to maintaining AND increasing profitable sales in retail – year round!
Step 2: Maximize Your Initial Mark Up and MINIMIZE Your Markdowns!
Retailers often reach too quickly for the “red pen” when sales slow down in their stores. Rather than the slash and burn approach to increasing cash try re-merchandising your displays, increase your effective advertising and work with your team to re-energize your store – happy staff make for happy customers, happy customers make for happy cash registers!
Step 3: Think and Act Positively
Align all actions with those thoughts AND create the very best customer experience that you possibly can… Can you do it in time to save the season? ABSOLUTELY!!! Now, I am not suggesting that the power of positive thinking will fix whatever ails anybody or anything – I’m pretty sure it won’t. However positive thoughts are much better than negative ones no matter how you slice it. Whether you are an owner, manager or employee, I’m sure you can all remember “harder” times. You have to agree that you could not have survived if you didn’t continue to think positively. There is far too much “doom and gloom” out there already and you mustn’t contribute to it. In your organization, you simply put a stop to any and all negativity. There is an old saying that works here. “It’s the gloom that comes before, not the doom at the door that creates most of our problems”. So, until you are on the verge of death’s door, do not buy into it. Act sensibly and responsibly, but do not give in. There is nothing to gain by getting on the doom and gloom bus…
Dan Holman is a certified Winning@Retail™ consultant with twenty-plus years of success in diverse business development, new ventures, business expansion and strategic sales planning.
