Do you run a shop that sells groceries, clothes, drugs and you want to boost sales? If YES, here are 25 guaranteed ways to increase sales in your retail store.
Increasing sales in your retail store is the only option you have when it comes to generating more revenue from your business. Depending on what you are retailing in your store, there is bound to be some form of competition hence you need to deploy strategies that will help you make sales.
The retail business might be one of the easy to run businesses especially if you position the business in a location that is prone to both human and vehicular traffic. But beyond that, if you do not get other indices right, you will sure struggle with your retail business.
So, if you run a retail store and you are interested in increasing sales in your retail store, here are ways you can follow to achieve it.
25 Sure Ways to Increase Sales in your Retail Store
- Develop a Pricing Structure for Your Goods
One of the sure ways of increasing sales in your retail store is to develop a pricing structure for all the items that are in your store. There are a lot of factors to consider when fixing price for your products. Of course the law of supply and demand will always come into play, but it won’t be a bad idea to step your price a bit lower than what is obtainable in the market.
For example, if the market leader in your line of business is selling a similar product for $4, it will be wise to enter the market with $3.75 or even $3.99; you will be amazed to see the magic this little difference can do to your business.
- Adopt Suitable Advertising Platforms for Your Retail Store
Depending on what you retail in your store, one of the ways to increase sales is to ensure that you leverage on suitable advertising platforms to promote your retail store. For example, if you run a local retail store just in one location, it will be out of place for you to spend money advertising in a national daily. The most suitable platform to advertise on is a community newspaper or community radio station.
- Implement Goal Setting and Reward System for Your Sales Team
Another sure way to increase sales in your retail store is to implement goal setting and reward system for your sales team. A sales plan can’t be complete without goal setting and reward system. Implementing goal setting in your retail store for your team and also a reward system will serve as a motivational force to get your salesmen and saleswomen geared up to meet their targets. This idea can work if you run a standard retail store with over a handful of sales people.
- Ensure That You Have a Wide Range of Products from Different brands at all times
Ensuring that you have a wide range of products from different brands at all times is one sure way of increasing sales in your retail store. Studies show that shoppers usually go to stores where they can compare products from similar brands.
For example, if you retail detergent in your store, you should ensure that at all times that you have detergents from different manufacturing brands in your store. With that, it will be difficult for a customer to walk out of your store because they can’t find what they are looking for.
- Make use of Attractive Hand Bills to Create Awareness and Also to Give Direction to Your Store
Another sure way to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you make use of attractive hand bills to create awareness and also to give direction to your store. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most reliable means that a retail store can leverage on to get people in the community to know that they are in the community. Just ensure that you distribute the handbills from door to door and in any gathering where you can find people.
- Position Your Signage/Flexi Banners at Strategic Places Around Your Store
If you want to increase sales in your retail store, one of the ideas you should adopt is to ensure that you position your signage or flexi banners at strategic places all around the location where you have your retail store. With that, it will be easier for residents to know that there is a retail store around them.
- Position Your Greeters to Welcome and Direct Potential Customers
If you run a standard retail store, one of the ways to increase sales is to make sure that you position greeters to welcome and direct potential customers. The truth is that when you make your customers feel special, they are likely going to spend more in your store and that will translate to increase in sales in your retail store.
- Create a Loyalty Plan That Will Enable You Reward Your Regular Customers
Another sure way of increasing sales in your retail store is to create a loyalty plan that will enable you reward your regular customers. There is nobody that doesn’t like a reward; when you reward people they will always want to do more.
One of the ways of rewarding loyal customers is to allocate points when people spend a certain amount in your retail store. If they get certain points, they can convert the points to money and purchase stuffs from your retail store. Another means of rewarding loyal customers is to give them gifts at the end of the year.
- Hold Roadshows Within Your Neighborhood to Create Awareness for Your Retail Store
Holding roadshows within your neighborhood to create awareness for your retail store is yet another sure way to increase sales in your retail store.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the most popular strategies that businesses leverage on to announce their presence in their community. The bottom line is that if people in your community are aware that there is a retail store in their community, they would want to shop there and that is one sure way of increasing sales in your store.
- List Your Retail Store on Yellow Pages Ads (Local Directories)
Another sure way to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you list your retail store on yellow paged ads (local directories) in your city or community. Although with the advent of internet, hard copy yellow pages’ ads have been relegated to the background, but it is still one major tool that will help people identify and locate your store. Of course, if people know that your store exist in their location, they will sure pay a visit.
- Encourage the use of Word of mouth marketing (Referrals)
Do you know that word of mouth marketing i.e. referral marketing is one of the surest ways of increasing sales in your retail store? No doubt, people trust the judgement of people they love or are friends with. So, all you have to do to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you encourage the use of word of mouth marketing (referrals) from you existing customers.
- Ensure That You Have Quality Goods in Your Retail Store
Another way to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you have quality goods in your retail store. People will always go to places where they can get quality goods. So if your retail store is always stocked with quality goods, you won’t struggle to make sales. That is why it will be beneficial to have a merchandise manager that has eyes for details under your payroll.
- Offer Excellent Customer Service Experience
People like going to places where they are treated with dignity hence it will be easier for customers to go to retail shops that they know that they will be treated with dignity. So, if you are looking for ways to increase sales in your retail store, then you should ensure that you offer excellent customer service experience to all your customers.
- Offer After Sales Services
Depending on what you retail in your store, one of the sure ways of increasing sales is to offer after sales services. For example, if you retail smart phones and computers, offering after sale services will sure help drive traffic to your store and that will help you generate more sales.
- Offer Clearance Sales from Time to Time
Another sure way of increasing sales in a retail store is to offer clearance sales from time to time. Clearance sales is all about selling goods in your store less than the original price tag; selling at a discount. People would usually go out of their way to purchase goods that they know is far cheaper than it is used to be. Price slash is the secret retailers use to push out old stocks so that they can re-stock with new goods.
- Display Some of Your Good Outside Your Store
There are times you need to display your goods outside your store if indeed you want to attract people and generate more sales. It is a fact that some people would always pass through your store without entering inside even though there might some stuffs they need inside the store. In other to capture such customers and get them to buy from your store, you might have to display some of the goods in your store outside the store. This idea is ideal during summer sales.
- Get Celebrities in Your Community to Endorse Your Store
If your retail store is located in a community where you have a celebrity, you will do your businesses a whole lot of favor if you can get the celebrity to endorse your retail store. It is fact that celebrities are social influencers and if people in your community know that a celebrity is shopping in your retail store, they would want to go out of their way to also shop in your retail store.
- Ensure That Your Store is Well Stocked a Wide Range of Goods Per Time
Another sure way of increasing sales in your retail store is to ensure that your store is well stocked per time. The truth is that people hardly visit stores where the shelves are scanty. So, if you want to increase sales in your retail store, you must make sure that your store is well – stocked with a wide range of good per time.
- Conduct Survey Before Stocking Your Store
One of the ways to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you conduct survey via questionnaires to know what the people in your community want before stocking your store. Interestingly, there are brands that sell rapidly in different communities and the only way to know what the people want is to conduct a survey. It is possible to stock your store with goods and not attract sales especially if you stock with brands that is not acceptable in the community.
- Give Out Freebies Once in a While
Another sure way of increasing sales in your retail store is to ensure that you give out freebies once in a while to your customers. Everybody likes freebies and retailers know that that is one of the techniques of getting people to buy into your brand. Whatever you are giving out as freebies doesn’t need to be expensive, just ensure that you give out something that people will appreciate and you will be amazed on how they will become loyal customers.
- Make Your Store Welcoming and Attractive
You might have quality goods in your retail store, but if your store is not welcoming and attractive, people will hardly enter the store. So, one of the ways of increasing sales in your retail store is to make your store welcoming and attractive. You can contact an interior designer to help you decorate your store in such a way that anyone that enters will feel at home. With that, it will be easier for them to make more purchase.
- Offer Free Home Delivery Services
If you are looking for ways to increase sales in your retail store, then you should consider offering free home delivery services to your customers. All you need to do to get it right with this idea is to ensure that you only offer free home delivery services to customers that spend certain amount in your store. Say for example, you can give out free home delivery services to customers that spend up to $500 in your store. With that, you won’t have to run your business at a loss because you want to increase sales.
- Open a Corresponding Online Store
In this age and time when the world is going online, part of what you need to do to increase sales for your retail store is to open a corresponding online store. Well, you can only leverage on this idea if you run a standard retail store business. With an online retail store, you can attract customers from far and wide but you must make sure you have what it takes to carry out prompt and effect delivery.
- Make Public When You Have New Stock
Another way to increase sales in your retail store is to ensure that you make public when you have new stock. The truth is that your customers don’t know when you have new stock except you make it known to them. What you need to do to announce that you have new stock is print flyers and handbills and distribute to the public. Make use of posters and ensure that you paste them in and around your store.