Retailers - what are you selling?

I browsed and shopped in a major shopping centre yesterday and something really struck me. Retailers seem more and more indifferent to their customers than ever and customers seem less and less bothered. The reason I say this? It's all linked to customer service - or the lack of it. So many places I shopped or observed had long queues, tills that could have been opened and staff in the shop floor. But none ventured to connect the three and put the extra staff on the tills to reduce the queues. In fact on more than one occasion there were team members chatting to each other (whether it was work related or not I couldn't say) while very near to the queues at the tills and did nothing to either halt their conversation nor to deal with said queues.

What is the problem? Is there a problem? Has retail moved into a new phase?

I think that there is a problem because the customer deserves better when there are resources available. I have worked for and with retailers for a very long time  and it has always been a huge focus on serving the customers waiting at the till. If every retailer develops the attitude that this isn't important at the same time then the customer loses out. But if only the slack retailers develop this attitude then the smart retailer can win.

Lack of management presence

I see a real lack of management presence on the shop floors of UK retailers and it creates an issue. Wether this is a change in strategy or the fact that management teams have other priorities I don't know but I do see a large movement away from supervision and this leads to self-supervision. People will often make the decisions that makes life easier for them and not necessarily the customer. What I witnessed yesterday was people finding shop floor tasks easier than serving at the till and abandoning customers. With a management presence on these shop floors this wouldn't be allowed to happen.

I think that contrary to popular belief there is a need for middle management to look after the relationship between shop floor staff and their customers. This protects the company's bottom line far better than cutting costs.

Cost control isn't everything

There is a drive with many retailers to keep down the costs and reduce waste. While I applaud this general idea there is more to retail than this. If you cut one cost too much (particularly if it is staffing) then you lose the balance between price and service and your customers go elsewhere.

It all comes back to the initial question of "what are you selling?" I don't believe that a store is simply selling the stock on their shelves. They are selling emotions and thoughts-

• The feeling that tou have the latest fashions
• The feeling that you offer great value
• The feeling that you are on-trend
• The feeling that you only sell quality products

But this isn't enough without the customer service to back up the proposition. I queued for 10 minutes  yesterday to but two T-shirts from a quality and hugely popular clothing retailer yesterday because the staff on the shop floor didn't react to the queues. In fact I'd say that the store is proud of its queues because they rarely work hard to reduce them. I won't shop there again.

Do you have a pet hate when it comes to retail? What would you change instantly? Let me know I'm the comments below.

Think about the emails you send out to your subscribers

I received and email today from Amazon, lettings me know about several deals. I scrolled through and saw a deal I found potentially interesting. When I clicked on it, I was taken to a general deals page. I thought I'd clicked wrongly and tried again - the result was the same general deals page. So I tried a different deal - same page. This I found frustrating, and I gave up. Not only did I give up, I won't be clicking through from Amazon emails again. So, what have Amazon achieved from sending this email? I would say, into case, it's had a negative impact. I am probably a similar experience away from unsubscribing.

Which brings me to my point. Please think about the content, links and impact of your communications with your customers, especially emails.

Content

This needs to be as relevant as possible for the people receiving it. If you are a retailer that sells in different categories then you could consider a filter on your email subscribe page. This will mean that, for instance, your baby customers won't get emails about your photographic offering. You want your emails to entice customers to click through to your website and browse. That will only happen if there is something in the content that they want to follow up. You can get tech that will report back to you in what was clicked, and where that led. This will give you the data to ensure that you know what content works and what content doesn't.

Impact

This leads to impact, where the effectiveness of your content triggers the sales of the product or products you are trying to push. The header of the email is the very first thing seen, so ensure that it leads the recipient to read on. A photo or image makes great headway, especially if the product is visually appealing.

Links

Like the Amazon example above, you need to ensure that the links take your customers to the right places. It means that they have the faith in you and your company to click again and to keep subscribed - this is the lifeblood of your direct email marketing campaigns.

The other consideration is the frequency of your emails - not so often that your customers get sick if you, not so rare that they forget you.

Hope this helps.

Help your customers through your process and they will be your advocates

If there's a quirky or different part of your company up others then In my eyes, you've got a choice. Either-

Ensure there are always staff to hand to explain

Or

Ensure there is sufficient clear signage to explain.

In talking about parts of your business where customers don't intuitively know what to do. The ticket machine that required you to put your card in and remove straight away to work, the self-service till or well, pretty much the self-service anything. It shod be enough that you can have one team member looking after 6 or 8 tills, don't take this team member away!

Ikea does this beautifully with a mi. of the above approaches, more signs than staff though. It uses explanation and a little humour to let customers know that they will be picking and assembling the furniture themselves and the fact that this helps to keep the cost down. In fact they've now taken this quirk into a virtue - it's part of their business, their ethos.

If you have a part of your business that needs a little explaining or guidance then don't be afraid to explain or guide - your customers will appreciate your help and give you honest feedback about the process at the point that it's happening - one of the buzzwords in retail at the moment is "in the moment feedback" and it doesn't get more in the moment than that.

Christmas planning should be well under way by now

Christmas is on the way! Didn't anyone tell you? Your planning for Christmas will depend in what type of retailer you are, but the planning stage should be through or almost through by now.

Some retailers see the trade uplift from towards the end of October, whilst others don't see that until December.

Planning takes many forms and needs to cover many areas-

Staffing

Generally retailers will hire temporary staff to assist with the uplift in trade. For me, it's all about looking at your needs from the outset. Not just what hours you want to be covered but the exact nature of the duties you want these temporary staff to carry out. Think about the areas where you will see an uplift in sales, where your existing team will be best used and then you can identify any gaps in your weekly planner.

From this point you can plan extra hours x number of weeks x hourly rate to work out the costings of your extra Christmas staff.

When you are happy with the costings, it's about advertising the vacancy/vacancies whilst you design the recruitment process and timescales.

Advertising

The fact that it's Christmas will be a part of the natural advertising for any retailer - people will arrive at your door looking to buy.  You need to enhance this by your own marketing or advertising. This doesn't have to be expensive - changes to your shop window, your website and your social media presence can have a big impact.

Range

Now I'm probably too late for Christmas 2014 but changes to your range in time for Christmas can and will make a difference to your sales. Gifting and capturing the imagination of someone buying for someone else has become a massive industry. If your range is too static to change this close to Christmas this year then ease consider what you may be able to do in time for next year.

Hope this helps.

We're a fashion retailer - we just don't sell clothes

Paperchase chief executive Tim Meglund was quoted yesterday as saying the above quote - "we're a fashion retailer, we just don't sell clothes" about the company as they posted their annual results.

I have long believed something similar of every company - that they are all marketing companies, that market different products or services.

• An estate agent is a company that markets properties
• A retailer is a company that markets their own or someone else's products
• A manufacturer is a company that markets it's products to retailers and consumers

For me, that is the raisin d'être of every company - to raise demand for their product or service by marketing.

What does this mean for me

You have a couple of options, depending on the type of products you sell.

If they are made by you, then you need a marketing campaign to raise awareness and demand. You can use a local marketing consultancy, usually at a reasonable cost, or go it alone. Social media, word of mouth, offering incentives, local radio or newspaper advertising, handing out leaflets - the list goes on and on. You will know what us a good fit for your business.

If the products are made by a larger manufacturer (and I'm talking the real big boys) then you have a reliance in the fact that these big boys will be spending money on advertising already. You can mirror their advertising with your promotions. For example, if Plenty kitchen towels are putting out TV adverts, newspaper adverts and a social media campaign (as they are now) then this is a good time for Plenty to be highly visible to your customers, and perhaps offered on a promotion. Again, you will know how best to make this work for your customers, from a choice of the options above.

So, don't just think of yourself as a retailer - there's a little fashion retailer and a little marketer in all of us.

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - MP3 version of NOW That's What I Call 21st Century

Tesco sales drop is about more than price

I'm just reading about Tesco's figures and the fact that their sales dropped by 3.1% over the last quarter - the biggest drop since records began in 1984.

My wife and I were in Tesco yesterday and the problems became more obvious to me as we sat in the café overlooking the store.

The problem is that they get nothing right

Now this isn't an anti-Tesco rant. It's true. Look at the facts-

• They don't do quality as well as Waitrose
• They don't advertise as well as M&S
• They don't do cheap as well as Aldi
• They don't do mobiles as well as Carphone Warehouse
• They don't do cafés as well as Costa
• They don't do toys as well as Smyths
• They don't do tech as well as, well anyone really

This adds up to a poor showing overall. The growth of Tesco has come from the "all under one roof" philosophy but this has come at a price to consumers. The reality of the philosophy is "all in one place, but only 60% as good as if you bought it elsewhere."  The idea of training staff up to be as good as their competitors in each field wpuld take a huge investment. The model of the department store, with market leaders delivering each sector, stands up better than Tesco's current plan.

It is my belief that consumers in the UK tolerate standards that would be unacceptable elsewhere in the World.  For example, I conduct mystery shopping programmes for some major restaurant chains and the question regarding food quality is "was the food rancid or spoiled in flavour?"  Now is this a standard we find acceptable?  In most European countries poor restaurants close because people won't pay good money for something below par.

It's the same with Tesco - customers are starting to find them out. Why pay higher prices for less-informed service on technology? Why buy their Finest range when, for a comparable price, you can buy M&S?

There is a bottom ground for discounters and there are already a few in the market. Why are Morrisons rushing for the lowest price ground? Why are analysts urging Tesco to join them?

A company that ploughed some of their vast profits back into a living wage for their staff, more staff available for customers and a higher standard of service would win every time.

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Chart your promotions and marketing to see how profitable they are

The latest CBI survey shows retail sales growing for the 6th month in a row, but figures weren't as bullish as perhaps expected.

38% of respondents said sales were higher than a year ago

22% of respondents said sales were lower than a year ago

This equates to a balance of 16% - well below the anticipated figure of a 43% balance.  Retailers said they expect business to improve next month with the World Cup and (hopefully) Summer weather.  The CBI said that despite the slowdown, the fact that growth again, for the 6th consecutive month, was encouraging.

What did you experience last month?

What factors influenced this?

My main learning from this is to closely monitor your promotions and see how these impact your sales and profitability.  A simple spreadsheet will do the trick, where you can plot sales and profits against certain promotions with reference to certain times of the year, proximity to payday weekend, weather conditions.  I would say a day-by-day spreadsheet with a space at the end to note external factors will give you all the reference data you need to be able to lamb your future promotions, sales and other marketing activity.  Don't think that your competitors won't have all this information to hand to help their business - it's the norm, even for small stores.

Ensure you act and react like a professional business - the technology is there to assist you in making these decisions and your operation will run better for having the correct information at your fingertips.

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How to educate your customers

I often wonder how run of the mill, High Street retailers can educate their customers in their ways.  By this I mean how to interact with the company and what "buy in" the company needs from their customers to make a successful relationship/partnership.

Some newer entrants to the market are able to have this relationship/partnership and have complete customer but in, as the retailer and customer have grown together.  For me, a prime example is Ikea.  You select your own products, you get them home yourself, you clear your own tables in the cafe - in return they keep the prices to a minimum.

Another such example is Build A Bear - you pay a bit more for the bear, but you have the experience of choosing the design if your bear and being a large part of the production of the best.  It's not just a purchase - it's an experience.

How do you relate the things you need your customers to know?

In the examples above, Ikea has store notices and both retailers have a great "word of mouth" network of avid fans.  Social media has increased this many times over.

Social media is one way to to this, but you need to educate some valued, regular customers in the first place for word to spread.  So, the best way to initiate this is to get your team to have great conversations with your customers.  The effects of this may not happen overnight, but consistently great interactions with your customers will consistently lead to these values customers being your best advocates.

One message I'd like to see all retailers get over to their customers is that their mistreatment of stock, fixtures and fittings will always come back to them as higher prices.  A packaging that a customer splits and renders unsaleable will mean an extra cost to them and all other customers in future years.

Morrisons slashes prices, but fails to find its niche

Morrisons had an awful year, last year and they've decided to fight the discounter with discounts.  Unless they can undercut retailers like Aldi and Lidl that spend far less on their shop fits and staffing their stores, then they may struggle with this strategy.

It's the 2nd from last sentence that highlights a real need for expenditure-

"A lack of online and convenience store presence has also left the business exposed"

There's plenty of vacant High Street property out there for Morrisons to kill both birds with one stone.  Open convenience stores with online terminals for Click & Collect customers.  It will get them back on a par with the big boys, rather than trying to fend off the discounters snapping at their heels.

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Asda gets in on the Click & Collect boom

I have long been an advocate of the Click & Collect services offered by High Street stores to access a full range of products in perhaps a smaller outlet.  Boots and Next in particular have seen these offerings as successful.  Now Asda have announced plans to increase their "Click and Collect points" by 1,000.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26918527

This is a huge growth area and will continue to grow both your offering, and the High Street.

I have seen research by an unnamed High Street retailer that the average customer spends approximately a further £8 when they come into store to collect their goods.  That's extra income on both counts that can't be sniffed at!




Not everything can be bought on the High Street - Audible by Amazon

A clear purpose of what your retail business delivers is key

You must be able to communicate what your retail business stands for and what your customers are to expect in order to be successful.  The more successful retailers of the present times are clear in what they do best, tell their customers "what they are famous for" and their customers respond with loyalty and passion.

Some examples-

Value
Poundland and Home Bargains stand out here for me, as they consistently offer good products at a great price and their customers love it.  You can expect average customer service, often long queues and no shop floor staff to ask questions, but this is the price you pay to pay the price you pay!


Quality
This is the success story of John Lewis and Waitrose over the long-term and especially over the last few years.  The long-standing guarantee of "Never Knowingly Undersold" is their tagline but it is the absolute quality of their products (and staff) that sets them apart.


Getting the fashion trends "just right"
Now this is more difficult to put your finger on, but Next and Zara have hit the nail on the head, year after year.  They produce what their customers want to wear and their growth and sales have followed.


Loyalty
I have marked this as what a retailer can stand for as Tesco with their Clubcard and Boots with their Advantage Card have built loyal customers through their store card schemes, even though they lack in certain other areas (in my view, Tesco with service and Boots with price.)


Expertise
Their are certain retailers that are just accepted or known as the experts or leaders in a certain area.  If you want to buy sports gear then you will more than likely end up in Sports Direct.

All of these companies named have posted great results over the years and they, their staff and their customers are very clear in what they get from their shopping experience.

Ensure that you and your team have a strong, solid idea of what you want to be famous for and  communicate this clearly and consistently to your customers with your everyday conversations with your customers, your marketing and your social media presence.

Recycling empty shops is key to the future vibrancy of the High Street

The below article on the Management Today website seems to bemoan the fact that the High Street has spawned Charity Shops and Betting Chains, but the picture is much more complicated than that-

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1286363/high-street-shop-closures-dropped-80-last-year/

There needs to be a progression away from shops that sell products or services that we can find cheaper and easier online towards places that offer an experience. product or service that we would rather see or circumstances dictate that we can't do online.  On the "Risers" side of the chart are great examples of this-

Hotels
Although we mainly book these online (see the decline in travel agents on the "Fallers" side of the chart) we can't stay in a virtual hotel.  Good quality basic accommodation at competitive prices will always attract visitors to the correct locations.  The success of Travelodge and Premier Inn are testament to this.  Having a budget hotel in or near your High Street will provide you with extra trade.

Convenience Stores
We buy this at our convenience, as the name states, so it's not a pre-planned online purchase.  As the supermarkets develop their Click & Collect offerings via convenience stores then this area will get bigger and bigger.

Cheque Cashing
This has similar background to convenience stores, as there is a shorter run-up to this decision and the nature of the business and clients lead this to being a face-to-face transaction.  As technology develops, this may be an area that could go online, as was reported last year, with banks allowing customers using technology to pay in cheques.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/treasury-unveils-smart-way-to-cash-a-cheque-take-a-photo-on-your-phone-and-mail-to-the-bank-9025350.html

Sports Goods Shops
I feel this one area is on the list due to the expansion of Sports Direct over the last year.

Bookmakers
This is the growth area that I find most startling on this list. And with the advent of virtual gaming machines on your smartphone and online betting accounts that you can access from anywhere, is the one area that I don't see being a long-term upward trend.

The areas that have seen falls are areas that have seen a large growth online, such as travel agents, recruitment agents, video libraries and photographic stores.  This will only continue, but regeneration of our High Street into something that is fit for purpose in the modern World is essential.  I have mentioned Click & Collect before, and this is a great way of combining online and High Street parts of a business.  It combines the best parts of the online experience (convenience and price) and removes the worst part (paying for and waiting for the delivery.)  If you are not offering this service now, then you must seriously consider it.

Online-only retailers, such as Amazon are rumoured to be setting up demonstration stores where you can try the latest games console, for example, then order it there and then for home delivery or Click & Collect.  On a recent visit to a shopping centre on a weekday, the only 2 shops that were busy were Build A Bear and the Lego store.  Both were offering an experience, like the demonstration store.  Offering your customer an experience, whether that's building your own soft toy or building your own Lego characters, gives them something m ore than a transaction - it's an event.

Another stores that I have seen similar experiences are Sainsbury's, where I was offered a croissant with jam and then told which croissant and which jam, to enhance my experience (and make me buy some!)

Then there are the beauty stores (Boots are good at this) where they offer you a makeover, show you online videos with make-up tips and then sell you the relevant products.

None of these things can be experienced online!

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - Kindle edition of The Book Thief

Some of the best days are when you just leave your team to do their job

As the title states, I think that some of the best days are when you have a team that you have trained, skilled and motivated to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Sometimes all you need to do is point people in the right direction and let them get on with what they do best - no interference, no questioning. Yesterday was one of those days where the operations guy knew exactly where he wanted to be after a heavy weekend trade (see payday weekend blog from Saturday.) The customer service team had nothing other to do than give great customer service and weren't hindered by taking on extra tasks. The shop ran well, sales were up and everyone enjoyed their day. For things you can't buy on the High Street - Kindle edition of Philomena: The True Story of the Film (Film Tie-in Edition): The True Story of a Mother and the Son She Had to Give Away

Do payday lenders have a place on our High Street?

As I looked through the BBC news pages, this article caught my eye.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26382481

There are payday lenders on most High Streets, so is greater regulation a good thing for other High Street retailers or not?

For

Well, on a selfish level, there more disposable income our potential customers have in their hand, the more they have to spend in our shop.  Providers of essential items of grocery or personal hygiene products will welcome our loyal customers being able to continue spending.  In the UK we have little manufacturing industry, so a large part of our economy is driven by consumer spending.   The local plus it may provide is jobs for a couple of local people and rent for what may be a local landlord.

Against

In terms of the greater good of our community, money leaving local people as high interest payments and arriving in the profits of international corporations does us little good at all.

It may be our staff that are borrowing in this way, which if used irresponsibly then can lead to longer-term financial woes.  This could eventually lead to absenteeism or, inextreme cases, employee theft.

I am against the "Nanny state" and I think that people should be free to make their own decisions.  There is obviously a market for payday lenders, as they have become hugely successful.  This needs to be balanced with financial education (preferably in school.)

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - James Hunt: The Biography

It's payday weekend again

I suspect many of you have seen an upturn in sales towards the end if this week. Thursday and Friday are reporting good sales from local retailers here.

Make sure you're ready for this weekend.  Extra selling staff will make a big difference, as will staff ready to serve at the tills.

Your operations team should be prepared for extra replenishment and for it to take a little longer than usual, due to the extra customers.

Good luck out there!

Have a great weekend!

Your enthusiasm infects your team - and your customers

The best managers have boundless enthusiasm (mixed in with some focus.). When you are enthusiastic about your job, your company and have a clear direction for this enthusiasm then your team will feed on this.  They will work better for you, share your goals and share their ideas.  Nourish these and you have a winning team and a great place to work.

I worked with a manager with great energy, enthusiasm for the job and a clear view of where they wanted their store to be - with a sense of what order things had to happen to achieve this.  It was a job that I jumped out of bed to work in.

And your customers feel it too!

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - Amazon Prime

Article on retail gazette website By Wayne Usie, Senior vice presidentof Retail, JDA Software

Just reading through retail gazette website when I came across this article-

http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/41412-building-the-nextgeneration-retail-operating-model-five-things-every-retail-ceo-needs-to-know

This brought up 2 key areas for me-

1-You must know your customer

Through all your customers interactions with your brand, you need to know what your customer is doing. Your High Street presence is the face of your brand but your customers will interact with you via your website, mobile website, apps and social media amongst others.  The more of these you can track, then the more you can tailor the experience to your customer.  Having log-ins for your website, tracking in your apps and loyalty cards will enable your systems to follow your customers browsing history as well as purchase history.  Allowing reviews of products via your website sees how your customers use and recommend your products.  Interacting with your customers on social media allows you access to their profile and their friends.  This information can prove invaluable.  Use it wisely.

2-You must know your own proposition

These two areas go hand-in-hand.  You must know in exact detail what you offer your customers.  From this detail you must ensure that all your team know your proposition and can talk about it with confidence to every customer that walks through your door.  Some of the UK retailers that have disappeared over the last few years tried to be too many things all at once - Woolworths, Comet, JJB Sports to name some high-profile examples.

Your customers must know why they are walking through your door. Your team must know how to interact with them.

Not everything can be bought on the High Street - Amazon Prime with TV and film streaming

Comparisons of UK High Street to that of Italy

On a recent visit to Italy, I decided to look at the similarities and differences between the High Streets in Italy and those in the UK.  The High Streets I encountered in Italy were generally more vibrant, with a higher occupancy rate than those I have encountered recently in the UK.

There is more of a focus on the trades in Italy and no High Street is complete without a butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger, cobbler or baker.

Some or all of these have been rolled into one supermarket in many UK High Streets.

This isn't to say that supermarkets are necessarily a bad thing in a High Street shopping area, but that a competitor that provides some expert knowledge and a high level of customer service would be beneficial.

We have seen more of a café culture like our European cousins over recent years, but the difference is marked.  UK High Streets have mimicked the US with large chains tending to dominate, whereas in Europe the trend is for local, independent cafés.

Planning offices need to prioritise the types of business they want to occupy their town centres. When economic times are tough, it is easy to accept whatever business that comes along.

Perhaps a forward-thinking council would get together with local landlords and advertisers to request certain tenants or sectors that they would like to enhance their town centre. That would be a proactive move.

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Speed of service is key for most High Street shoppers

Although quality of service and spending as much time as possible with each and every customer, the dynamic can change for many of your customers on the High Street. There are time constraints, mostly in the week, from the ticking clock on their parking space, childcare, returning to work from a lunch break and generally trying to fit necessary shopping into an already busy lifestyle.

High Street customers have less time than those in edge if town stores.

As quality, successful retailers we react to the reduced amount of time our shoppers have.  We need to man the tills, with a back up available nearby, especially at lunch time. Staff lunch breaks need to be worked around this. Putting a positive spin on this with your team will help with morale.

Stock replenishment needs to be complete before and after the busy hours over lunch time.  This ensures availability for lunch time shoppers (especially important if you sell lunch food items) and keeps your replenishment staff ready to assist customers on the shop floor and tills.

Management need to be visible on the shop floor and available to motivate their team at this vital time of the day.

Let's gear our teams up for this important time of the day and ensure we make the best if our High Street location.

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - Kindle version of The Husband's Secret

BBC article on Justin King's time at Sainsburys

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25960491

Highlights 5 key areas of success in Justin King's time at Sainsburys.

I found the quality/value and the focus points the most interesting and the most relevant.

Quality/Value

This is interesting because the days of low price being mistaken for value seem to have all but disappeared.  Value means being appreciated as a customer, receiving truly excellent customer service and buying goods that exceed expectations.  Even value retailers can't get away with selling things that don't last.

Focus

This seems so basic, such a given, but it is still overlooked.  It determines staffing profile, marketing, social media presence, expansion plans. It must be at the forefront of your mind with every decision. It must be clearly defined and clearly communicated to your team.

Some things you can't buy on the High Street - MP3 download of Crying for No Reason