According to the United States Census Bureau, there were more than 513 billion dollars in retail sales in the US economy in November of 2017. That’s a ton of money exchanging hands on a daily basis and represents the number of potential sales you could have coming in your door.
But if you are new to the retail industry or if you don’t stay up to date with your marketing efforts, then it’s easy for your business to fall out of step and face failure.
That’s why we put together these retail sales tips so that you can bring new customers to your door and keep your loyal customers coming back.
Table of Contents
1. Create a Competition for Your Employees
Everyone loves to win things, so why not start a competition for your employees for the week to see who can achieve the most sales? There are a lot of different ways to structure your competition.
You can try to make a commission style competition where each of your employees is competing against themselves to see how much of a certain item they can sell.
Or, depending on what kind of business you have, you may want to set a dollar amount goal for your employees to reach with their sales.
Another way to create a reward structure is to have your employees compete against each other, not just themselves. You could offer to give away a certain amount of merchandise, a gift, time off, or cash to the winner.
2. Create a Loyalty Program
Your employees aren’t the only people who would like to be rewarded for large purchases. You can also offer your customers a loyalty program to get them to spend more when they come to your store.
Many stores like to give their customers rewards that will be good on their next purchase to ensure the customer comes in again instead of giving them a discount off of their current purchase.
3. Create the Illusion of Scarcity
If you create a display in your store, you should only put a few out of each item and replenish them as they go. This is to create the illusion of scarcity for your customers.
If they believe like there won’t be one of the item left if they wait until next week, then they will be more likely to buy.
This principle applies in particular to retail clothing stores. You should only put out two or three items of each size at a time so that customers don’t think they can wait until next week when the item might go on sale.
4. Use the Science Behind Pricing Structures
There are a ton of different scientific principles that go into creating a good pricing structure for a retail store. Many of them have to do with how long the item is in the store and how frequently you get new items in.
But there are also other strategies. Another option is to carry one high-end item that competes with your best selling items. That way, when customers consider making a purchase, they will feel like they are making a more reasonable decision and won’t be so concerned about how much money they are spending.
5. Play Music That Makes Sense
Depending on what kind of business you run and what your customer demographic is, you will need to play different music. It’s important to put a good amount of time and energy into your selection because there are plenty of scientific studies out there to suggest music can play a major role in the decisions someone makes as they are shopping.
For example, if you go to a wine store that is playing French music, then you will be more likely to select a French bottle.
6. Put Popular, Inexpensive Items by the Register
Many major retailers like to put their most popular inexpensive items up front by the register so that people will be more likely to buy them.
If you sell anything that is small and can be considered an impulse buy, then make sure you put it in the right location in your store to maximize sales.
7. Consider a Suprise Reward Strategy
Another popular way to reward your customers and keep them coming back for more is to use a surprise reward strategy.
One way to do this is by handing your customer’s mystery reward cards when they enter your store. The cards will each be marked with a different percentage discount that can only be revealed at the register.
If you don’t want to spend a bunch of money on cards to hand out, then you should consider having your customer draw a percentage discount amount from a hat with multiple options. That way, their luck will be truly random.
8. Generate a Buzz
No matter which of the strategies on this list you try to employ, it’s important that you let your community know what you are doing.
If no one knows you are having a sale or handing out loyalty reward cards that week, then your efforts won’t have as much of an impact.
9. Track Your Metrics
If you are running a retail business, then it’s important that you stay up to date with your sales figures by monitoring your data using metrics. For more on retail execution strategies and software click here.
For data figures, you can reach out to your business’ accountant or keep track of your own records using an app.
Beyond Retail Sales Tips: More Great Advice
The retail sales tips in this article can be used by any business to bring more customers in the door quickly and keep them coming back time and time again.
For more awesome advice, check out our other career and business articles today.