Niche selling or niche marketing is something that, in retail, you hear bantered about frequently. I believe the terms mean different things to different people and they’re meanings are,  perhaps, a little fuzzy around the edges. One online dictionary defines niche like this: A special area of demand for a product or service: “One niche that is approaching mass-market proportions is held by regional magazines” (Brad Edmondson).

Niche selling is important to the success of any retail store. Finding a niche is one of the things that will separate you from your competitors and that distinction or differentiating factor may be the advantage that puts you over the top.

First understand that niche selling can refer to a product, a category within a department, a department or your entire store. A key point is that you provide a product that is either unavailable elsewhere in close proximity, you provide that product with greater expertise, you provide a wider range of that product or you provide it at a better price than other competitors in your area. It is through one of these differentiating factors that you become the customers’ choice for the product you are featuring and it becomes your niche.

How do you decide on a niche for your store. Start by looking to your heart. If within your store’s product offering you find something you are passionate about that’s a good place to begin. Often passion will fuel study, study will produce expertise and expertise will produce demand. I heard once, don’t remember where, that if you become the most knowledgeable person within 100 miles about almost any subject, your expertise will be in demand. You want your niche category to be in demand…master it.

When contemplating developing a niche and niche selling several things should be considered here:

• Is the product closely related to other products you’re currently offering so that your current customer base will fuel the early success of your endeavor.
• Do demographic reports indicate sufficient demand for the category?
• Assuming your store is currently full where do you begin to free up the space? What are your opportunity costs. If you’re unsure where you should begin with this process watch this video first.
• How are your competitors positioned in this category?

I believe all stores have a niche (probably several). If they didn’t I don’t think they’d be in business. But I also believe that by giving thought to what your niches are and what you’d like them to be is a positive use of time. Instead of trying to be all things to all customers, develop expertise specialization in fewer things and you’ll draw customers from farther distances. In this way you may become a destination store for your specialty and your niche selling explode.

In a presentations that I’ve had the honor of presenting to several groups, I’ve used the visual of a playground teeter-totter. Imagine the image of one now, with two equal weight children on opposite ends and how that would achieve a nice balance landing the beam in a level position. Now picture one child heavier than the other and you’ll see how that end of the play set comes crashing down.

I believe that is a good visual for focusing on the balance that must occur between the financial aspects and the customer interface issues regarding retail store improvement. I’m not saying that it’s bad to consider the financial ramifications of your decisions…not at all. You have to. But do bear in mind that in the highly competitive environment in which you operate customer experience must be a primary focus too.

Therefore, I suggest that you concentrate on retail store improvement ideas that can have positive impact on the bottom line as well. For example, a new floor plan which creates a more friendly atmosphere, encourages browsing and increases shop time will almost certainly increase sales. A less obvious benefit is the bump in margin many stores realized from a redesign which seems to expose shoppers to more higher margin items.

The point is that if a manager looked upon this type of move as simply expense, he, or she, might well postpone the entire thing. Looking at both sides of that teeter-totter, however would give a better understanding of how the customer experience benefit might outweigh, at least balance, the negative of the expense outlay.

Don’t know where to start? Check out our company’s website and we’ll be glad to visit with you about how a redesign might benefit your store.

Retail store colors – pick them carefully.

A good place to start the mental process of selecting colors is to contemplate just what type of environment you want to create. For example, do you want a tranquil and calm environment? Think blues and greens. Do you want to create excitement and high-energy? Try yellows and oranges. Do you want to imply products that are harmonious with nature and the environment? Tend toward greens and browns…think earth tones. Do you sell products that would be positively influenced by increasing the appetites of your patrons? Research has shown that reds and oranges stimulate appetites while other colors, blues particularly, suppress them.

Retail store colors – the next step.

Once you have gone through the planning process described above, it really becomes pretty easy. All paint providers have color selection charts that once you have selected the primary  will suggest complimentary colors. It really is that simple. The cards have been designed by color “experts” and you won’t go wrong with the combinations suggested on those cards.

If you want to experiment a little more there is a really nifty little RGB (red-green-blue) color generator that can suggest ideas and is just plain fun to play with. Using the sliders you’ll dial in your primary color on top and the program will suggest complimentary colors. I find it quite useful and fascinating as we are working with color schemes for stores.

This may prove helpful in selecting retail store colors.

Retail store colors – keep the environment congruent.

Remember to strive for consistency in your presentation. If, for example, you elect to create a serene environment which feature blues and greens, don’t fill the air with “head-banger” music. Natural sounds or soft music would be congruent with your selected colors. If you want to create the exciting environment and you’ve splashed the walls with yellows and oranges up tempo happy music would be more consistent with your theme.

There is a psychology which accompanies retail store colors. In the final analysis however what your striving for is a visually appealing presentation. Keep that in mind and you’ll be just fine!

Evaluate your staff through these four filters to improve retail business.

Hire the right people! This is an elementary premise but one of the most important in determining the success of your ability to improve retail business. Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” spoke about putting the right people on the bus. His clever analogy detailed that it’s very important to have a course charted for the bus, the bus being your business, but it’s just as important, perhaps even more important to make sure that the bus is filled with the right people. One of the old cliches that is often bantered about is “hire for attitude and train for skill”. That may be the way to look at hiring, but given the unemployment rate and state of employee opportunities it could well be that you can have both of those qualities now.

Train, Train, Train!

When athletic teams are competing, providing that skill levels of the participants are similar, the contest is usually one by the team that has trained the hardest. Your store is not an athletic event, but it is very much a competition. If you expect to win, and you must expect to win, it is imperative that you continue training.

You should train for product knowledge and train for selling skills but it is also critical that you cross-train. By doing so, when your retail sales clerks are not actively involved in a selling process they have knowledge to accomplish other tasks. Success of this group of personnel is not measured by sales alone but rather by a productivity quotient. In exchange for the wages you pay these people how much do they produce in tangible results.

Directing personnel to improve retail business.

Remember that the title of this discussion is one of improving retail business and not just improving retail sales. When we discuss improving business we are speaking about improving the bottom line. When the right employees are on the bus and they have been trained properly the next step is to ensure that they clearly understand what is expected of them. This means that a broad outline that includes instructions of what they are to do when they see nothing to do. You know as a store owner or manager that there are always things to do, but you employees may not see that as clearly as you do. Communicate your desires to them…direct them.

Supervise and follow up.

The final step is to make sure the right people on the bus, who are trained repeatedly and who have been clearly directed are monitored for compliance. I often see operations where the first three steps are completed only to fall short at this final step “where the rubber meets the road”. Ultimately one person must assure that all of these steps are complied with regularly and religiously.

As I said there are many different directions that a discussion to improve retail business can take, but this is one that can pay huge dividends.

Why do so many starting a retail store fail?

If you were wondering why so many businesses fail, I would guess much of it is do to naivety. Over estimating potential and demand, underestimating competition and expenses and being under financed at inception would all rank high on the list of probable causes of business failure. Couple that with the stresses that accompany working through the things I just described and its easy to see how some businesses are financially forced out while other entrepreneurs eventually just raise a white flag of surrender in reaction to circumstances.

Does your area have demand for starting a retail store of your vision?

So am I advising you against starting a business of your own? Quite the contrary, I can tell you there’s nothing better than profiting fully from your own efforts and ideas. In order to maximize your opportunity for success however requires a lot of groundwork on your part. Study all competitors in the arena in which you intend to operate. Understand what will make your offering unique and make your store a likely choice above the others. Utilize a consultant familiar with your type of proposed operation and demand that he furnish demographic data to determine if there is sufficient demand for your product as you will be relying on surrounding geography. Determine what you will need to survive for a couple years without income from your business. It is likely that it may take at least that long to move from starting a retail store to profitability.
Starting a retail store is something analogous to climbing a mountain. From the bottom a mountain appears beautiful and appealing. And if you’ve ever experienced the view from the top you know that there’s nothing like it. But if we had to climb the mountain to afford that mountaintop view it is unlikely many of us would ever see it. The challenge of a mountain climb and the view after its successful completion, however, is probably something that is quite rewarding, I can only speculate.
The thought of starting a retail store is quite appealing too. The climb from inception to success is also arduous. The feeling of success and the view from that perspective is also unequaled. This is a site that also has a lot of material to help you with your exciting new venture

One of the things that I’ve observed, and have actually experienced myself is someone conducting business in a store, preparing to write a check only to stop and ask “now where am I” or “what’s the name of your store? The name of your store should be emblazoned on all of your communication pieces and your retail store signs fall into that group.

Many people envision that retail store signs must be expensive. However with today’s technology and the number of substrates available, such is not the case. In fact, you may have noticed the retail store signs in some of the leading, cutting-edge stores are not constructed of the finest materials but rather styrene, foam-board or even recycled corrugated materials. The idea is to keep the costs down and yet enhance the image of the environment and it works well.

So where do you start to look for Retail Store Signs? The first step is to contact a facility that has graphic artists on staff who can also manufacture the signs once the designs are completed.

Our company offers retail store signs at  very competitive prices. We’ll be glad to discuss your project, your vision and the costs of putting the program together for you. You may find that it costs less than you may think to upscale your retail store signs.

It’s not as easy as one might imagine is it? In the book titled Discovery-Based Retail  we came up with a retail customer service definition that we believe works quite nicely and if you search to see how many times its quoted on the Internet apparently a lot of people agree.

So here you go, a good succinct retail customer service definition is:

Customer service is the sum of the acts and elements that allow consumers to receive what they need or desire from your retail establishment.

But wait a minute, you might say. By your definition almost everything that comes in contact with the customer would be a part of customer service. Yes, yes, you are right. Customer service is not a single act or interaction and in fact, great customer service can happen with little interaction at all.

Let me give you an example. Our sample shopper parks on a well-maintained safely lit parking area. It is an easy walk for her to enter your store. Upon entry to a nice decompression zone, her eyes adjust to the bright environment you have created. She is short on time and immediately spots the directive signage that you have put in place to make sure that it’s easy for her to find what she wants. She makes her way there, picks up her item(s) and then proceeds to a cash wrap area where she transacts her purchases quickly and conveniently. She makes her way across the clean and safe parking lot we described and she goes on her merry way.

Here’s what just happened.

1.  It was easy for her to get into your store.                                Customer Service!
2. There was a decompression zone in which she could adjust.  Customer Service!
3. The store was well lit inside and out.                                          Customer Service!
4. You had great signage to direct her to her interest.                 Customer Service!
5. You made it quick and easy for her to finish her purchases.  Customer Service!

You see by any definition that limits customer service to one on one, all of these important elements are omitted. The truth is that we could compile an almost endless list of elements that would enhance the shopping experience.

So the next time you analyze your customer service use this new retail customer service definition and you’ll probably begin focusing on the customer experience rather than customer service.

1. Create a more festive atmosphere. Although you may view your store as simply a store, given the current economic conditions shoppers will gravitate to the stores that are more “experiential”. Focus on the 5 senses: create visual displays, of course, but don’t forget the small things that appeal visually. E.g. Red bows everywhere. You want shoppers to think that you’ve got the perfect gift. Placing red bows on many items reinforces the theme. Follow the same line of thought through each of the senses. Does you store look, smell, taste, sound and feel (tactile displays) like Christmas?

Here are a couple more tips to increase retail sales.

2. Use “social proof” tags to help with buying decisions. Social proof is the phenomenon that describes something we’ve all experienced. E.g. there are many cars parked at a restaurant and we think “wow, that must be a good place to eat”. Since we assume the collective must be right we pull in and make a buying (dining) decision based on an “invisible recommendation”. Use this same very real normal reaction by placing tags on certain items. E.g. “this is our best seller for boys age 5-8”. Remember that many people shopping will appreciate the guidance and the responsibility of choice that you have removed from their frantic holiday schedule.

3. Spend extra time with your employees to make sure that they all know what is expected of them. It’s a great time to reinforce “suggestive selling”. You might try this: Many clerks react negatively to the thought of “suggestive selling”, so sometimes when we’re working with a sales team we reframe the principal by calling it “actively assisting”.  Something as simple as making sure people have the batteries they need for a toy can save them an additional trip, which they’ll no doubt appreciate. Oh, and by the way, it’ll put more change in the register too. The selling opportunities you have will be finite, make sure that all staff members know that and that each is focused on making every opportunity count! Reinforce this over and over!

Christmas season holds great opportunity! It is a joyous time of year (intended to be anyway). If you have tips to increase retail sales, please share them with us.

1.    People-Are yours better trained, friendlier, more knowledgeable etc?

2.    Presentation-Is your environment more pleasant, with displays that appeal visually and tactilely? Is your store more fun?

3.    Proximity-By virtue of your store’s location and its ingress-egress your store is the most convenient source for some people. Is it the most convenient store for enough people?

4.    Price (This probably shouldn’t be the one you focus on)

5.    Products-Are yours unique? Do you have a niche? Is your store dominant in that niche…meaning is your selection the widest and deepest within the niche you have targeted?

6.    Promotion – Are you using creative ways to reach your target consumer? Are you reaching them with frequency and repetition? You have to “reach out and bring people in”. Don’t fall into the “build it and they will come” mentality.

Assuming there is adequate demographic support for your product line within your store’s immediate pull, analyze and improve how you compete on these core points and you will be actively improving retail sales performance.

1. Don’t forget the old tried and true suggestive selling. A lot of store owners we have spoken with get really turned off by the concept. So much so, in fact, that during our training sessions we have relabeled the interaction, calling it “actively assisting” instead. It seems that if employees visualize themselves as someone who can  save a shopper an additional trip they are able to frame the interaction in a much more positive light. So instead of speaking to your employees about the additional revenue they can produce for the store, coach them in how beneficial their service is to your customers. Using a new definition of an old proven concept will probably help.
2. Here’ another idea from the old bag of retail sales training tips. Depending on the average price of items you sell it is often helpful to warn your clerks against “social-economic casting”. This is a term that we have coined to describe a very real interaction that we have observed. The clerk sells away from a more expensive item simply because when they “cast” that item into their own economic situation, it just doesn’t work financially. Cast in this light they afflicted salesperson sells down thinking they’re doing the customer a favor. With a little coaching and role playing however you can overcome this pitfall. You’ll find that when your employees make this leap your ticket size will invariably go up.
3. The basic skills that need to be taught are listening and asking questions. Depending on personality types, however, something as simple as asking questions can be difficult for some people. If you identify a person who you feel struggles with this, you may have hired the wrong person. Perhaps that person could function more effectively working with merchandising or clerical processes. However sometimes something as simply pointing out an inefficiency goes a long way to correcting it.

There are many good retail sales training tips out there. I hope you found these useful. If you have additional suggestions please list them in a reply so that many may benefit from your expertise.