Retail: how to boost sales without upsetting everything

Increasing retail sales is an everyday challenge... Because whoever does not progress goes backwards.

But in the age of online commerce, is it still possible to increase the sales of a retail chain.

What are the simple levers to put in place, beyond opening new locations, or moving to robotization?

Take the time to watch the video below...

https://youtu.be/aMJ8-QNsjt8

A few keys to increase retail sales...

In retail, increase margins rather than sales?

With the same business and sales practices, your only way to increase your margins in absolute value is to open new points of sale.

This means new logistical constraints, new financial risks, new HR risks.

While at the end of the day, increasing margins, the profitability of the company is just as good.

Also, let's look at 3 aspects:

• How to deploy best performance practices across stores
• How to better train newcomers in stores
• How to improve staff retention

However, note that we are deliberately leaving aside a part concerning the company's business itself. Indeed, working on a combination of products and services is also a way to increase sales and profitability.

Indeed, a retail service chain, for example, hairdressing salons, has every interest in developing the sale of cosmetic products.

And a retail chain of food products could very well develop nutrition and cooking courses, equipment rental, cooking on demand...

In fact, there are so many possible cases that we leave it up to you to conduct your own strategic thinking on this theme.

Share best retail practices through community management

The practice of community management works very well in B2C social networks. A community manager leads discussion groups, launches debates, organizes competitions,...

So why not do it in your business, by setting up a real network for sharing practices between your stores. A kind of mega-idea box available at all times and filled by the employees themselves.

However, a few simple rules should be applied by the community manager:

• Ideas should have a real and measurable impact on safety, quality, or performance
• If an idea is really effective, then it must be implemented everywhere. So it requires follow-up in the implementation (the community manager can play this role, or a project manager must play it if the idea requires significant resources)
• The idea box must be accompanied by an license

Use microlearning to improve sales practices

Find the best sellers among your stores. Analyze their practices with them, and deploy them with 2 methods:

• Do microlearning courses, thanks to sequences of video clips of less than 5 minutes. The videos should be as much about the products or services themselves as they are about sales and negotiation practices.
• Organize sharing sessions via teleconference or physical presence. These sessions should be seen as group coaching sessions, where everyone comes with their own difficulties, or questions, and the answers provided are useful for the whole group. Again, a community manager will help set up such discussions.

Use technology to map the retail customer experience

Thanks to facial recognition cameras and cash register data analysis, follow the experience that your customers have in your stores. Determine how long each customer stays in front of each item or department, if you are selling products. Determine your conversion rate per item and per customer.

If you sell services, analyze the wait times of your customers. So, see how you can use these times to present them with products or services associated with those for which customers usually come to you.

Do A/B testing: use two different store layouts, or two ways of approaching the customer, or two different ways of presenting products to customers. And see what happens...

Adapting your remuneration policy

In the retail sector, often, only the performance in terms of turnover is paid in the form of a variable bonus. This can have disastrous effects: some employees will never go to train, so as not to waste time at their job. Indeed, they don't want to risk losing sales!

But training is fundamental! Think that micro-learning is available throughout your retail chain. Also think that you have a community manager in charge of stimulating and animating best practices in a “bottom-up” mode (from the field to the management). Therefore, training becomes an obligation for your employees.

Indeed, if they want to absorb the good practices found by others, they have no other choice. But the sole motivation of a bonus on the sale will not be enough.

Find ways to encourage people to learn on the one hand, and to participate in improving performance on the other. To do this, your remuneration system must reward assiduous follow-up of online training courses. It should also reward active participation in the mega-idea box and in internal community management.