TIP - Be Disciplined EVERY DAY

Before I start, let me tell you : I had to learn this skill myself!! So I am a convert and like all reformees, I am often found on the soap box beating this drum!!

Routine is really important in any business but especially in RETAIL! At the same time it is a hard thing to do when every day is different to the previous day and not the same as the next...

As a retailer, you are busy wearing every hat in the business: sales person, orderer, merchandiser, trainer, supply officer, mediator, innovator etc... Then there are the fires that have to be put out every day....this also means that things just don't get done and ultimately, opportunities can be missed.

As a result, tasks that can be done in a short time, usually get put off and then take triple the time to do / fix when they are finally addressed.

Create a weekly calendar, break it up into 30 minute blocks and schedule time for the regular tasks that need to be done: checking signage instore, house-keeping, merchandising, checking and unpacking orders, ordering, training, staff meetings, rosters, supplier correspondence, planning etc.. of course block out the busy periods - the calendar must be realistic and achievable.

You will also find that you will manage your time better as you know that you can deal with non-urgent issues in an allocated time and not as everything pops up.


Let's talk about delegation soon....

Featured Client - NIGHTINGALES

Australia's Leading Wedding Planners and Stylists

Kathy Apostolidis established Nightingales in 1994.
Since then Nightingales' team of Wedding Planners and Stylists has been setting benchmarks for quality and service in the Wedding Industry both in Australia and overseas.

Widely considered as experts in their field, Nightingales' weddings and consultants have featured in numerous magazines including: Bride 2 Be, Real Weddings, Complete Wedding, Cosmopolitan and OK Magazine.

Nightingales have recently launched their updated website so that couples can explore the options and services available to them whenever they choose.

Sourcing only the best venues, caterers, accesosories, flowers and team members ensures the couple will have nothing to worry about on their special day other than to experience true pleasure at sharing their special day with family and guests.

Nightingales have created dream weddings for many celebrity clients including; David Campbell & Lisa Hewitt and Savage Garden's Daniel Johns & Hi-5's Kathleen de Leon.

This said, every client is treated the same at Nightingales.

Nightingales caters for the varying needs and requests of any couple. The team can work with Weddings of any size and locations all over Australia.

Assorted Packages are available - from a Sourcing List of the best suppliers & venues or Wedding Day Support right through to the whole shebang - styling, sourcing and executing!

After doing their research online, couples are invited to visit the Wedding Salon in Ultimo, Nightingales' showroom. Kathy and her team offer an obligation free consultation to discuss the requirements of the couple to ensure they have the wedding they have always wanted.

Nightingales skill and expertise is not limited to weddings, they work with large venues and businesses on corporate events of all sizes, budgets and locations.

Please visit: http://www.theweddingplanner.com.au/

or call : 02 9212 7118

Share the Smiles!!

Just created a Facebook Page called "Awww, How Nice Is This?" so that we can share the things that make us smile and the nice things that people do!

Please become a fan of the page and share with your friends!!

Like this rose from our garden - so divine no?

Maybe we can help the world smile, one face at a time!!

Marketing, no longer a luxury, it’s vital for survival!

Retail has never been more complicated. Consumers have access to more information, choice and options than ever before.

Your customer is comparing you to other stores, sites and products from the comfort of their home.

You can communicate with your customer via: post, email, radio, sms, local paper, facebook, twitter, online advertising and the list goes on.

Once upon a time, fliers or glossy brochures, with a nice script font heading, were all that was needed to catch the consumer’s eye – not any more! Marketing is not just what gets sent out, it encompasses every aspect of your business, instore and out; Including visual merchandising, product mix, pricing strategy, store layout, events, customer loyalty programs, customer service, staff , training etc

It has never been more important to get your Marketing in order and be clear about what your business is and what you offer so that your customer knows exactly who you are and what you are offering.

I am currently reading “Retail selling ain’t brain surgery…it’s twice as hard” by James E.Dion. It is so true!! As retailers you have to work with variables – nothing is guaranteed or fixed, it is constantly changing and you need to keep up.
The Marketing Objective must be very clear, increasing sales and profit in a strategic way. You may focus on one element of the mix at a particular time but all the elements must be inline with each other.

For example; you may be having a Customer Shopping Event. The objective may be to increase customer awareness of a new product range and the services available instore.

You will have your checklist: the store will be immaculate and fully stocked, the VM areas strong, organise a gift bag, maybe some supplier demonstrations, your best staff will be rostered on and a special offer.

Properly executed, this will ultimately lead to increased sales and a more ‘profitable’ customer. The customer has learned more about you and your store. They are now aware of the store, the products and the services. They will feel warm and fuzzy at being treated as a special customer and want to feel this way again. Marketing builds a relationship with the customer through better communication and matching of customer needs to the store’s offering. So the customer will not just come back once, but repeatedly and often, they are more comfortable and feel valued with each visit.

Looking at a different scenario; if the objective was to increase sales short term, the effort would be smaller but so would the returns, long term. You get all your ‘dead’ stock, hire a few trestle tables, print off some signs on the computer and voila! Money is in the till and stock is cleared. But long term, have you build lasting relationships with profitable customers? No. Thus the importance of the objective, its definition and subsequent execution.

This said, different objectives have their place. There will be times when profit is more important, or sales increase is the focus or long term sales the main objective and you should have a strategy for each.

In the same way that you call an electrician, computer specialist and take your car to a mechanic, there is help to be had outside your business. Marketing and technology are changing faster than ever before.

Outsourcing is not something as small business owners we like to do but it is just as vital as having a good accountant do your books and a lawyer to take care of your legal position. Business owners don't have the time to do everything involved in running a successful profitable business - there are many hats to be worn. They should be the conductor of the orchestra - not the player of every instrument.

There is software available to aid in data collection and analyse the data (sales, products, shopping cycles etc) thereby ensuring decisions are made on fact and not just gut-feel (which has its place too).
Computers can be as easy or as hard, simple or as complicated as you like, you just need to know who to ask.

As with any profession, there are guides and rules to follow which is the backbone of a successful business. But the flair, passion and awareness of customers and what they want, is the flesh on the backbone and the skill in knowing and managing this, is what ultimately separates the leaders from the imitators!

Marketing specialists are to your business what your mechanic is to your car – they will keep it going and running. As business owners, sometimes we need an outside objective perspective that is not coloured by history. It means that you are working with someone who spends 100% of their time learning about the marketing, adapting to changes and thinks strategically.

If you have a sound marketing background but don’t have time to execute your fabulous ideas, outsource this part too. The investment you make will be back to you 10 fold, if the strategy is correct. You need to weigh up the options: of not doing or constantly putting off a project– things don’t change. If you try and fit a project into your already full schedule, you will not be giving anything 100% especially the day to day tasks of running a retail business. If you outsource the task and pay ‘x’ dollars then the objective must be that the revenue is 10 time ‘x’ leaving you will a profit at the end of the task. The key is to work out what your time per hour costs not just in terms of dollars but also what else – more productive activities – can you be doing at this time.

Let me give you an example: you are a gift store, do you give your customers gifts? Do you know who your customers are and what they want? Do you know how to collect this information? When you do collect it, how do you store it? Finally, how do you use it to build sales and create a profitable customer? This is a simplified way of looking at your customer database but it is a vital first step.

In conclusion, when thinking about Marketing and your business the question is not ‘Can I afford to do it?’ but “Can I afford not to do it?”!

BY THE BY - MARS BARS, Why don't they just tell the truth?

From time to time, I will be commenting on something in the news that catches my interest...

Today, it is the news that Mars bars will be 7g (or 11.3%) smaller and the price will be the same...

Mars Snackfood Australia general manager Peter West said the move was a direct response to Australia's obesity debate and the company's bars had too many calories. (news.com.au)

What a load of hooey!!!

Why can't they just say that the raw materials are increasing in price and they don't want to increase the sell price?? They are running a business so they can make business decisions...

To say that they are reducing the calories for the welfare of their customers is insulting to our collective intelligence!!

If they really cared about the health and welfare of their customers they would stop making all of their products immediately and start growing fruit and vege...

Why don't they just tell the truth???

Almost everything we buy now is smaller than it once was - we aren't stupid. This is not how to build trust with customers.

I for one will no longer be buying any Mars Snackfoods products. I will be voting with my dollar..

What do you think?

Stationery is the New Candle

If someone told me that candles would be sold for $80.00 when I started my retail career as a Grace Bros cadet 22 years go, I would have thought they were dreaming!

The dream is a reality, with candles in all sizes, colours, fragrances, packaging and prices, becoming a key gift item over the last 10 years. In fact, there are dedicated stores that sell candles and all that goes with them.

Whilst I am a big fan of the candle and have them all over my house with backup in the linen cupboard, I think that I am a little candled-out and I am not alone.

When looking at the ‘next big thing’ we need to look at why the ‘current big thing’ was so popular. They appeal to a wide range of tastes, have multiple applications, appeal to both men and women, are ageless, have a fashion component and are functional.
Consumer value-perception is changing. They value a well designed piece, quality material and functionality. They will pay a little more for something that is different and not widely available.
Candles are; attractive, scented, evoke emotion, gorgeously packed, part of home-décor and don’t need to be hidden, suitable for a wide variety of tastes and ages and most importantly are functional as they are used and not just decoration! They are not a risky item for you to stock in your stores.

The retail landscape is also changing, we now have emerging specialists who are carving a place for themselves amongst the mass merchandisers and department stores. They offer a greater assortment of product, move with the trends faster and have a higher level of customer service.

When shopping at these stores consumers seek a ‘special’ total shopping experience which encompasses product, ambience, service and location. Price, while still an influencer, is not a deciding factor.

When looking at their product mix, Gift and Homeware Stores need to include products that these emerging specialists are selling. This will ensure they are capitalising on the growing awareness and consumer demand built by the specialist. To ignore this would be to drive your customers towards the specialty stores.

One example is the trend back to writing stationery.
The evolution of writing and boxed stationery, which includes fashion prints, notepads, journals, boxed cards, tags, photo albums etc, in the mainstream market is easy to follow over the past few years in Australia.

Specialty paper/stationery stores did not exist in Australia eight years ago. More and more specialists are opening their doors and creating a destination for arbiters of functional, attractive stationery and writing materials and all that goes with them.
Consumers are exposed to these stores and seeking a wider variety of these products in their normal shopping destinations.
Once upon a time, a card was $1.00 and the thought that we would be buying $10.00 cards was unbelievable. Now, it is a reality with a range of cards and wrap that rival London’s Paperchase stores.
Emails and social websites, such as Facebook, have only enhanced the need for personal communication and contact. Increasingly, I hear that people do not have time to read personal emails and are sick of only receiving bills in the mail. With such a wide variety of papers and cards available, finding your signature piece is easier than ever before.

Once a status symbol of the upper classes, fine-writing stationery, and gorgeous notecards are now sought after by the gift buying consumer. For years we dreamed of visiting the stores of the masters; Smythson of Bond Street in London, Crane & Co from the USA, Kate’s Paperie in New York and Cassegrain in Paris. In fact, it was on these trips that we stocked up as we could not buy such things in Australia.

Today’s consumer is now aware of these products in Australia and has added them to their shopping list when shopping at home. They desire something that is not just attractive and usable but also a reflection of their style.

So this leads me to make this bold statement – Stationery is the new Candle.

MY FIRST ARTICLE IN GREETINGS & GIFTS!!

I am so excited that my first article is in the current issue of Greetings & Gifts!!

Although my title was "Stationery is the New Candle" the article is still the same!!

I will post the article in real size!

We got some great editorial too on our new lines!!

Here's our latest advert - nice huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy weekend!

cheers :-)