How to Increase Retail Sales in 2009

The widely predicted January retail bloodbath has begun as early and viciously as the sales did a few weeks before Christmas. The outcome of this will change not only the business landscape but also the landscapes of many towns. Yet retailers have let it happen to themselves in so many cases by sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring simple sales and marketing practices.

Retailers are blaming the economic situation. Mmm. And they’re blaming online e-tailers. What?!

The facts are that ‘physical’ retailers have seen the internet & economic trends coming and done either little or nothing about them in most cases. They have failed to understand why people visit shops and why people buy online, and what the relative advantages of both are. The simple fact that many online retailers have seen themselves as fighting the internet for the last decade rather than embracing it is just beyond belief.

Most retailers believe that the online e-tailers have them beaten because of price. Wrong. Or convenience. Wrong again. The main reason that e-tailers are forging ahead is because of information. It’s the way that e-tailers are able to get the details of prospects and customers and use that information intelligently that is key. An online e-tailer can continually remind its customers and prospects exactly why they should do business with them; whether that’s because of price (or the perception of better pricing), convenience or any other USP.

The sad thing is, physical retailers could have been doing this for years but it never occurred to them. It never occurred to them to get their customers’ details let alone to continually keep in touch with them or offer them relevant new products. It never crossed their minds to continually tell them about a home delivery service because they never bothered to dream one up. They never thought about telling everybody who bought Widget LX that Widget GLX had just been launched, or about the wonderful in-shop service, the advantages of professional fitting, or of their…. you get the point.

If you’re in retail and have no system of gathering and effectively using customer details – however manually – then get very excited. Implementing some basic practices here could have an utterly amazing effect on your business at a time when many in the sector don’t know what to do apart from slash prices still further.