Economic sciences/6. Marketing and management

Yarmak T.M.

National University of Food Technologies, Kiev, Ukraine

Different Ways of Improving Retails Turnover: Comparison Analysis

Nowadays the competition in commerce is very high. People try to do their best to find how to become more competitive and successful. They are looking for the information to improve their business. As many of them don’t have economical education they read not special scientific literature but mass media resources where you can find not only useful information. The aim of this work is to analyze some of them from the scientific point of view.

Looking for ways of improving your retail sales through the internet you can find different tips and pieces of advice. Many of them are on the pages of mass media sites as about.com, some of them are created by successful businessmen as Bob Nelson. But if you want to have scientific information you must find works of famous professors of the field.

The main idea of such recommendations and lists of tips is the following. There are different reasons why most businesses fail. The most important of them are lack of industry knowledge, lack of vision, poor market strategy, failure to establish goals or/and inadequate capitalization. You can find that highly successful people aren't any more talented or intelligent than you are; they simply have learned how to do things in a different and more profitable way. So the lists can be as short as of six points and as long as of fifty five.

The examples of short lists are:

Advertise more – Generate a buzz – Examine your pricing strategy – Design store for sales – Connect with the customer – Manage your money.

Optimize space in your retail store with display units and adapted racking and shelving – Make the window of your retail store attractive and visible – Customers look for your store online, advertise it there – Business cards are a must! But have you thought of a loyalty card – Promote your retail store to customers in your neighborhood – Give your potential and existing customers the opportunity to come and return to your store

Know yourself – Plan ahead – Know the industry – Understand your customer – Keep good financial records – Manage your cash – Use sound management practices – Develop a distinctive image – Control your inventory - Buy and price for profit - Learn from the pros - Ask for help when you need it.

As for the long lists of recommendations, here is one example:

Implement a computerized system to manage, control, and balance your inventory – Make your business distinctive and carry merchandise your competitors don't have –Price merchandise at what the customer is willing to spend, not on what it costs – Focus on buying more named brand promotional and off-price merchandise – Make a budget and follow a detailed open-to-buy plan to eliminate overbuying – Seek out manufacturers to purchase merchandise at below wholesale prices – Test different aspects to promote business – Identify vendor performance regarding sales, mark-up, turnover, and profits – Don't accept deliveries you can't use, or arrive after the specified completion dates – Use sales forecasts, expense sheets, and financial statements on regular basis – Computerize your business to streamline everyday tasks and business procedures – Develop a tracking system for those products that are your best-sellers – Buy closer to the selling season to minimize the risk of making a bad buy – Attend trade shows and join buying groups to find better values – Seek suggestions from vendors on ways you can boost business – Use a store questionnaire to aid you in determining customers' wants and needs – Negotiate with your vendors to obtain better prices and faster deliveries – Ask your main vendors to share in paying freight costs – Inquire if your suppliers will help with co-op advertising – Consider adding private label merchandise to establish better margins and some others. But the author himself gives the short variant of the list: by managing your business more effectively, you'll be able to provide better values, attract more customers, improve your average sales transaction, and offer customers new opportunities to visit your store.

As you may see some of the recommendations are the same, as Advertise more and Promote your retail store to customers in your neighborhood, Design store for sales and Optimize space in your retail store, Manage your money and Keep good financial records. They are more or less general. Long lists usually more detailed and give concrete recommendations, such as Make a budget and follow a detailed open-to-buy plan to eliminate overbuying, Ask your main vendors to share in paying freight costs.

The longest list under analyses consists of fifty five points but they are in some groups. For example the group Customer analyses consist of eleven points, such as Find out who your customers are and what they are seeking – Profile your customers by age, income, occupation, etc. – Know the reasons why customers shop at your store – Understand the market forces affecting the consumer's attitude when it comes to price and what they expect to pay – Emphasize areas of appeal such as: special sizes, lower prices, better service, wider selection, good location, or convenient hours – Offer unique products at prices your customers can well afford and others. So the list is the description of the point Understand your customer from other lists. Other groups are Customer relations with such points as Use advertising techniques to create urgency and motivate customers to buy now – Test different aspects for promoting business – Know what type of advertising methods work the best to attract customers – Use memorable advertising that sets your business apart from the competition – Create new opportunities for customers to purchase more frequently from your store – Implement proven business formulas of other successful retail firms – Replace outdated methods with new techniques and better resources for retailing in today's high-tech, fast-moving, and competitive marketplace – Set up an inventory control system in regards to shrinkage, performance, amount of merchandise, mark-up, profit and turnover and others. The last two groups are Management skills and Insights for a skilled marketer.

But in some articles you can find the advice to learn about business as much as possible. Authors recommend managing inventory, costs and expenses that mean knowing how to run business from the top to the bottom.

The main conclusion is to study the subject from different points, to read not only mass media, but more specific and scientific articles and books. It is necessary to understand not only business mechanisms but psychological principles.

References:

1. Increase your retail store turnover [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.companeo.co.uk/increase-your-sales/increase-your-retail-store-turnover/checklist35

increase_sales.htm

3. Nelson B. 12 Sure-Fire Steps to Improve Your Retail Sales [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/improve-sales.htm

4. Nelson B. 40 Ways to Improve Retail Profit Margins [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.businessforum.com/nelson03.html

5. Nelson B. 55 Easy Ways to Improve Your Retail Business [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/june05/retail_business.html Published June 2005

6. Jacoby J. Consumer psychology // The International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier Science Ltd./Pergamon: Oxford, UK, 2001 – 2674-2678

7. Jacoby J Stimulus-Organism-Response Reconsidered: An evolutionary step in modeling (consumer) behaviour // Journal of Consumer Psychology – Elsevier Science Ltd./Pergamon: Oxford, UK, 2002 – 12 (1), 51-57