Home / Increasing Sales
Homegrown Gifts: Consumers Turn to Independent Retailers for American-Made Products
It seems like everywhere you turn these days, there’s more bad news about the potential health hazards of consumer goods that are produced in China and other overseas manufacturing hubs. The crisis reached a fever pitch during the run-up to the 2007 holiday season, when repeated reports of dangerous levels of lead in Chinese-made toys had millions of American parents scrambling for safer shopping alternatives.
The tainted-toy scare also happened to coincide with another trend that’s become more noticeable in recent years – consumers’ are developing more interest in sustainable manufacturing practices, fair trade, and fine craftsmanship, all of which can be virtually impossible to find or to verify in foreign-made products.
What this latest wave of more conscientious consumers have found is that it can be much more difficult to find products bearing the “Made in the USA” label than one might expect. At larger chain stores, it can be nearly impossible to determine a product’s provenance, as even a single toy or household good may contain components that were manufactured or assembled in a dozen different countries. Furthermore, many chain store employees’ knowledge of products doesn’t extend far beyond the number of the aisle they can be found on.
That’s where independent retailers come in. There’s no doubt about it – recent market research has shown that smaller, independently-owned establishments stand to benefit from the growing demand for American-made products. Here are some tips to help you make the most of this trend.
• Exploit your expert knowledge base. Many independent retailers are owner-operators who have a hand in everything from sourcing new products to stocking the store shelves. That unique depth of knowledge is just what consumers who are disenchanted with the hands-off, know-nothing approach that is standard in most large chain stores are looking for. Make yourself available to answer customers’ questions — and don’t be afraid to show off a little if they seem interested in hearing more details.
• Play up your products’ provenance. If you have a large number of products that are made in the United States or other developed nations, why not proudly point that fact out? Use displays that highlight the regions or countries your store represents and the manufacturing traditions and craftsmanship styles unique to each one.
• Craft a marketing message to match. Market research has shown that more consumers are on the lookout for safe and well-made products these days, so make sure your advertising and marketing campaigns mention that you stock American-made goods. Keep it subtle and sophisticated – a small graphic stating your store’s policy is all you need to get your point across.
• Keep an eye out for new American manufacturers and distributors. As you are probably already well aware, the advent of globalization and multinational manufacturing has made it very difficult to source American-made products. To ensure that you can meet demand, make a habit of taking note of new domestic manufacturers and distributors that you happen to encounter. If you could use some leads, check out Product Blazer’s list of wholesale products made in America.
What are your experiences stocking and selling American-made products? Have you noticed that your customers are more interested in where products are made these days? Talk back in the comments.
Define Your Target Market and Watch Your Business Grow
Who exactly are you selling to? The answer to this question should form the core of every smart retailer’s strategy, but for independent retailers, in particular, having a good handle on your target market may actually be the difference between success and failure.
The traditional thinking on target markets held that the broader your brand’s appeal, the greater your chances of success were likely to be. Today, though, a growing number of retail experts are warning that the era of mass appeal may be coming to an end. Independent retailers have long been on the leading edge of this trend, staking their claim to slender but clearly-defined slices of the market.
Because many independent retailers cater to relatively narrow or niche markets, a strategy aimed squarely at the needs, aspirations, and habits of your core clientele can do wonders for your bottom line. On the other hand, if your business model isn’t sufficiently mindful of your base, you could wind up missing the mark altogether.
Do you have a clear understanding of your target market? Who are you selling to today? Who would you like to be selling to in the future? If you’re unclear on any of these points, it may be wise to set aside some time to take a long, hard look at your past, current, and prospective customer base.
Whether you’re aiming your wares at a neighborhood or a nation, you need to give your target market a name. Here are a few guidelines to help you get started.
• ‘Everybody’ isn’t the right answer. As retailers, our impulse is often to cast as wide a net as possible when it comes to defining our ideal market. That kind of inclusiveness and ambition is admirable, but it contradicts the fundamental purpose of this exercise. Suspend your plans of world domination for the moment. Instead, think hard about exactly who your products and services appeal to.
• How do you rule? What do you do better than anyone else? What do you offer that no one else can? In business-speak, this holy grail of uniqueness is referred to as your core competency. Defining it — and creating a strategic plan to capitalize upon it — can go a long way towards helping you understand exactly who it is your business is catering to.
• No pain, no gain. To define your target market, it may help to think in terms of what marketing experts call the “pain point.” Which kinds of problems are you uniquely equipped to solve for your customers? Many purchasing decisions are made based on the buyer’s pain, dissatisfaction, discomfort, or unhappiness. How can your products and services alleviate these sources of pain? Whose problems are you well-positioned to help solve? Answer this question honestly and accurately, and you’ve just done a lot of the work of defining your target market.
• Put on your prognosticator’s cap. Understanding your target market as it exists today is only one part of the equation. In order to plan strategically for your business’s future, you have to be able to “read the tea leaves” –in other words, to make an informed guess as to whether new and emerging changes and challenges in your market will shift the boundary lines that define your core customer base. What are the current and future economic prospects in your neck of the woods? Is the area on its way up or on its way out? How is the community expected to develop in the years to come? By considering all of these factors, you’ll be able to develop a far-reaching profile of your target market that is more likely to stand the test of time.
• Does your business model pass the smell test? Independent retailers know from first-hand experience that having an optimistic outlook can play a big role in keeping a business afloat. But when it comes to defining your target market, set your rose-colored glasses aside for a moment and try instead to adopt a view of hard-eyed realism. Does your definition of your target market make rational sense? Will the urban hipsters gentrifying your neighborhood really have an interest in your scrapbooking supplies shop? Can your upscale décor boutique survive when that planned IKEA finally gets built? Solicit input from a range of impartial outside observers to make sure your target market definition passes muster.
What’s your take on the target market question? What hurdles have you faced in finding out more about your customer base? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.
Increase Your Sales Through Upsells
There are a million different ways to increase your sales margins, but few are as easy and effective as what sales types refer to as the “upsell.” If you don’t speak sales guru-ese and you’re wondering what an “upsell” is, it’s the practice of adding to a confirmed sale by pushing complementary services, add-ons, and extras. Basically, it’s the “Would you like fries with that?” approach to sales.
What’s so special about the upsell? Well, if you think about the effort and resources you must expend in order to achieve each sale, upsells rank among the very top tier in terms of low investment and high returns. With only minimal effort, upsells can exponentially increase your margin of profit on a transaction. That’s why they’re often regarded as the holy grail of retail.
Sounds great, right? But if you’ve ever made a concentrated effort to increase your upsells, you can probably attest to the fact that pulling this feat off can be a lot harder than it sounds. In a retail setting, there’s often a fine line to walk between pushing upsells aggressively and pushing your customers right out the door. If you come on too strong, you just might lose not only the opportunity to boost your profits with an upsell, but the original sale, as well.
So what’s the secret? In truth, there isn’t one. Each sale is unique, and it’s up to you to be able to read the situation and determine whether an upsell is a viable possibility. But if you’d like to devise a general strategy to help boost your company’s upsell ratio, here are some ideas to consider.
• Become a “needs” prospector. Whether you sell high-tech gadgets or lifestyle items, your buyers might not always know exactly what it is they’re in the market for. Learn how to dig deeper and ask the right kinds of questions. With a bit of practice as a “needs prospector,” you’ll uncover a treasure trove of upsell opportunities.
• Let buyers cry on your shoulder. Customers who have an urgent, pressing problem are looking for a comprehensive solution. Pay close attention when buyers are venting or blowing off steam. You might be able to offer a few appropriate add-ons or extras that will help solve their problems.
• Testimonials are worth their weight in gold. Everybody loves a good success story, right? If your customer is considering the basic version of an item, tell them about the triumphs another client achieved with the super-duper deluxe premium edition. This technique will work wonders with your “aspirational” buyers.
• There is such a thing as too much choice. If you’re going to offer an upsell option, narrow it down to one or two highly relevant selections. You don’t want to deluge your customer with options at the crucial last minute. If they’re the type that has difficulty making decisions, they might just walk away from the sale altogether.
• Know when to back down. No one likes being hit with relentless, overly aggressive upsell offers. In fact, a key part of an effective upsell strategy is learning how to accept a customer’s refusal graciously and respectfully.
Do you have an upsell strategy in place? What’s your favorite upsell technique? Tell us more in the comments.
