Retail Blog

Should Your Business Have a Blog? These days, it seems like everyone and their dog has an online presence. In particular, blogs – a unique kind of Internet journal that takes its name from a mash-up of the term “web log” – are skyrocketing in growth and popularity. It is estimated that well over 100,000 new blogs are created each day, with the total number of blogs now far exceeding 100 million.

Plenty of businesses are getting in on the blogging act, too. From corporate bigwigs to mom ‘n’ pop shops, it’s possible to find a blog covering every conceivable type of operation. One recent study found that as many as 50% of all companies surveyed had some type of blog. In an era when even a sliver of competitive advantage can be a great boost, some experts call business blogs an innovative and low-cost way to extend your brand and bring your image up to date.

Have you been thinking about starting a blog for your business? If so, you deserve kudos for being open to new possibilities. But don’t just jump on the blogging bandwagon because everyone else is doing it. Before you commit to a business blog, it’s best to carefully consider the pros and cons involved in this kind of undertaking.

The benefits of blogging

If you’re looking for a cheap and simple way to exponentially boost your business’s profile, blogging might be just what the doctor ordered. With little or no risk and remarkable ROI potential, a company blog can be a great tool for any business. Here are just a few of the ways blogging could help your enterprise.

• Establish authority in your field. If you know a lot about your business niche, a blog is a great way to broadcast your expertise. A blog is a great conduit to help you connect with a community of like-minded experts and create interest and awareness of your business among those who are in the know.

• Forge connections with new customers. More and more people are making blog reading a part of their daily schedule. There’s probably no better way to get your business’s name in front of millions of people than starting a blog. Once you establish yourself as part of the online community in your field, reciprocal links from other sites will help bring new readers – and potential clients – to your blog.

• Boost your site’s readership and traffic. If you already have a business website, or if your business is based online, a blog can be a huge boon. Blog entries are a great way to boost your site’s search engine rankings, as well.

• Strengthen your relationship with existing clients. A business blog can offer your clients a peek behind the curtain, so to speak, offering customers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of your company. Blog comments are also an excellent way to keep the lines of communication open with your clients and deepen your understanding of how people are responding to your products.

• Position yourself in the market. Need to communicate the uniqueness of your company to the world? There’s no better platform than a blog. That’s one reason why independent retailers who cater to niche markets are particularly well-served by the new form of company-customer communication.


• Respond quickly to emerging challenges and changes. Today’s market is dynamic and ever-evolving. With a company blog, you can respond to changes or challenges that may emerge, in real time and on your terms. If your business model relies on rapid adaptation and nimble response, a blog may be the perfect communication pipeline for you.


The drawbacks of blogging

Sure, business blogging is all the rage these days, but let’s face it – it’s not for everybody. Seasoned business owners know that trends shouldn’t drive your decision-making process, so if you don’t feel genuinely compelled to blog, you probably shouldn’t commit to it. Here are some very good reasons NOT to start a company blog.


• You’re a seller, not a writer. If you’d rather eat glass than sit down in front of your computer to compose blog posts, this might not be the thing for you. But before you nix the idea of a company blog, consider the possibility of outsourcing writing duties to a talented employee or a professional. As long as you maintain control of the tone and topics, you don’t have to write every word yourself.

• Your schedule is already packed to the brim. Life can be hectic for independent retailers. If you already have to juggle appointments to find time to sleep and eat, adding even more to your plate with a blog might not be the best idea. But again, you might consider delegating blog duties to someone you trust.

• Your business model isn’t based on your uniqueness. If your company offers products and services that really don’t differ all that much from those provided by your competitors, there might not be much point in blogging.

• You’re not exactly tech-savvy. Is your VCR display still flashing “12:00 a.m.”? Do you still own a VCR? Do you have trouble locating the power button on your computer? If technology just isn’t your thing, think twice before starting a blog. The learning curve involved might be way too steep to make good business sense.

• Your customer base doesn’t read blogs. If you run a specialty business that caters to a very narrow slice of the market, or if the lion’s share of your customers are unlikely to be the blog-reading type, the time and effort involved in starting and maintaining a blog might exceed the potential benefit.


Does your business have a blog? How do you manage it? In what ways has the blog impacted your business? Tell us more in the comments.

 

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.

 

Let’s face it- everybody likes free stuff. So, why not use this to your advantage- and use freebies to boost your business? Giving away something for free can really give you a competitive edge- IF you use them properly.

There are many reasons to consider using freebies with your business, such as the following:

An Incentive to Buy More

Offer a promotion that states that if the customer orders X number of product (or over a certain $ amount), they receive a free (insert product here). Try testing this promotion- does it lead to a greater number of sales than when you don’t have the promo? Another way to encourage a customer to buy more is to offer them some type of coupon with their order, stating that they will receive a free (whatever you choose) with their next order. Remember to track this type of promotion as well to see if these customers are more likely to repeat purchase than customers who do not receive this offer.

To Keep You In Mind

Include small items with your orders that a customer may likely hold onto and USE on a regular basis- they are more likely to remember you and keep you in mind when they need your product/service. An example of this would be when you go to a trade show, and you receive that little pad of paper, pen, or magnet printed up with the company’s logo. These items are often overdone though, so beware of this, and make yours somehow stand out. Try to make the item as valuable to THEM (your target audience) as you can so they won’t just get tossed. If you offer weight loss products, consider having a magnet printed up with an inspirational message and re-ordering information -something that entices them to keep the magnet and put it in plain site.

To Boost Perceived Value of Their Order

Simple additions can be added to a purchased item to give it that “WOW” factor when a customer receives it. The specialty bookstore that includes the fancy little bookmark, or the gift shop that includes (for FREE) the gift wrap and card is often held in higher regard because of the “extras” that come with your purchase.

To Boost YOUR Business Reputation

Offering a decent give-away serves to build your businesses reputation. If someone receives an item for free that they value, they will not only be impressed by the act, but are more likely to recommend your products or services to others, to return as repeat customers, etc. You may also add something like a free ebook for website visitors to download if they sign up for your newsletter. Not only will they sign up for your newsletter, but they’ll also gain a very valuable resource free of charge.

To Get Press or Peek Interest

No one said you had to give away one free product to each and every customer. Why not offer a larger item as part of a contest? Consider offering contests regularly, even include them in your newsletters or spread the word online. Or, you could offer the contest as a one time thing. Is the give-away item really special? This is a time to try to gain some press for your contest, and in turn, your business.

To Make Them Aware of Other Items You Sell, and Gain Repeat Business

For an example, if you sell books and other stationery products through your business, and someone orders themselves a set of new journals- why not include a few cards or small sample package of stationery with their order? The customer will get to experience your stationery face-to-face, hopefully use it and think it is of value, remember it (and the fact that you were kind enough to include it) and perhaps order it themselves.

Some things to keep in mind:

Try to keep the freebie to a manageable cost. You don’t want to go in debt offering free things to all your customers.
You can offer a FREE incentive in the form of an INFORMATION product- which is essentially free (besides paying to have it written) to you.
Keep the product relevant to the customer. Try to offer something complimentary to what they have previously purchased, as an “educated guess” that the freebie is of importance to them as well.

As you can see, there are many ways to use freebies in your business. It can be an effective way to strengthen your reputation, gain new and loyal customers, and get yourself noticed. And, importantly, using incentives in this way needn’t be an expensive endeavor. Overall, offering freebies can be a great way to market your business in a very positive way.

 

Product, product, product. It needn’t be said how important PRODUCT is in every case. However, sometimes it is more the packaging that sells the product than the product itself. Be sure to ask yourself when designing your packaging- is this conveying the right message for my product, and for my business?

Remember to think of the packaging as NOT being separate from the product you are selling- it is an EXTENSION of the product. There are the types of packaging we simply tear off and throw away -like the cardboard box casing that toys are mounted in, or the shrink-wrap on a book. And there are the types of “packaging” that remain with the product while it is being consumed- like all those fancy little shaped candy dispensers. I think most people would agree that it is the creative packaging of those dispensers that sells the candy, rather than the actual candy.

For a lesson about packaging, take a step back and study the cosmetic companies. They spend the big bucks in marketing dollars to study their target market and design their packaging to appeal to trendy teenagers and sophisticated women. The designs of the packaging change from year to year not because the product inside necessarily had to change, but because the companies have to continuously change the packaging to keep up with trends and the desires of their market.

Packaging is not all about function. It is also about perceived value. Do you remember your first purchase at a high-end clothing store - when the sales clerk carefully laid out and folded the garment on a piece of tissue, neatly wrapped it up, fastened it with a nice sticker, and placed in a “high-end” paper bag? How did that make you feel? Didn’t you feel that there was something special to the experience, like your purchase meant enough that they took the time to wrap it in this way?

The fact is, we all like to be spoiled from time to time. We want to feel important as a customer and that our purchase was valued. Of course, different customers sometimes want or expect different things. If we order a book through the mail, we expect it to be packaged well to protect it from the wear and tear of shipping. Upon arrival, we proceed to tear off the protective layers, and are thankful that it is in good condition. Anything more than this is a bonus. Some customers EXPECT to be spoiled. For example, if your customers are future brides, it is best to make them feel as special as possible. They are spending a great deal of money, and they want to feel important on their wedding day, but also while making their wedding purchases. Go that extra mile to beautifully wrap their purchase, give great service, etc.

If you run a boutique (either a storefront or an online store), do you want your packaging to convey a “specialty store” feel? How are you packaging your items to send to customers? If you yourself are an online shopper, you will likely appreciate the seller who includes an insert thanking you for your package, along with contact information, and maybe a promotion on other products, all nicely wrapped up for you, as opposed to the seller who simply throws it in a bag with a packing slip. Presentation needn’t cost much- tissue, ribbon, stickers, printed up cards or brochures with a thank you message, are not expensive. Want to REALLY impress someone? Include a hand-written note.

Take a step back and ask yourself- what does your packaging or product presentation say to you?

Oh, but the catch to this is- you never get that “first impression” chance back again. To really test the impression your packaging makes, you need to ask other people who are seeing it for the first time. Consider running a consumer focus group- to gather information relating to your product, AND your packaging. You can hire a company to run this, or even perform your own informal study. You need to get honest opinions- what do they think about the way the product is packaged or how it is shipped? What image does it convey? Give them samples of different types of packaging, and see what is preferred by individuals in your target market. Test them to see what the perceived value is with the different styles. Ask for suggestions or improvements. Have them compare your packaging to that of one or more of your competitors.

The fact is- packaging that LOOKS different gets noticed. It is not uncommon for a customer to be impressed by good packaging and comment on it, even though it is the product itself that really matters. Don’t shy away from packaging that costs you more- it may be worth paying for an upgrade, because it may drastically increase the perceived value of your product. Importantly, stick to what you know appeals to your target market (be sure to study this if you need to!) and stay true to your brand. Keeping all this considered, you are sure to have your packaging convey the right message, and have an easier time marketing and selling your product.

 

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.

 

Have you ever wondered how your customers (or potential customers) feel about one of your products? Would you like to take a glimpse inside their mind for a moment- to see what determines their buying choices? Do you think about how powerful it would be to know what appeals to their senses, or what price-point they are willing to pay? Why not ask them?

While this seems like such a simple idea, it’s something that too many business owners neglect to do. Customer surveys can be a useful tool when used properly in business- you can determine customers’ buying trends, find out what prices they are comfortable paying, determine what they would like improved on existing products, and much, much more.

Why don’t more retailers take advantage of surveying their customers? In today’s world, we’re so bombarded by telemarketers and people asking for our time, that many business owners shrink away from asking- they’re afraid the customer will be simply be too busy to answer, or may be annoyed by being asked. However, if you approach your survey in a professional manner, many customers actually appreciate being asked.

There are a few things to keep in mind when asking someone about their feedback for a product or service:

• Be respectful that they may not have time to answer your questions; ask them nicely once if they have time to complete your short survey, and don’t ask again.
• Understand that they may not want to answer some of all of your questions.
• Don’t pressure anyone- try to keep your tone friendly and explain the exact purpose of the survey.
• Don’t make the survey too long or difficult to complete. The quicker the better.
• When stating the purpose of the survey, be sure to explain that it is for your use only- for business and product growth and development. Clearly state that you respect their privacy and that their information isn’t shared with any outside parties.

What kinds of things should you ask in your survey? That fully depends on what information is most important for you to capture.

Here is an exercise to get you started:

Take one of your existing products. Select 20-30 people who have purchased that product whom you feel you could approach to get their feedback (be careful not to “spam” this customer in any way, contact them tactfully). If you deal with your customer online, you may be able to email them a short survey. If you deal with your customer face-to-face, you may be able to include a postage-paid survey with their order. Then determine what your main purpose or focus of the survey is- be sure to develop a question that asks that question, along with a few more. Consider asking questions like the following:

Were/are you satisfied with your purchase?

• Did you like the packaging that was used on the product?
• How did you find your customer service experience?
• What is the price-range you would be willing to pay for this product?
• We are considering changing (insert here) on the product, here is an example of the new format. Which do you prefer?
• Did the product live up to your expectations? Why or why not?
• How did you originally hear about our product/service or company?
• Do you have any recommendations for other product ideas?
• Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for us?

And of course, any features that are very specific to that particular product, you can work into your short survey too. You might choose to have respondents use some sort of number scale system to rate how satisfied they were, etc. The way you format your survey is completely up to you and your business needs.

Hopefully you will discover that your customers were very satisfied, that they would pay even more than what they had already paid, and have some fantastic suggestions for you. Or, maybe there was something in particular that they really didn’t care for. Value even these responses, as knowing what they don’t like will also help you tweak your current products. As well as current customers, you should target a group of potential customers and repeat a similar survey. If reaching potential customers through a website, you might even set up an option pop-up survey on your website which asks your questions as they are there on the site.

When your surveys are over, be sure to thank the participant, even if you didn’t get the response that maybe you were hoping for. You might want to consider thanking them with a free gift, or a discount, or even a hand-written thank you note. After all, what customer wouldn’t be impressed by a business owner going through the bother to get their feedback, and afterwards acknowledging their help?

Don’t be afraid to ask those you’re dealing with for their opinions of your products or services. By doing so, there is much you can learn- you can evaluate your current product, and where you need to make improvements. The information you learn by taking the steps to do so could be invaluable for your business.

Get started today by giving one of the many online survey tools a try: SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo have great and easy to use offerings.

 

Everyone wants their name in lights. Short of that, how about your name on a 3 1/2 gallon bucket of Alcatraz Caramel Almond popcorn from The San Fransisco Popcorn Works? Many suppliers of high-quality specialty items will produce their products with your own brand on the bottle, in a process called private labeling.

Offering your customers products labeled with your brand is a great way for them to take a little piece of your brand home with them. Getting private label products produced for your company is easy. Start using ProductBlazer to find a supplier that will label their product with your brand. Next, choose one or two products that are relevant to your business. Finally, add a cross-sell at checkout time and offer your customers the chance to take a little piece of you home with them.

Offering private label products enhances your brand’s visibility.

1. It differentiates you from the competition.

You will be the only storefront on earth (and the Internet) that sells your custom branded products.

2. It expands your product line.

We all want more products to sell. Private labeling provides a great “excuse” to sell something you may not otherwise sell. A maternity shop selling hot sauce? Why not? It has your brand on it!

3. It enhances your brand by leveraging the strength of another company’s hard work.

Private labeling allows you to focus on building your brand and lets the popcorn experts handle the product development.

Many high-quality suppliers can ship their products with your brand. This list contains links to twenty suppliers that provide private labeling for a wide variety of products, including cookware, soap, coffee, roasted poultry, hot sauce and a lot more.

 

Those of you not living on the moon might have noticed this year’s collision of Halloween with Christmas. We have long grown used to retail venues starting their Christmas promotions ever earlier, with old jokes about retailers eventually starting in January. However, this year marks a dramatic acceleration of this trend to what I think will be its extreme.

There was once a time when the Christmas shopping season was mostly limited to December. Thanksgiving, then usually the last Thursday in November, was the traditional start. Depending on how that last Thursday fell, there might be as few as only 24 days of shopping. Thus in 1939, with the depression lingering, FDR moved Thanksgiving back one week to extend the shopping season for retailers. This now meant that the Christmas season could be as long as 40 days.

For a long time this was enough. Indeed, it was somewhat unseemly for retailers to promote Christmas ahead of Thanksgiving. Macy’s established the tradition of Santa himself kicking off the Christmas season at the end of its Thanksgiving Day Parade, and most retailers and retail venues observed this convention. It was tidy, and helped give us the notion of ‘Black Friday’.

Somewhere along the way this all changed. Most likely, some retailer brought out the Christmas cheer early one year and it paid off. The next year more tried it, and before you know it my kids are wearing their costumes to see Santa. But like states jockeying to have the earliest possible presidential primaries, it’s no longer so much about getting the jump on the competition as it’s about just not losing out.

This year major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Toy-R-Us started their ‘Black Friday’ promotions some three full weeks ahead of Black Friday itself. Home Depot and Lowes’ had Christmas trees out in late September. Christmas decorations were in malls in October. We all expected to see Christmas stuff earlier this year than last, but it seems like everyone has jumped ahead a few years.

The main explanation for this is the expectation of a bad retail year. Oil is up, the war drags on, credit is crunching, housing is down, the dollar is down, there are no blockbuster products, etc. Indeed, the National Retail Federation predicts retail sales growth of just 3.7% over last year, compared to a 4.8% average. Actual returns so far suggest it will be even worse than that. But hanging lights early and piping in three months worth of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra won’t help. And it might even hurt.

The Christmas shopping season occupies fully one quarter of the year now. There is consumer desensitization, like the numbness from too much rubbing. Christmas loses its magic, and it ceases to be the emotional draw for shoppers that retailers need it to be. Rightly or not, I predict retailers will perceive that this year’s disappointing numbers were due in part to Christmas Overload. You’re hearing it here first. Next year, the conventional wisdom will be that the shopping season should be shorter.

The one bright spot in all this is, oddly, Thanksgiving. Remember that one? It’s one of the holidays that gives us the phrase “the holidays”. Whereas one could once count on seeing plastic pilgrims and turkeys in stores for at least a week or two, nowadays they’re nowhere to be seen. Outside of grocery, retailers have all but given up on Thanksgiving as a merchandising opportunity. Perhaps this sanctifies Thanksgiving, making it a more meaningful holiday.

So for now, have a Happy Thanksgiving! And have no worries - there are still plenty of shopping days left.