Preparing for a Trade Show in Style on EMomNowTV Live

Instead of your usual old tip, I thought sharing this with you would be fun!  Last Tuesday, I spend an hour with the ladies of Entrepreneur Mom Now sharing and discussing how to prepare for a craft or trade show in style!

Here's the video:

Major takeaways?

• Have a goal in mind and share it with your team
• Four keys to trade show success:
• Draw attention
• Brand!
• Collect Information
• Act! (Follow up)
• The majority of people look 45 degrees to the right when entering, this is a good spot for a booth.
• The butt brush effect - keep aisles and space open, allowing people to move freely
• Invite people in and avoid blocking off your booth
• Create a clean and inviting booth, consider using props, and be sure it reflects you and your brand!

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Want a professional look for fall?  Get in touch with Flourish today: website, facebook, twitter, and Pinterest, too!

Flourishing Retailers Tip

Retail is the one business where change for the sake of change makes sense.  Change major displays up every four weeks wherever possible.

Where Faeries Live

Remember...  80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers and those customers visit more often than others.  By constantly rotating stock and changing up feature areas, you’re giving them something new to look at even when the merchandise isn’t necessarily all that new.

Consider scheduling changes, flips, and feature area displays on your calendar or with your team.  Explain to your team why you’re making these changes and what the purpose is.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the workload, consider hiring someone dedicated Visual Merchandising or bring on a freelancer or a professional.

Keep this in mind: frequent change will show you a difference in top line sales as well as profits!

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Want a professional look for fall?  Get in touch with Flourish today:website, facebook, twitter, and Pinterest, too!

Tip of the Week + Bonus

Visual merchandising isn't just about selling more.  It’s about inspiring the customer, giving them ideas, making them feel good, and making their lives easier.

Cloud Nine Pajamas

Proper visual merchandising really is done for the customer and with the customer in mind and that’s the only way it can be truly effective. 

We create displays in order to show customers a whole look, show them trends, and to give them a feeling around the merchandise.  We’re making their time shopping so much easier by pulling everything together for them, so be sure to layer the look right up to give them options and make sure the merchandise is nearby and easy to pick up.

We’re inspiring customers to make their home an oasis, wardrobe beautiful, and gifts incredible.  Placing ad-on items nearby helps them to round out their purchase and pull together the perfect package.

Keep the customer in mind when you’re merchandising your store.  Remember how you’re helping them every time you set up a new display and you will be successful.  After all, they’re why you’re doing what you’re doing, right?

Bonus Tip:

  

It’s time to start formulating a plan to execute your holiday visual merchandising!  Don’t forget to book your helpers to make sure they’ll all be there.

Tip of the Week

Take the plastic off.  Customers really need to get their hands on a product in order to make their buying decision, so get at least one of each item out of its package and into their hands.

Elegant Expressions Table by Flourish

Engaging the customer’s senses is really important to making a sale, so appealing to sight and touch by allowing them to see the item up close and feel its texture will more often than not increase sales.

While many retailers prefer to keep items packaged in order to avoid damage, it can hinder sales.  Selling one item at a discount (which isn’t always necessary) is better than hanging on to product because it just won’t sell. 

The most important thing overall, is to remove barriers, physical or perceived, between the product and your customers.

Want more?  Click here to sign up and have the convenience of receiving the tip in your inbox as well as even more to learn about each tip! 

Looking for more info, articles, and interaction? Follow us on facebook, twitter, and Pinterest, too!  Not enough?  Get in touch with Flourish today to ensure your store is the most engaging it can be.

Happy Selling!

Tip of the Week and Another Bonus

It’s so important to have an exit strategy for your business so that when you retire or want to do other things, you have a plan.  Don’t just close it down or hire a manager, consider selling or adding a partner.

So many retailers open a business because they love what they do or sell, or love helping customers, but what do we do when it comes time to move on?

When beginning your business, it’s a good idea to put an exit strategy in place.  What would you like to do?  How would you like to go about it?  Many people sell off their merchandise and close their doors or hire a manager to run the business for them.  Both of plans have definite drawbacks, so why not consider alternatives?

You could sell your entire business to someone else or you could sell off a portion of your business to someone who is willing to be a partner and share in the duties and responsibilities.

Consider hiring a business broker to help you through the process.  While using a realtor or going through a private sale can be tempting, a business broker can help take you through every step of the process with experience and expertise. 

Not sure how to choose the right broker?  Ask for referrals and references from people you trust.  If you’re in the Edmonton area and looking for someone, ask me for a recommendation.

Happy selling!

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Another bonus tip:  Sadly (for us Canadians, at least) the crisp, cool air of fall is approaching.  Be sure to make payments on orders and try to get fall stock to start rolling in for mid to late August.  People start getting excited for new product, so get it front and center in the store!  If you have leftover product from last year, you can get it out now.

Tip of the Week and another Bonus!

Calculate your average dollars per transaction by dividing sales by the number of transactions.  This gives you an idea of how much each customer is buying and creates easy to understand goals.

For example: If your sales are $1000 (for simplicity's sake) and you had 20 customers that day, you would divide $1000 by 20. That means that the value of your average transaction was $50.00.

You can calculate your average transaction on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis! Its entirely up to you.

Want to know what to do with the information?

There are tons of things you can do! You can monitor your average transaction for things that seem to affect it or use it as a motivational selling tool! 

Having easily measurable targets to reach makes it easy to celebrate reaching your goals and breaking down those goals into small, manageable chunks makes for more celebration and more fun!

Happy selling!

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Bonus Tip:

Whether in a display or in a store, customers need a focal point to look at first.

Tip of the Week + Bonus!

Track your sales by category and use the information to help you when merchandising and buying.  It’s very valuable information.

© Anatoliy Babiychuk | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Image Link

When re-merchandising your store or purchasing new stock, it's so important to make educated decisions rather than taking shots in the dark, making guesses, or buying based simply on things you like.  Being informed will help you make better business decisions and help to prevent the need to clear out aged or stagnant inventory.

Track your sales by category, either using your POS system or keeping written records (contact your POS service provider or technical support to find out how).  You could do this weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.  

When it comes to visual merchandising, you can use your category sales in interesting ways, too.  It can help you to allocate the proper space and placement to best sellers and help you to beef up displays and promote weak sellers.  Also, if you know there's an item or category that people are shopping for in particular or coming in for, you can place it in a key area towards the back of the store to get them walking through.  Hopefully they'll see a great item they wouldn't have otherwise thought of on their way there!

Bonus tip to make up for the technical problems we had last week...

Emergency preparedness is key.  It's important to have a plan for every type of emergency that could come your way.

Check out this Red Cross page for some great info.

Happy selling!

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Tip of the Week

Use visual merchandising to tell your customers a story.  This could be a story centered around lifestyle, colour, trend, or anything else you can imagine!

Spring table display at Elegant Expressions, by Flourish

Any display should give a customer a feeling or a sense, hopefully a good one! This is what telling them a story with merchandise is all about.

Are you having trouble getting started or do you need some inspiration? First, check your marketing calendar... how can you tie in your displays? Second, look for ideas online. In fact, feel free to visit our Pinterest page linked below! Most important of all, have fun with it and so will your customers.

Happy selling!

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Looking for more info, articles, and interaction? Follow us on facebook, twitter, and Pinterest, too!

Tip of the Week

Do you have inventory that is over a year old?  It could actually be costing you money. It does so by taking up space that profitable product could be using and by requiring regular movement.

A store's display full of aged inventory re-mixed and ready to sell! 

Sometimes, as a shop owner, it can be difficult to let go of merchandise because we know how much it has cost and how much work we have put into selling it already. Unfortunately, the time comes where that merchandise starts costing us money. The general rule of thumb is that merchandise shouldn't hang around your store for more than a year, so you need to consider clearing out aged inventory to make room for newer, more profitable items.

How is it costing us money? Aged inventory takes up space and ties up inventory dollars that could otherwise be spent on new, more profitable merchandise. It can also add clutter to the store or space, inhibiting sales of new product. Once you consider that, consider also how many times you've paid someone to move that product or moved it yourself. Not only is their time worth money, but so is yours! What could you have been doing to make the store money instead of moving aged merchandise?

Okay, that's great, but what are some solutions to this problem? Sign up to receive the tip of the week, sent directly to your inbox, and receive the answer plus a special bonus tip this week!  (You may have noticed that I got a little busy last week and was unable to keep up with my tips.)  All you have to do to sign up is click here!  Is that not working for you?  Send me an email and I'll add you manually.

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Plan your store window changes out on a calendar according to season, holidays, key marketing and promotions, and new shipments.  Be sure to include a change every four to six weeks.

Image: Free People Blog: Summer Store Displays!

Pre-planning all of your window changes allows you to keep an eye out for interesting prop ideas, fixtures, etc.  It gives you time to plan out exciting window displays that entice customers and ensures that you're not changing windows on the fly or in a panic.  That's no fun for anyone!

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Happy Selling!

Tip of the Week

Father's day is June 16 this year in North America.  If you don't have a plan for Father's Day merchandise yet, now is the time to make one!

Nike men's and women's golf display at Pineridge Golf Resort by Flourish Design & Merchandising

Even if you aren't ordering specific merchandise for Father's Day or aren't typically a Father's Day destination, it doesn't hurt to pull together some quick and easy Father's Day gifts in an easy to spot location.  Wives, partners, and kids may not have been planning to make their Father's Day purchase that day, but a well placed display can easily change that!

This display could be on the front end of a fixture, on a table, or near the cash register. Any prominent place that fits will do!  If you're not bringing in anything special, gather together items from throughout the store that would make a great Father's Day gift!  If you have some manly cards and gift wrap, don't hesitate to pull those in as well.

Lastly, don't forget to top it off with a well placed sign.  Something as simple as "Father's Day is June 16th" or "Everything you need for Dad" is great.  

Happy selling!

Tip of the Week

Take the plastic off!  Customers like to see, feel, and touch and plastic packaging or film impedes their instincts.

Have you ever watched someone browse a store, with their hands on everything?  Have you ever listened to a mom constantly try to remind their kids to "look with your eyes, not with your hands" to no avail?  That's because, instinctively, we need to feel an item before we buy it and that's not just limited to textiles!

The biggest objection I hear to removing packaging is damage.  Removing the plastic from an item can result in a lightly soiled or damaged item, but you are likely to sell far more of it and the items around it.  Selling your display model at a discount is a small price to pay.

Happy selling!

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Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter,Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Pay attention to how customers shop for certain items.  Do they request items by colour, end use, theme, or purpose?  Merchandise those items accordingly.

For example, most customers would search for a greeting card first based on purpose (such as birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc.) and all other types of merchandising would be secondary.  If you merchandise greeting cards by purpose, you may notice a lift in sales.

Candles, however, are often purchased by colour before anything else.  By merchandising your candles in colour groups, you may see an uplift in sales.

Observe how your customers request items; "Do you have any birthday cards?" or "What do you have in the way of red candles?"  Watch how they peruse and browse.  The idea is to make their shopping experience as easy and barrier free as possible; your help should be a bonus, not a requirement.

Are you left wanting more?  Sign up to have the tip of the week sent directly to your inbox and receive even more info about each tip!  Sign up here.

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter,Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Shopping is all about perceived value.  The way you display and merchandise your product can have a large impact on how valuable the customer perceives it to be.  Does your store make your merchandise look valuable?

I'm sure you've heard the term perceived value a few times; it refers to the value a customer assigns to a product or service in their head.  How much do they deem that product to be worth?  When their perceived value is compared to the actual asking price, it can make or break their buying decision.

When items are merchandised or displayed in a way that makes them appear valuable or expensive, the price on the sticker can be less scary to look at and possibly even a relief. If the customer perceives the item of their desire to be a great value, they'll most often buy!


Are you left wanting more?  Sign up to have the tip of the week sent directly to your inbox and receive even more info about each tip!  Sign up here.

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter,Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

Keep your displays moving and changing.  It’s change that keeps your customers interested.

I think it's true, what they say...  Change is the spice of life!

It's also said that 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers and I bet you know who those customers are!  You need to invest your time and energy in keeping regular customers interested and frequent change is the way to do that. 

Every time you change your displays, it feels as though there is new product in the store, gives customers new ideas, and generates interest.  It is worth your time.

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

When displaying furniture for sale, be sure to leave your customer enough room to try it out.  Often times, people need to see things as they would use them at home.

This could mean allowing room to sit on a chair or sofa or space to see the finish on a table top.  It could also mean leaving room for customers to move in between pieces.

When considering sales per square foot, it can be tempting to fill every inch of available space, but that could actually impede sales both furniture and products alike.

Tip of the Week

One of the biggest mistakes a retailer can make is thinking they’re on an island where the general rules of shopper behaviour and other common human needs don’t apply.

Unless they have free wifi at the zoo, all of us reading this are human and that is a fact.  Humans have certain behaviours, certain ways we view a space, and certain ways we interact with that space.  This is due to our instincts and the way our brains work. 

While I'm always open to new points of view and new information, many retailers claim that "customers simply don't operate that way in my store."  Consider what could happen if you gave shoppers an opportunity to follow their instincs and natural methods of shopping...  Would your sales increase?  Are you willing to take a chance on that?

Consider how your store is set up and what you can do to help humans in it behave the way they like to behave, and hopefully purchase lots of merchandise!

Happy selling!

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.

Tip of the Week

When purchasing for your store, make sure you have a plan.  This could include a financial plan, merchandising plan, theme plan and so-on.

 

This week we have the Alberta Gift Show in Edmonton and if you don't go in with a thought out course of action, it can be overwhelming.  You could wind up blowing your budget, choosing the wrong product mix, or simply getting caught up in all of the excitement. 

Make a plan before you go to any buying show.  Give yourself a budget based on past sales and buying and consider giving yourself a budget by category as well. 

Another thing to think about before choosing your product is the physical space in your store.  What merchandising are you planning for the next few months?  Are there any specific stories or themes?  What holidays and events are coming up?  What exciting things are on your marketing calendar?

Good luck and happy selling... and buying!

Have you got questions for Melissa? Check us out on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, the flourish website, or send Melissa an email.