Let’s
start 2026 with 50 non-stop
traffic-building, profit-producing, attention-grabbing, sales-generating,
competition-miffing, customer-winning strategies every retailer should know!
WINDOWS THAT WOW
1. Choose a theme for your monthly window
displays. There are plenty of national and fun holidays to choose from each
month or make up your own. Carry that theme throughout the store.
2. Keep it simple. People need to be able
to take in the message of your windows in eight seconds or less.
3. Chose a backdrop that makes the merchandise
pop. A vertical backdrop – a photo poster, hanging lights, or unfurled bolt
of fabric – will draw the eye up and down as well as forward, causing shoppers
will see more of your window display.
4. Add your telephone number and web address
in 10-14” white reflective vinyl letters at the center bottom of your main
window. Now, potential customers can easily get in touch or check your
website even when your store isn’t open for business.
5. Light your window displays at night.
This is especially important if your store is located in an area where people
tend to walk, especially areas that are populated with restaurants and bars.
You can’t buy what you can’t see; lighting entices people to come back when
your store is open.
6. Create an instant display with window
graphics. Use photos you own (or have permission to use) that are blown up
to fit your window space. We like perforated window graphics that show vibrant
photos on the outside while allowing you to see clearly out of the windows from
the inside. You can find vendors locally or give Joe at Lake Powell Graphics a call.
ON THE SALES FLOOR
7. Work your Decompression Zone. It’s job
is to transition customers from whatever they were doing outside of your store
and refocus them on shopping. People don’t start thinking about merchandise
until they are at least 5-15’ inside the door, depending on the size of your
sales floor. This means that the baskets, signs, and samples that fall within
the decompression zone will be missed. Place these items just beyond the
Decompression Zone where shoppers are more likely to see them.
8. Pay
attention to your first 10 second impression. Stand
just inside the front door and look around. In the first 10 seconds inside your
door shoppers are making value judgements about what they see, thinking “Should
I grab what I need here or head to another store?” View your sales floor from
just inside the door each day, checking to ensure you are giving shoppers the first
impression that you intended.
9. Check
your sight line. While you are still at the front of your store check its
sight line: you want shoppers to be able to see into and through the sales
floor. Get rid of tall fixtures near or at the front of the store that block
product housed behind them. Make each display more visible by placing shorter
fixtures near the front, and taller fixtures towards the rear of the store.
Remember, the more a shopper sees, the more they are likely to buy.
10. Provide every customer with a cart or
basket to increase sales. Customers stop shopping once their hands are full
so offer shoppers a cart or basket, at the very minimum, ask to hold items they
are carrying at the cashwrap until they are ready to check out.
11. Place Speed Bump displays just beyond the decompression zone. These
important displays are the customers’ first impression of the store upon
entering. Use small fixtures or stacking tables to group irresistible products and
product stories together.
12. Cross merchandise everywhere. Always
think about additional products you could add to a display that will save
customers time and increase your average sale. Look for places around the sales
floor to add J-hooks, clip strips, power panels, and other inexpensive fixtures
designed to help you sell more. Azar
Displays has every kind of fixture and accessory you can imagine to help
you get started.
13. Implement the Pyramid Principle in
displays by placing a tall item (or fixture or prop) in the center of two
smaller items. This causes the eye to unconsciously seek the tallest item
before scanning the smaller items and the rest of the display. Again, the more
they see, the more they buy.
14. Look for props in unusual places like
thrift shops, garage sales and on trash days in tony neighborhoods. We have a
friend who does very well collecting unwanted furniture she restores and sells
to retailers for props, and to customers for home decor. Have fun with your fixtures
but make sure that they are sturdy enough to hold merchandise and safe to use.
15. Sign your displays. It’s a fact that displays that are signed outperform displays that are
not by 20 percent, yet most indie retail stores are undersigned. The message
should be simple, indicating important features and price. Use both upper and
lower case letters and don’t use a font smaller than 30 points. Customers who
wear reading glasses should be able to easily read your signs without them.
16. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires
store aisles to be a minimum of 3’6”. On your sales floor can shoppers
easily navigate the aisles without bumping into product? Is it easy for two
customers to shop the same aisle/area with and without carts? Can strollers
navigate the aisles with ease? And can customers who use wheelchairs or
scooters have enough room to shop comfortably?
17. Do our 360 Degree Pass-By every morning
before you open for business. Start at the front door and walk every aisle
in the store, finish with a look at the cashwrap, service counter, cutting
tables and rest rooms. Note areas that need attention before the store opens
for the day. Require all associates to do a 360 Degree Pass-By before each
shift.
18. At
the close of business each day prepare a Store
Opening Checklist that lists the tasks to be completed the next day. Drop
us an email for a customizable copy of this form.
19. Set a daily sales goal and post it at the
cashwrap. Your associates will perform better when they know what’s
expected of them each day.
20. Hold a ten minute JOG (Jog Your Memory)
meeting each morning or at the start of each shift. Discuss products,
policies, promotions, big news – anything store associates need to know that
day.
21. Take time to visit other retail stores for
ideas. Not just store like yours, all types of stores. Visit popular chain
and indie retail websites and social medias. With your creative mind we
guarantee you will produce dozens of ideas you can tweak to use in your own
store.
AT THE CASHWRAP
22. Policy signing should be printed, framed
and displayed in a prominent place at the cashwrap. Your return/exchange
policy should be comparable to other retailers in your area. Try to eliminate
the word NO, writing your policies in a friendly voice. “No refunds or
exchanges without receipt!” becomes customer-friendly when changed to “We
gladly accept returns and exchanges within _________ days. Your receipt
guarantees it.”
23. Place a variety of impulse items at the
cashwrap. High margin, inexpensive items work best. Choose things shoppers typically
need, but don’t forget enjoyable items like candles and body lotions. Women are
huge impulse buyers so give them a selection they can’t resist.
24. Sell gift cards year round at the cashwrap. A small display is all you
need. Remember that the majority of gift card shoppers spend more than the face
value of the card and require more than one trip to your store to spend it.
That’s great news for you.
25. Use the wall directly behind your cashwrap
to display product. You never want customers to stop thinking about
product, even when they are checking out. Instead of notes taped to the wall
and piles of merchandise, use that space to display featured items, new
arrivals and impulse product. If you don’t have a wall then set free standing
fixtures near each cashwrap.
26. Keep a stash of frequently forgotten items
at the cashwrap. Now, when a customer says, “I forgot to get __________,
I’ll get it next time.” you can reach under the counter, grab that item, and
save the sale.
STORE OPERATIONS
27. Be open when customers expect you to be
open. There is no perfect answer to when you should be open because the
answer depends on time of year, your community, competition and what shoppers
expect. It’s important to note that a big percentage of retail sales happen
after 7:00 pm, which explains why malls and chain stores stay open until 9:00
pm. You should be open some evening hours and on Sundays as well.
28. Answer the telephone within three rings. Choose
the way you want your phone to be answered and share it with all associates. A
simple answer might be, “Thank you for calling ______________! This is
______________, how may I help you today?” Requiring the associate to tell the
caller about a sale or hours or whatever is happening in the store that day
before asking how they can help drives customers crazy. So does “Press 1 for
_____, press 2 for _____.”
29. Manage your customer response times. Best
practices say you should return phone calls and respond to email requests
within 24 hours and reply to text messages within an hour. Don’t hide behind an
automatic reply unless it’s absolutely necessary. Not being responsive gives a
bad impression of your business.
30. Control your back stock. Before you
reorder check to ensure there are no additional quantities of that product
already in your stock room.
If you
need a physical reminder, place a green dot sticker on the shelf or bin ticket
indicating that there is more of this merchandise in the stock room. When there
is no more of the item in the stock room replace the green dot with a red dot,
indicating that this item needs to be reordered. Add a black dot if the item is
not to be reordered or mark it down and move it to the clearance aisle.
31. Take physical cycle counts. Even if you
have a POS system it’s still important to take periotic physical counts at
shelf level to compare actual inventory versus what’s on the POS report. If
they don’t match you need to find out why.
32. Create and maintain a Never Out Item List.
These are the items that can never be out of stock. Physically check this
product against the list daily and re-order as necessary. Bags, gift cards, register
tape, paper towels, and toilet paper belong on this list, too.
33. Don’t wait too long to take a markdown. Merchandise
that isn’t selling doesn’t do you any good collecting dust on a shelf. It needs
to go to free up cash to buy fresh, saleable product. Add a “sell by” date to
price tags and bin tickets, and mark down items as soon as sales start to slow
down. Packing away product for next year is rarely a good idea.
34. Control your delivery dates. Yes, you
can tell vendors when you want to receive your orders. Accepting a late-season
delivery doesn’t make sense if it arrives too late in the season to sell, as
does receiving and paying for goods far in advance of actual sell time.
MARKETING
35. Create a weekly bag stuffer and hand one to
every shopper. Getting them into the customers’ hand is important, so have
the associate ringing up the sale hand the bag stuffer to the customer,
explaining what it’s about – think of this as a 30 second commercial! If you
pre-stuff them into bags they will not get read and will probably be tossed out
with the bag. Use your bag stuffers to advertise specific product, events or
whatever is important that particular week.
36. Build a Brag Sheet that’s loaded with
the services your store provides, awards, conveniences, merchandise categories,
brands, social media handles, return policy, hours – everything that’s
important to your customers. Make a sign and hang it at the front of your
store. Print it on the back of your weekly bag stuffer, add it to your website,
social medias and email blasts.
37. Send an email blast at least twice a month.
Choose a professional email marketing company to create your campaigns. Constant Contact, SnapRetail and MailChimp are just a few retailer
favorites that offer a free 30-45 day trial. Try them all and then go with the
one you like best.
38. Collect customer email addresses
organically. Place a sign-up sheet at the register and on your website.
Host contests where the winner is notified via email and make asking for the
shoppers email part of the regular checkout process.
39. Every email blast should have a clear
message that encourages the
reader to act by visiting your website or coming to your store.
40. Pepper your emails with large photos and
less copy. People don’t like to read long blocks of copy so keep the
message short. Make every photo clickable, taking the reader to your website
for more information or to purchase. It should take a reader no more than 20
seconds to fully understand the message you are trying to convey.
41. 64 percent of people say they open an email
because of the subject line alone. Make sure your subject lines are
compelling.
42. Measure your results. Every email marketing company provides you with detailed reports on how
customers responded. Keep the techniques that work and tweak those that don’t
before sending your next email blast.
43. Host one major in-store event and one to two minor in-store events each
month. A major event is one that
builds traffic and packs your store with customers. Don’t confuse a major
event with something that takes a long time to plan. A trunk show or fashion
show can be a large undertaking, but it’s not a major event unless it attracts big
numbers of potential customers who buy something while they’re there.
A minor
event might be a class or a Saturday full of makit it & takits and demonstrations.
Minor events draw customers to your store but should not take a lot of time
to plan or implement. If the concept of events and promotions is new to you,
then begin by running one major event and one minor event for each month of the
year. If you’re already running events on a regular basis, you can add as many
as you are comfortable adding.
44. Create a marketing and promotions calendar
for each month of 2026. List dates and deadlines for each part of your
marketing efforts, including in-store events, promotions, social media live
broadcasts, classes, email blasts, and social media posts.
45. Toot your own horn. Contact local
medias and pitch stories about your store. The majority of the stories
presented by local media come from a press release, so send one for each
newsworthy thing you do including the trade shows you attend, awards you’ve won,
big events, famous visitors to your store, contest winners, charitable works,
newsworthy associates, etc.
SOCIAL MEDIA
46. Ramp up your social media presence. Unless you have a dedicated social media person, choose two or
three social media platforms and commit to keeping them up to date. Think Facebook,
Instagram, and TikTok. Posting daily is the optimal goal; three times a week is
the very minimum you can do to keep followers interested.
47. Continue to boost your business online.
Online selling is here to stay. Keep your website up to date and choose a
selling platform like Comment Sold, Shopify, Big Commerce, or Woo to help you automate. Choose the platform
that works best for you.
48. Make
live broadcasts a major of your
marketing. We know so many retailers who connect with customers via live
broadcasts on social media. If you haven’t tried it yet (and why haven’t you?) it’s
time to get on board. Choose a daily or weekly time slot and stick to it. The
same selling platforms listed in number 46 will also help you easily sell via
social media.
49. Use hashtags to expand your reach.
Posts with hashtags have more engagement than those that don’t. Without a
hashtag your posts only go to the people who follow you, but posts that include
hashtags can reach anyone who follows that particular hashtag. Google “best
hashtags for ______” to get you started. Be sure to include a hashtag for your
store as in #nameofyourstore.
50. Take
care of yourself. Take a day off when you can. Start your day with friends
or fellow business owners at your local coffee shop. If there’s no time for
that, then spend a few minutes catching up with friends on social media. Attend
trade shows that help your business and make you happy. Make dinner plans with
friends while you are there or better yet, go a day early and visit local
stores with your pals.
Retailers
are some of the most resilient people in the world. There is no limit to what
you can do once you put your mind to it!
COPYRIGHT
KIZER
& BENDER | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | Retail Adventures Blog
