The creative and science-driven design of the point of sale has become a crucial success factor for both retailers and service businesses. In the newly revised and expanded edition of this book, you will learn some of the shopper marketing secrets from the authors about how you can design your store to increase sales and delight shoppers at the same time. By the time you are through reading, you will have learned how shoppers navigate the store, how they search for products, and how you can make them find the products you want them to see. You will also be able to appeal to shopper emotions through the use of colors, scents, and music, as well as make shopping memorable and fun by creating unique experiences for your shoppers. The focus is on the practical applicability of the concepts discussed, and this accessible book is firmly grounded in consumer and psychological research. At the end of each chapter, you will find several takeaway points. The book concludes with the “Store Design Cookbook,” full of ready-to-serve recipes for your own store design and visual merchandising process.
This book presents a practical approach to ensuring your retail stores success with consumers. It explores topics, such as merchandising and display techniques, retail promotions, consumer perception and behavior, impulse buying, store environment and operations, visual merchandising, customer care, and the promotional work force. Simple, practical, and illustrated with real photos taken in many countries, this book allows even a small store with a limited budget to stay ahead of global retailers with limitless resources. Learn how to: pick the best location to locate a store; make your exterior design inviting; set up an ideal atmosphere for purchasing; understand about gondola arrangement and planograms; analyze your customers conduct different types of promotions.
"Small Store Survival should challenge retailers' views of smallstore retailing by questioning key areas of business. What is thevision for the store in 10 years? How have the customers changedover the past few years? How current are the managers about whatcustomers genuinely like and dislike? What is being done toattract, educate, and motivate the best retail talent in the area?How effective is the merchandising strategy? What plans exist forsuccession? "The real lesson of this study is that the best retailers neverstop learning. They never stop growing. They never lose theirenthusiasm for the customers and the business. And they never ceaseto revel in change and the chance to deal with it." --from theExecutive Summary of Small Store Survival Small Store Survival Over the past decade, thousands of small retail stores have fallenvictim to overwhelming competition from huge discount chainsdetermined to take in every retail dollar in sight. But noteveryone succumbs to the megastore invasion; many small retailersgrow and prosper in spite of this cutthroat competition. How dothey do it? Even more important, how can you do it? Small Store Survival is the how-to book that belongs behind thecounter of every independent retail store. It analyzes small-storeoperation in detail and lays out optimal survival strategies andtactics for seven key areas of business practice that are criticalto success: customer service, marketing, merchandising, storeoperations, management, human resources, and finance. Its clear andlogical organization enables you to evaluate your businesspractices function by function, identify strengths and weaknesses,and develop action plans to improve operations in each of thesecrucial functions. Written by a team of experts from Arthur Andersen LLP, this guidepresents detailed solutions and best practices culled from retailersurveys, site visits, and industry research. Its recommendationsare applicable to a broad variety of retail formats, includingstores that specialize in apparel; appliances; books; drugs,health, and beauty care products; electronics; hardware; home andgarden supplies; pets and pet supplies; as well as other specialtystores. Numerous case studies illustrate the problems that plaguemany retailers and demonstrate ways you can overcome theseobstacles and improve your business. You'll learn how to: * Identify customer expectations and meet or exceed them at everyturn * Identify, pursue, and capture a distinct customer market * Establish a vision and culture for your store, plan where thecompany needs to go, and take steps to get there * Compete for quality employees and, once you hire them, keep them * Establish budgetary controls and contain costs * Negotiate effectively for favorable terms from vendors andsuppliers The most successful retailers never stop learning, growing, andadapting to changing circumstances. The hundreds of sound ideaspresented in this study were developed and implemented by the mostsuccessful small store operators in the industry. Here is yourchance to learn and grow with them by adapting these solutions toyour own business needs.
