Over the past 12 years in South Africa, I have worked with hundreds of golf, curio and other retail shops to enhance their sales and merchandising presentations. So where do we begin to improve your shop?
Let’s start with the 5 senses:
Sight
Sound
Smell
Touch
Taste
If you were to stand in the entrance to your store, consider the following questions related to these senses.....
Sight: From the entrance of the store can you see all the way to the back of the store or are fixtures blocking your sight lines?
Sound: What do you generally hear in your store -- music, television, noisy staff, silence?
Smell: Seems basic, but sense of smell is the strongest of our senses. Does the shop have either no scent, or a nice scent when you enter?
Touch: When you walk through the shop is the merchandise all around you and within your grasp? Do your customers feel encouraged to handle the products?
Taste: This is a different kind of taste. Overall, does your image and product match your customer’s preferences? Expensive or cheap? Logoed or unlogoed?
The 5 senses provide a starting point to analyse your shop appeal to customers. But this is only the beginning. I have told many shop staff over the years that there is no single change or improvement that will suddenly make your store a complete success. Rather, there are thousands of little changes and improvements that can be implemented to continually build a successful retail store.