Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Are you looking back at how business used to be?

The evil queen in the film Snow White said, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?”. Today we tweak that expression for our businesses with a suggestion you ask about your business; “Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who’s adapted best of all?”

Life was different after March 2020; so was business. Customers were looking to do different things with their time as witnessed by sales in creative retailers, interior and exterior home stores, and liquor stores. The increase in gas prices and the holdover of people staying close to home helped to increase online shopping as well as a demand for delivery.

We saw malls that were always open 10am to 9pm opening an hour later and closing several hours earlier. Their claim of customers not being there to shop is a double-edged sword because you must first be there for customers.

The concern for having enough or too much inventory is one concern that continues to be up in the air.

Pricing? It used to be people discussed the changes in the price of gas. Now there is not only the issue of product availability but what will the price be when it is shipped to you.

Price increases are not just in products but in the expenses, especially payroll, as well.

When it comes to paying for our purchases, now there are so many more options available to customers. This week we noticed twelve options at a McDonalds! If it weren’t for the increase in sales, we could all be longing for 2019.

All these items mentioned are external concerns that affected your business. What are you doing to create internal changes within your business? Has this been a disruption to your business?  Or as your customers have those “creative juices” flowing, have you been looking at all the ways you can do things differently to take advantage of that “pandemic sales increase” that we initially mentioned?

There are many businesses that benefited from the pandemic with sales increases, and many are now experiencing sales downturns. In essence, they simply rode along with the tide. They have done nothing creative to build on that boost.

So, what can you do? If you are seeing fewer and/or less of your customers, what is it that is capturing their attention? Perhaps some in-store or zoom style events where you are teaching can help to keep a customer attention. In-store parties that you can hold in conjunction with another local business that offers catering services. You can also help customers by developing a series of “kits” which include everything necessary to complete a project; call them “time savers”.

Changing hours can be challenging. Finding the right combination requires some experimentation. You can’t experiment for just a week or two and think you have found the solution. Customers aren’t going to tell you the hours they want or need. And the customers must be there to justify the payroll expenditure. You can experiment by creating special sale events or activities in the store that occur only during the hours you have added. Remember that with a 10-5 schedule the customer you are appealing to is retired, unemployed or working evenings.

The issue of price increase affects us most in the areas of payroll and operating expenses. The rapidly changing price of products in our stores can work to our advantage. It is much easier now to squeeze in additional points of margins and it can add dollars of profit when you keep your prices reflective of the current cost. This means that while you may have an item on the shelves, you can justify increasing the price of your on-hand inventory to reflect the current cost as compared to what you paid for it.

The last item we will suggest deals with cell phones and payment options. There are so many payment options that can be done by an app. While not recommended, there are businesses that no longer accept cash. Having the appropriate stickers on your door, windows, and at the register to reflect all the payment options is important. And note that if you are refusing additional payment options, customers may be refusing to do business with you.

Take a last look in that mirror. Do you do business the same way you did in 2019? If so, you could be losing sales by not being in touch with how your customer has changed.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.