Increase Your Pet Store Sales By 540%

By Author: John Stanley
Total Articles: 7
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I hope I have grabbed your attention, but yes, this is achievable. I have clients who have turned a stock turn of 5 into a 34 stock turn a year who will vouch that 540% is easily achievable.

But how and where can you achieve this? Every pet store has a power position within its store.

Some retailers know the power of this position and develop their own strategies to manage this location and do not need the help of suppliers or retail consultants.

The majority of retailers do not realise the potential and need the help of suppliers to make it happen.

They need a positive partnership rather than a supplier just delivering product.

So Where are These Magical Positions?

The power spot is the position in a pet store where you can guarantee 100% of consumers will see 100% of product.

Those suppliers and retailers who have stores in countries where they drive on the left hand side of the road will have consumers who generally prefer to circulate stores in a clockwise direction. If your market is based on right hand sided driving, then customers generally ...
... prefer to circulate the store in a counter clockwise direction.

Prior to building a power spot, you need to know the natural customer flow in the store you are working with .. for Australians it's clockwise.

Once that has been agreed on, you can then position the power spot location. Generally consumers take 4 to 6 steps into the store, the transition zone, before they will focus on a display. The position after those few steps is the power spot location.

Once you decide on the power spot, you have then got to make it work.

Ideally, keep the display circular to create a traffic island, the radius being no more than an arm's length to enable you to maximise the sales space.

Shoppers buy from the belly button to chin height and this means you may need to dummy up the base of the display to maximise sales.

Research tells us that conical power displays are by far the best shape to maximise sales and therefore the way you build the display is critically important.

Keep it Simple Sells

Customers have only just walked into the store and are not ready for complex messages.

To make the power display work they need one story. This may be a one-product display or alternatively a one-story display.

The key is it must be a simple message for the customer to understand at this location. Remember, the power display must be topical. I would advise changing the display based on the average number of visits a customer makes to the store e.g. if the average consumer visits the store 12 times a year, then change the displays 12 times a year in the power location.

Build and Spoil

If customers compliment you on your great displays, it may mean they are not working. The key is to build a display and then make it look as if it has already been shopped by taking one product away. A spoilt display gives consumers confidence to shop the display, an unspoilt display may stay that way for longer than you want.

All displays must have signs. In a future article I will discuss signage in some depth, but remember a display without a sign is not a display; you have not finished the job.

If You Cannot Measure it, You Cannot Manage it!

All displays should be measured for their performance. If a display is not working, it is because it is the wrong product in the wrong place at the wrong time and the only thing to do is change the display. I would recommend someone be appointed to manage displays, as they are so important to the success of the business.

If you are not involved in power displays, now is the time, before someone else grabs the power position.

Power Display Tips

Locate 4 steps into the store

Make them circular

Make them conical

Be topical

Dummy up the base

Spoil the display

Change regularly

Don't forget the sign

Keep it simple

About the Author John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years experience in 15 countries. John works with pet retailers around the world assisting them with their merchandising, staff and management training, customer flow, customer service and image. Visit www.johnstanley.cc or email us on newsletter@johnstanley.cc.