6 Pitfalls Retailers should Avoid

Learning from mistakes is the best way to grow. From a mere idea to the establishment of a business, we make countless mistakes and correct themselves as we go and grow. A good businessman is not just a hard worker but a smart worker too. Learning from your own mistakes cost time and money, but learning from other people’s mistakes saves them! So, in this blog, you will learn about the 6 common mistakes committed by retailers, which you should avoid.   

Not Understanding Customers:

There is never a problem with your product line, but with your understanding of its target audience. A lot of retailers sell products which are not suitable or needed by their target audience. For example, imagine a retailer marketing a $1000 product to a customer who only earns $2000 a month. Yes, it’s a mistake. To fix this mistake, research the demographics of your potential customers. Don’t sell the most desirable items only, sell the ones most affordable and honestly beneficial to your customers.

Choosing Wrong Location:

Choosing a right location to open a retail business is a tough decision to make. There are two ways to tackle this. First is to choose a highly competitive location where your competitors are already situated. And second is to choose a completely new location without any competition and create a new market there. In the first situation, your rates should be competitive, and in the second situation, in-depth research must be performed of the area and vicinity, to determine whether the local population are likely to bite your products or not. There are risk factors in both scenarios, but with a careful research and marketing plan, you can succeed in both locations.

Conventional Marketing:

If you want to sell your products in today’s world, you have to adapt to the digital landscape since all of your customers are highly likely using social media platforms. Check out our blog on how to start advertising on Social Media: https://www.cellsmartpos.com/blog/2019/10/24/realistic-future-of-cell-phone-store-in-online-era/

Poor Inventory Management:

It will be a big embarrassment for your business if you tell your customers about the availability of your product, but when you check your inventory it’s sold out. This means you just lost a customer, and worse—you may even get a negative review on local business listings. So, your retail business needs a reliable and efficient POS system to handle your business.   

No planned Promotions:

Don’t be like those business who don’t send out anything, OR like those businesses whose flyers and promotions are so excessive that people simply trash their flyers. Your business needs to create promotions and give free vouchers strategically. For example, during holiday, before school begins, before winter break, break summer break, Black Friday week, etc. So, plan your promotions wisely, and understand the needs of your customers. 

Bad Staff:

Besides the above-mentioned mistakes, one of the biggest problems is the behavior of your staff. Your staff is an ambassador of your store, and their bad behavior will reflect on your sales almost immediately and on your reputation within a short period of time, via negative reviews online. So, educate your staff to deal with customers with care and attention, monitor them and likewise reward them, so that your customers always have an awesome experience while they visit your store, even if they don’t buy anything. Never take your customers for granted.