Page 11 - Merlin Evolve Winter 2020-2021

Must Have Need to Have Nice to Have
*In order to assess the needs of your customers, you need to break all retail products down into one of the above three categories:
1. Must Have – food and necessary household items;
2. Need to Have – functional items which either need replacing
or upgrading;
3. Nice to Have – these are those little luxuries that make life more bearable.
Having categorised them in this way, there has to be a clear strategy for ensuring that you maximise all sales opportunities from each of these areas. Irrespective of which type of product you sell (and in whatever buying category it falls), you can take control of your own destiny and really make things happen.
*Points to bear in mind about your customers:
The customer is King (or Queen!) - treat them like one! Customers make paydays possible!
The customer is Judge, Jury and Executioner!
The customer is always right (even when they’re not)!
TOP TIPS
Location
Location
Location
*When looking at a particular location, it is worth considering a number of factors before making any decisions:
1. What is the average footfall past that location?
2. How many of your type of customers pass that location on a daily basis?
3. Are there any projected changes in town centre layouts which may affect that situation in
the future?
4. Is there another similar retail outlet close by?
5. Is vehicular access important?
5%increase in customer retention is worth anything from...
*Sourced from ‘You can’t get many drugs for a cauliflower’, by Owen Gleadall. (page 24)
25%-80%
increase in profits!
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