The first piece of advice is the most obvious but also the most misunderstood. Know your customers. You must understand what they want and be able to give to give it to them in an environment they want to spend time in. You must know their price points and their tastes and market your products and service accordingly. Understanding your market and having a targeted strategy that aligns with their needs is crucial. Ask yourself what your target market wants and give it to them, consistently. Talk to your customers, invite their opinions and for the younger markets consider using social media to get feedback and to provide further value added services. Finally, ensure your staff are required to take note of product requests you don’t have. This may affect your purchasing decisions down the line.
Your customer service, no matter what market you’re in, must be beyond reproach. Be ambitious in your service level. Professionalism, product knowledge, friendliness. It’s no use saying that you value the provision of customer service and then spend no time or money on your team’s development of these key skills. Invest in your staff and your customers will pay you back.
Regularly analyse your stock in order to uncover buying trends. You may have noticed that those three bottles of high-margin gin, which had been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years suddenly sold out in three months. But do you know why? Trends, by definition come and go so keep an eye on what’s happening in the wider culture of your target group.
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