Business SMART:

Capturing Chain Store Sales
 

By: Fran Saperstein
Vice President & Publisher, A-Z Media Group, Inc.

Why Consumers Shop Wal-Mart and What You Can Do About It!


The past two weeks, we’ve discussed how the industry has boxed itself into a corner with all the intricate products and I provided both retailers and manufacturers with some strategies to better support new scrapbookers as they enter the market.

As a follow up, we asked some fairly new scrapbookers on the Scrapbooking.com Magazine bulletin board for their insights. We asked these consumers where they purchase scrapbooking products. While many did enjoy shopping their local scrapbook store, many regularly shopped at Wal-Mart, Michael’s, and other large chain stores.

Today we will discuss why consumers continue to shop at the larger chain stores and what can manufacturers and independent retailers do to recapture this market.

Let’s first consider why the new scrapbooker would start to shop in a large chain store:

1. They are already in the store getting other products for their families.
2. The selection is fairly limited, making their decisions easier.
3. There are always coupons and promotions to take advantage of.

These are the usual comments and concerns we see, but how is an independent retailer to compete with this? Let’s take the reasons above one at a time:

They are already in the store getting other products for their families.

Now, I am not at all recommending that a scrapbook store start to carry groceries or children’s clothes. However, I am suggesting that when choosing your location, the surrounding stores should be considered. Is the shopping center a destination for busy women? Is there traffic to ensure that people are coming and going and that your store will be seen?

The selection is fairly limited, making their decisions easier.

This is, to me, the crux of the issue. New and occasional scrapbookers are often overwhelmed by the selection out there. To ensure that everyone who enters your store has what she needs to make her decisions, consider these strategies:

1. Make your store easy to navigate; use signage to help guide people through the store.
2. Merchandise by theme – make it easy for a new scrapbooker to find what she needs to complete a project.
3. Merchandise by brand – the intermediate and advanced scrapbookers will prefer to shop their favorite manufacturer collections.
4. Merchandise by product category – the advanced and intermediate scrapbooker can easily find what she needs to finish that specific project.

Overall, the idea is to make it easier for a busy person to easily find what she needs, when she needs it. The more convenient you make the purchase process, the better your relationship with your customers.

There are always coupons and promotions to take advantage of.

1. We’ve said it before in this column: Promote, promote, promote! There should be events monthly and weekly.
2. Accept coupons from your competition! Yes, I mean that 40% coupon that comes in the mail every Sunday! If you don’t accept that coupon, you are basically telling your consumers to go elsewhere.
3. Provide your own coupons for your consumers. One way to do this is through Scrapbooking.com Magazine’s Premier Retail Store program. The program includes an online coupon that you can change monthly. Learn more about this program here. [link to psl page]

In the end, it’s about making shopping easy and convenient for your customers. It’s about providing your customers with a reason to come into your store, and it’s about being located where they already need to go, as well as allowing potential customers to easily find you. Be SMART, learn from the big chains and hold your own in the marketplace!