A little guidance in this weeks roundup with tips on hiring staff for your business, leaving a good lasting impression when a customer reaches your point of sale and using a loyalty program to retain customers. Learn what uses your customers could get using a smartphone and what greentailing really means for small retailers. Happy 4th of July!
1. The Five Most Common Hiring Mistakes – This is a must read article posted on The Specialty Retail Expert website. These are five mistakes that you can avoid while hiring new employees. Spending more time finding the right staff to work in your retail business will improve customer service, profits and make your job much easier.
2. Participation in loyalty programs jumps 20 percent – Another article about the effectiveness of loyalty programs. Consumers are looking for new ways to save money and earn a little extra credit for making purchases.
The article states: “In fact, U.S. consumers clearly see value in program participation, and continue to leverage their activity as an antidote to hard times – seeking added value and using rewards to stretch dollars.”
Loyalty programs can be easy to set in place whether you give a discount or use a points system your customers will enjoy the added benefits of shopping with you.
3. Retail Checkouts – The Best Last Impression – A true story of a checkout experience from a real customer. The compliant is similar to many you will hear from consumers visiting various retail locations. They are in a hurry, 14 checkout lanes, one open with 8 customers ahead of them and they end up walking out without purchases their products. Read on to learn what NOT to do at your point of sale checkout.
4. In-Store Uses for Smartphones – Wonderful article about how small retailers can enact the use of smartphones by their customers. This is up and coming technology that needs to be looked at closely. The article gives great ideas like in-store maps, Movie/Cd previews and even starting the checkout process while still shopping.
5. Greentailing For Small Retailers – This article presented by Premier Packaging discusses that 8 out of 10 Americans make going green a priority in their lives, although few of them act on it when making purchases. The article goes on to give ways that you can help your customer make effective “green” purchases and to promote your retail environment as green friendly.