Waiting
for things to return to normal (whatever that is in retail) is a choice full of
dangers.
Many
Australian businesses would like the A$ to return to 70-80 US cents but as
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said this week, that is unlikely to happen under current
conditions and decision makers must assume the dollar will remain at current
levels.
A similar
attitude could be taken with customer numbers at QVM. There are traders waiting
for the return of greater customer numbers. How often do you hear the phrase
"just get us more customers and we'll be fine". Yes, effective
marketing and promotion have their role in attracting more customers to QVM but
we may have to live with smaller crowds for quite some time. This is particularly true if our A$ stays strong and Australian tourists travel overseas rather than interstate.The problem then
becomes how we engage those customers that do come, provide the service they are looking
for, and keep them coming back.
Here are
some of the things you need to tick off -
1. EFTPOS facilities - essential
in today's digital environment.
2. Honesty - this may sound
stupid but the point is our customers are smarter than ever thanks to web
searches and global access. Traders have to be completely up to date on price,
quality, and availability if they wish to survive.
3. Attentive customer service.
4. Digital access to your
business through a website or Facebook.
5. Constant innovation in product
selection and stall presentation and appearance.
Are you
waiting for things to change, leaving it for someone else to do, or accepting
the customer's challenge to provide retail excellence?