Retail Owner and Independent Store Resources - Retail Store Marketing Resources


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Retail Owner and Independent Store Resources - Retail Store Marketing Resources

Turn Your Retail Store Into A More Profitable Business . . . Starting Today!

Gain access to THE most comprehensive online resource for independent retail store owners and managers who want to build a more profitable and successful business.

Find proven low-cost marketing tactics and strategies PLUS manuals, forms, spreadsheets, downloads, and calculators created by experienced independent retailers to help you
attract new customers without going broke, buy inventory at better pricing, increase sales, reduce your overhead costs, organize your business, and successfully compete with the big-box stores and mega-chains.

How To Run Targeted Television Ads At Low Cost To Neighborhoods Surrounding Your Store
Think television advertising is too costly for your store? Think again! Learn where you can produce a quality commercial for $499 and run targeted weekly spots on stations such as Lifetime and Animal Planet for around $500 a week. . . . more >>

How To Acquire New Customers at Very Low Cost Using Charity Marketing
Every retailer is constantly searching for new customers. Smart retailers know that acquiring new customers through charity or cause related marketing is one of the lowest cost methods to driving this essential traffic. Learn how your store can use charity marketing to get new customers cost effectively. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Employee Handbook
Having a well-written and complete Retail Store Employee Handbook is vital to the success and safety of your retail business. Use this template to create one of the most important documents for any retail store. Put into writing your retail store's policies and procedures so that your employees know what to expect from . . . more >>

How to Double The Response Rate on Your Direct Mail While Cutting Costs in Half
Many successful independent retail store owners rely heavily on direct marketing. If you do enough of it your costs can quickly add up. Learn key steps you can take to double your "bang for the buck" by both increasing the number of customers who respond to your direct mail while reducing your overall direct mail marketing spend . . . more >>

Retail Inventory Buying Guide: How and Where to Buy Merchandise For Your Store
Retail business owners have many options when buying merchandise for their stores - manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, buying services, buying groups, and more. Who should you buy from? Where can you get the best pricing and terms? Use our retail store inventory buying guide to learn proven buying strategies . . . more >>

UnClutter Your Store: How Clutter Kills Your Store's Profitability And What You Can Do About It

Clutter is one of the most common mistakes made in retail store design and layout. Clutter kills store profitability. If your customer cannot cut through the clutter, you lose a sale. Learn what steps to take to unclutter your store and increase your conversions . . . more >>

How To Put a Mystery Shopping Program in Place At Low Cost

Have you ever wondered how your customers view your store? Would you like to know what areas of customer service need to be improved? Learn how you can put in place a mystery shopping program to learn this valuable information . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Job Descriptions
Having an accurate and detailed job description for each position in your retail store holds your employees accountable so that they meet or exceed your expectations for their positions. Use these retail store job descriptions to communicate your expectations and increase employee performance. . . . more >>

Low Cost Marketing Strategy: Drive Store Traffic Through Press Releases

Press releases are an effective and low cost marketing tool you can use to drive retail store traffic. Learn the ins and outs creating and distributing press releases for your store's promotions and events . . . more >>

Low Cost Advertising Strategy: Advertise Door-to-Door Using Door Hangers

Need to reach customers in your target market cheaply? Have you considered door-to-door-advertsing using door hangers? Simply put - door hangers work! Learn the steps you can take to make door hangers an integral part of your advertising mix. . . . more >>

Low Cost Traffic Generator: How to Use Vehicle Wraps to Get Your Store Noticed

If you're not getting enough customers, you need to find additional ways to drive traffic. Vehicle wraps can be one of the most cost effective ways to promote your retail store. Learn how to best use vehicle wraps to get your store noticed and drive more customers through your doors. . . . more >>

Free Advertising For Your Retail Store: How To Get The Most Out Of Google, Yahoo, and Bing Local Search Listings

The trend is irreversible. Local search on internet search engines have replaced the yellow pages as the go-to source for many people when deciding where to shop. Are you getting the most out of your local listing in Google, Yahoo, and Bing? Learn what you need to know so that you don't miss out on what could be a huge source of traffic for your business. . . . more >>

The Truth About Yellow Page Ads for Independent Retailers

Yellow page advertising is expensive, especially for independent retailers. You pay for your yellow page ad every month, whether it pulls or not. In spite of this, some retailers do experience some success using them. Should your store have a yellow page ad? Learn the truth about what works (and doesn't work) when advertising in the yellow pages . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Sample Mystery Shopper Questionnaire
Knowing what questions to have your mystery shoppers ask is key to getting actionable and useful information from your mystery shoppers. Use the Retail Store Sample Mystery Shopper Questionnaire as a guideline for your store's mystery shopper program. . . . more >>

How To Run Targeted Television Ads At Low Cost To Neighborhoods Surrounding Your Store

Think television advertising is too costly for your store? Think again! Learn where you can produce a quality commercial for $499 and run targeted weekly spots on stations such as Lifetime and Animal Planet for around $500 a week. . . . more >>

How To Acquire New Customers at Very Low Cost Using Charity Marketing
Every retailer is constantly searching for new customers. Smart retailers know that acquiring new customers through charity or cause related marketing is one of the lowest cost methods to driving this essential traffic. Learn how your store can use charity marketing to get new customers cost effectively. . . . more >>

KEY NUMBERS: Retail Industry Advertising to Sales Ratios for Calculating Your Advertising Spend

Do you know what percentage of sales your store should spend on advertising? Would you like to know what percentage other stores in your retail niche spend annually on their advertising? Use our list of retail advertising to sales ratios to see where your store stacks up . . . more >>

Why It's Vital To Your Profitability To Know Your Retail Sales Conversion Rate

Guessing how well you convert shoppers into buyers is no way to run a successful business. Learn how successful independent retailers measure their conversion rates and then use their findings to develop effective advertising campaigns, improve their sales training and merchandising strategies, and optimize their staffing coverage . . . more >>

How to Increase Your Retail Store Traffic Using Coupon Pack Mailers

Attracting new customers at low cost is the number one challenge for most independent retail store owners. Learn how some successful retailers are using coupon pack mailers to drive targeted, trackable, and low cost store traffic . . . more >>

Lower Your Buying Costs: Successful Tactics for Getting the Best Price When Buying

Whether you are buying from a distibutor, the manufacturer, an importer, or a wholesaler, you will be doing business with a sales representative. Learn the exact questions to ask your rep in order to unlock better pricing and terms, get access to off-price merchandise, obtain co-op advertising, and more . . . more >>

PROFIT MAKING STRATEGY: Reduce Your Overhead Expenses by Joining a Retail Store Merchant Association
Bankcard processing fees and insurance premiums are only a small part of the cost of doing business, but they can account for a major portion of your expenses. Learn how joining a retail store merchant association may be the wisest move you can make in reducing your store's overhead and adding to your bottom line . . . more >>

PROFIT MAKING STRATEGY: How To Increase Sales And Profits by Bundling Products

To increase store sales, you can either get more customers, or get each customer to buy more. One very effective way to get them to buy more is by bundling like products into a "package price". Learn how successful retailers are using bundling to increase the amount of sales made per customer . . . more >>

RETAIL CALCULATOR: Retail Store Direct Mail & Email Marketing ROI Calculator

Every retailer needs to know whether or not their email marketing campaigns and direct mail campaigns achieved acceptable results. Use the Retail Store Direct Mail and Email Marketing Return On Investment Calculator to quickly and accurately determine the success of these marketing campaigns. . . . more >>

How You Can Tell if Your Advertising is Really Working

Being able to accurately judge the effectiveness of each of your advertising campaigns is critical for your store to be profitable. You need to know what types of media work best for your business and which ones give you little return. Learn practical ways you can measure effectively how successful your advertising really is . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Competition Shop Analysis

Knowing your competitors' pricing, brands carried, sales promotions, and selling strategies is vital for independent retailers. Knowing this information will allow you to set better prices, choose appropriate inventory, schedule sales promotions, and emphasize certain aspects of your store's operation. Use the Retail Store Shop Analysis form to help you manage your findings and compare them to how you run your store. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Telephone Answering Procedures

Your store spends a fortune on advertising and marketing. If your staff is "winging it" when they answer the phone, then you're pouring money down the drain. Use the Retail Store Telephone Answering Procedures to put in place an effective script to help your staff convince the caller to come into your store and buy . . . more >>

SMART RETAILER'S SECRET: How Counting Customers Can Help You Add Sales and Profits to Your Retail Business

Knowing how many customers shop with you monthly, daily, and even hourly allows you to make informed decisions on how effective your advertising and promotions are and whether or not you are over-staffed or under-staffed at certain times. Learn how you can implement a simple system for measuring customer flow that will . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Employee Interview Rating Form
Independent retailers cannot afford to make a bad hiring decision. Bad personnel decisions result in customers shopping elsewhere, unneccessary headaches for your management, and a less desireable environment for your employees to work in. Use the Retail Employee Interview Rating Form to record your observations and thoughts as you interview job applicants so that you hire the right employee for the job . . . more >>

How to Make Special Orders a Goldmine for Your Retail Store

Special orders are for many store owners one of the most profitable items they sell. In fact, for many retail businesses, special orders account for close to 20% of income. Learn proven ways to turn your special orders into a significant profit center for your business . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Advertising Campaign Worksheet

Having detailed records of how well (or how poor) each of your advertising campaigns did is crucial in planning out your long term advertising strategy. Unless you track and analyze this information, you will not be able to make accurate decisions on which ones to repeat. Use the Retail Store Advertising Campaign Worksheet to track and analyze all your advertising campaigns . . . more >>

How to Turn First Time Customers into Repeat Customers

Acquiring new customers is expensive - and that's assuming you can find enough of them. It's crucial to your store's success to get new customers to like your store and want to shop there in the future. Learn ways you can get your first time customers to return to your store to buy from you again and again. . . . more >>

How to Increase Your Retail Store Traffic Using Variable Pricing

Many successful retailers use variable pricing to drive store traffic and establish themselves in consumers' minds as a low price retailer. Learn how you can use variable pricing to attract new customers, be known as the low price leader in your market, and still maintain your profit margins . . . more >>

Which Retail Price Promotion is Best for Your Store?

Once you decide to run a sale, you next need to determine what type of sale pricing promotion to use. Some promotions work better with certain types of stores. Learn the 7 most common sale pricing strategies and how you can use them in your store . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Anti-Harassment Policy
Sexual and discriminatory harassment in your retail store is a very serious issue. No business can be without a clear policy and procedures for dealing with this. Use this template as a guide to document and inform your employees on your store's anti-harassment policy . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Employee Schedule Template
Use the Retail Employee Schedule Template to create your weekly and monthly schedule for your employees. . . . more >>

How to Use Gift Certificates to Attract New Customers (without going broke)

Surveys show that shoppers place a higher value on retail store gift certificates than percentage off savings or store coupons. Many independent retailers report excellent success attracting customers using gift certificates. Learn what you need to know in order to set up your own gift certificate program . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Yearly Advertising Plan

Putting together a yearly advertising plan for your retail store is vital in allocating your advertising spend. With the amount that you spend on advertising, you can't afford to "wing it". Use the Retail Store Yearly Advertising Plan spreadsheet to help you calculate and plan out your store's yearly advertising expenditures. . . . more >>

How You Can Tell When Your Pricing is Too Low (or too high)
If you're like most retailers, you've probably wondered if your pricing is costing you sales. Price too high, and you'll never see some customers again. Price too low, and you'll leave profits on the table and struggle to have a thriving business. Learn ways you can quickly determine if your pricing is out of whack and need to be adjusted . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Sale Planning Worksheet
Making a sales event a financial success requires that you execute correctly in many different areas. Today's business environment requires that you have a multi-prong marketing and advertising approach. Plan your upcoming sales events using the Retail Store Sales Planning Worksheet so that you use all appropriate marketing tools at your disposal . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Special Order Form

Done right, special orders can be easy and profitable sales. Leave any significant details out of the order process and you could be stuck with merchandise you will not be able to sell. Use the Retail Store Special Order Form to make your special order process run smoothly. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Inventory Status Form

Knowing what inventory you have on hand and what is on order for any item is vital to keeping just the right amount of inventory in stock and to reduce the likelihood of overstocking a particular item. Use the Retail Inventory Status Form to monitor where you stand on inventory for particular items. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Return to Vendor Shipping Form

It is important to track any inventory being returned back to the manufacturer or wholesaler. Use the Retail Store Return to Vendor Shipping Form to keep track of any inventory being sent back for credit or refund. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Inventory Variance Worksheet

Comparing your physical inventory count to your book inventory count allows you to spot shrinkage or carelessness with your inventory control. Use the Retail Store Inventory Variance Worksheet to find any variances in your inventory counts. . . . more >>

DOWNLOAD: Retail Store Inventory Value Worksheet
Keeping track of how much money you have tied up in inventory can be challenging. Use the Retail Store Inventory Value Worksheet to calculate the amount and value of your store's inventory. . . . more >>

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The Spoke Shop
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Fashion Boutique Plus
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Donna's Unique Gifts
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The Lamp and Clock Store
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