As years come and go, there’s no more ideal time than the start of a New Year to reset your business goals in an effort to gain future success. Among the things to add to your resolution to-do-list for 2017 include strengthening your existing retail operations, incorporating more social opportunities into your day-to-day business agenda and becoming more savvy about data and how it can help your business.
To help make 2017 your best year yet, kick-start the New Year with the following retail resolutions.
1. Become Mobile Friendly
Many merchants believe that because their customers do not purchase via mobile that their businesses don’t need to be mobile friendly – but that is far from the truth. The reality is mobile influences everything from your website to your email marketing and more. Companies such as MailChimp and Shopify, for example, both automatically adapt their content via their apps to compliment mobile usage, but this isn’t true for all apps or services you may use for your business. To help strengthen your mobile footprint in 2017, make sure all avenues in which your customers could connect with you online are also mobile friendly.
2. Aim for More Loyalty
The cost of a new customer is much more expensive than the cost of returning one. In fact, it’s five times more expensive to attract a new consumer than it is to keep an existing customer loyal. Keeping this in mind, aim to make customer loyalty a 2017 resolution that never falls behind on your priority list. Among the ways you can do this include introducing a customer loyalty program to your business, introducing more frequent communication with customers between customer visits and enhancing your social media and email marketing efforts. These combined efforts can help you keep customers loyal – as well as increase your stores sales, as well.
3. Get Savvy About Data
Maintaining customer strength and sales begins with understanding your store data. Without a clear view of how customers engage with your store – both online and off – as well as how they shop, what they buy, when they make their most frequent purchases and more, your business does not have a chance to reach its full potential. Using data, you can identify best-selling items, slow-moving inventory, opportunities for more success and so much more. Fortunately, data is easier to capture than you may realize nowadays. Solutions such as Brightpearl can help you navigate your data needs, as well as don’t forget to review data captured by Facebook and other social media channels identifying what your best posts have been, how much your audience engages with you via social media and more. The main takeaway here? Let data guide you into 2017 so that you can react to it, ultimately strengthening your business operations and sales.
4. Experience More Face “Time”
Digital will continue to lead retail growth and conversations, but old-fashioned face time is something you shouldn’t overlook as you go into the New Year. Face to face meetings, networking groups, trade show participation, educational opportunities and more continue to be key components to retail success. As you plan the year ahead of you, plan for these real-time, face to face experiences so that your business can stay engaged and connected with industry leaders, local community allies, like-minded entrepreneurs, potential customers and more.
5. Be a Show-Off
There’s a saying in life that “no-one likes a show-off” but when it comes to business, this doesn’t hold true. Instead, aim to make 2017 the year you show-off your business and even yourself as you aim to make your business stand out from among the rest. Whether it’s reaching out to your local media to gain publicity or seeking industry awards based on stellar performance or working with your community to help position your business as a leader in your local marketplace, standing out and showing-off is something to aim for in 2017. Blending in, after all, doesn’t traditionally create long-term growth for retailers… so instead, show-off and stand-out in the New Year.
Finally, have fun. Introduce more events into your retail calendar for 2017, aiming to have no less than one big event each month and a few smaller ones in between each of those. This will not only help increase customer loyalty and give you more reasons to gain local press, but it will also keep your day-to-day retail routine fresh and fun. Using the data you generate per your events, don’t overlook what you can do to improve on your future events, as well. Combined with your year-round efforts of supporting existing customers, increasing mobile friendliness, introducing more face “time” to your business and becoming data savvy, 2017 is sure to be among your most fun and successful years yet!
