RETAIL SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

7 WAYS TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR RETAIL STORE

Francesca Nicasio

BROUGHT TO YOU BY VEND

Copyright © 2014 Francesca Nicasio.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author,

except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2074-5 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-4834-2075-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any

responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/5/2014

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 Recognizing that retail isn’t what it used to be

Chapter 2 Running an omnichannel store

Chapter 3 Taking the guesswork out of retail

Chapter 4 Increasing profits the modern way

Chapter 5 Using mobile to drive in-store traffic

Chapter 6 Boosting customer loyalty

Chapter 7 Giving your customers an experience they won’t soon forget

Conclusion: What’s next?

About the Author

Acknowledgements

This book never would have seen the light of day if it weren’t for Francois Bondiguel and Simon Pound. Your ideas, guidance, and encouragement have been invaluable in this project; I can’t thank you enough for believing in me.

To the retailers who are continuously finding ways to delight customers and to the companies that supply merchants with the tools they need to be more awesome, thank you. You’ve inspired most of the material in this book, and it’s such a joy to write about all the great things you’re doing.

I’d like to send a special shout-out to the following Venders: Christopher Coccagna of T-We Tea, Steve Toze of Rockets & Rascals Bicycle Emporium, Adrienne Wiley of Covet Boutique, Bill and Jill of The Village Winery, Christina Ruiz of TopShelf Boutique, and the Bird on a Wire Team. Your stories and words of wisdom have added tremendous value to this project. Thank you so much for sharing them.

Many thanks to Alicia Fiorletta of Retail TouchPoints and Nicole Leinbach-Reyhle of Retail Minded for reading the manuscript and sending your reviews. Your kind words mean so much to me!

Vivre Lokes, thanks for proofreading the manuscript and for offering such helpful comments. You made my job so much easier.

To my husband, John: I wouldn’t be here without your love and support. Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to read and comment on the manuscript. I know you’re a numbers guy, but you volunteered to do it anyway.

Much love and gratitude to every company, organization, and individual mentioned in this book (as well as anyone I may have inadvertently missed). None of this would have been possible without you.

Introduction

“Nooooo!” I exclaimed. “It still won’t turn on!”

It was Sunday morning, and there I was, holding my dead iPhone in my hands. I had dropped it in the toilet the day before, and my attempt to salvage it (i.e. putting it in rice for 24 hours) didn’t work.

Suffice it to say, I was frustrated. I was supposed to be on the road the next day, and I needed a phone, stat.

So I made a Genius Bar appointment on Apple’s website, then drove to the nearest store a couple of hours later. When I arrived, I was taken aback at how busy the store was. “I’m going to be here forever,” I grumbled.

But, to my surprise, there was hardly any wait. Moments later, I was approached by a staff member who checked my appointment using his iPad, and we immediately got down to talking about what I needed.

He listened as I told him what happened, and when I was done, I braced myself for the fate of my phone. How long would I have to wait to get it fixed? How much was it going to cost?

I waited for the bad news, but instead, the Genius smiled reassuringly, and said that there was a faster and less expensive option. I could just “trade in” my broken phone and get a new one for a fraction of the cost.

“That’s it?” I asked, my panic simmering down.

“That’s it.”

“How long is that going to take?”

“I’ll do it for you right now,” he said. He disappeared into the back and not two minutes later came back with a new phone. I was good to go in no time.

On my way out, I passed a shelf of iPhone cases, and decided to buy one. There happened to be another associate a few feet away, and he not only rang me up on the spot with his handheld POS, but he also installed the case for me right then and there.

I walked out of the Apple Store feeling relieved and blown away. “This,” I thought to myself, “is what every in-store experience should be like.”

Why did I bring up this story? Two reasons. The first is to remind you to never put your phone in your jeans’ back pocket when you’re in the bathroom. Secondly, I wanted to share a story that depicted what modern retailing looks like.

The world of retail is going through some huge changes. Cloud computing, mobile, and big data have changed the retail game, and merchants need to adapt to the new rules and take advantage of non- traditional tools in order to win.

And that is exactly what this book is for. Think of Retail Survival of the Fitt

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