By Deborah Baska, VP Marketing Operations
Added September 15, 2009
C-store Shoppers Value Cleanliness, Appearance, Customer Service
CS News September 15, 2009 -- Limited selection, though, keeps many adults away from the channel. Read More »
When I saw this headline in my CSNews Daily Newsletter, I had to halt the morning blast thru my bottomless In-Box and “Read More” right then and there.
This is exactly the point Chris Harris, in his Retail Strategies training, has been trying to pound into our heads. We just finished up the 2nd round of Chris’ training last week -- which I’m sorry to say I missed. However, Chris’ mantra is burned into my head nevertheless:
- What is the #1 category in a store? – Restrooms! “Messy or unavailable restrooms, a poorly lit parking lot and confusing store layout were reasons at least 1 in 10 of the respondents said they avoided convenience stores.”
- What must our stores be?--“Schmecked up!” (This is Aussie lingo for clean, neat and tidy). “One-fourth of the respondents said unattractive store appearance; loitering and long lines were major turnoffs.”
- What must our stores have more of? -- SKUs (aka product variety). “The top reason shoppers said they sometimes avoid c-stores is a trait inherent in its makeup: limited selection of products.”
Therein lies the beauty of Chris Harris’ training program -- and the very reason why CarterEnergy is so strongly encouraging our retailers to attend. All of the above items are totally capable of being overcome. At the very heart of the matter lies the focus of your entire staff on “precise execution”. The devil is in the details, as they say.
In regards to increasing your SKUs, Chris has case study after case study of stores that have more than doubled, or even tripled, their SKUs -- that means they are selling more than double the variety of products out of the same square footage and without increasing their inventory. That equates to bottom line dollars! What’s not to love about that?
I had one of our retailers who attended the program tell me that when he went back and started explaining to his managers the new operational procedures, he got pushback: “That’s not part of my job.” “I don’t have time to be doing stuff like that.” “Double my staff and we then we can talk about that.” I’m proud to say that my retailer’s response was, “These are the new conditions of employment.” Amen! If keeping your store “schmecked” is not a part of your job, then what is? If maximizing your store’s profit is not part of your job, what is?
I, for one, am looking forward to future posts in which I write about the success stories of our retailers who have attended the Retail Strategies Workshops and have implemented the program. I’m also looking forward to shopping in those stores! There is nothing like attending one of Chris’ workshops to really change the way you look at a retail store!
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