Retail Recession? or Riding the Wave - 5 Strategies for trading now

Let's be honest, the retail industry has tough times ahead. Following the events over the past 2 weeks and the changing economy over the coming months there is still an opportunity to build more loyal customers. Here are some recommendations on how...

1. Be productive...

During a time of uncertainty it’s important to be as productive as possible with your resources. Our recommendations:

Take a measured and targeted approach to your business initiatives. Don’t rush into making decisions about promotional activity and slashing prices before doing your due diligence. Having one well executed strategy will far outweigh the resources required to implement ten poorly executed ones.

Don’t rush into making decisions about promotional activity and slashing prices before doing your due diligence.

Having one well executed strategy will far outweigh the resources required to implement ten poorly executed ones.

Be clear about what your initiative is going to deliver and track your progress every step of the way. Be prepared to change your approach daily with new information, but always set yourself a target so you know what success looks like.

Expect to fail. Your first attempt is unlikely to be your best but stay focused and be persistent in your attempts.

Be prepared to change your approach daily with new information, but always set yourself a target so you know what success looks like.

2. Focus on your customers…

When sales start to slow and margins are squeezed retailers tend to look inwards and cut costs without thinking about the impact to the customer.

Here’s a couple of ideas on how to stay customer focused:

Give your customers a personalised experience. Think about increasing your customer engagement through more communication. Use chatbots, email and text messages to stay in touch. Most people are on a slowdown with working remotely so they have time to consider communications more.

Analyse your customers in detail as they will be behaving differently across geo-locations. Ask yourself: Which markets are impacted more than others?

Analyse your customers in detail as they will be behaving differently across geo-locations. Ask yourself: Which markets are impacted more than others? And how can you serve some better than others?

Do some competitor analysis and market research. This will help you stay on top of how your competitors are reacting to the changes in the market.

Are your customers shopping at other stores? Which ones and why?

What products do they have that you don’t? It can be as simple as summarising your competitors' online product offering by category.

Have your competitors already spotted an opportunity that you haven’t?