Quiet months in retail high streets
- Thread starter Purple-Vintage
- Start date
Afraid your survey will not include the people who walk past your shop and you will never know about.
Earl
As they are not customers it is difficult to gauge their reaction. I don't want the opinion of the general public, I am only interested in the opinion of the people who buy our products. That gives me real business information I can use and it helps me turn a few more of those walking past into customers. When THEY become customers, their opinion matters. As I have said before "If they are not paying your mortgage, you don't need to listen to them"
and the people who walk past our shop pale into insignificance when compared to the millions and millions and millions of people who will never see your web site, so it's a pretty poor argument, even for you Earl
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and the people who walk past our shop pale into insignificance when compared to the millions and millions and millions of people who will never see your web site, so it's a pretty poor argument, even for you Earl
I suspect you may need to give that a bit more thought.?
one of the beauties of the web is that we do know who does not buy from us.
Earl
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Esk247
The problem I've found with B&M is that just to be in work every day costs a lot of money in comparison to our web projects.
Does B&M have a place? Yes. But just look at the high street, my god, there is less and less left every year.
I was out looking for a new shop premises the other day locally, just having a look at where people walk and which shops were available and there were 3 shops on one street and 5 shops on the next street vacant. When I looked 2 years ago there was only one store empty and that looked like a missing tooth, now it's being joined by others.
I don't think that people have completely fallen out of love with the high street, it's just that B&M retailers are now facing higher costs than ever before. Stock costs are higher than 5/6 years ago, delivery of stock is more expensive, you now need credit card processing facilities on site, you need PRS License, rent is pathetically high and business rates have gone up again.
One of our web projects turns over 5k a month with very little input from us, just one computer. The shop is costing 2k a month and is going to get eve more expensive plus there is sod all anywhere to park anymore, so add £5 a day for each car for parking.
B&M needs to be given a break, it isn't completely dead but my god the government and the councils are really smashing it on the head. They're now talking about converting lots of premises to residential, thats residential permanently, never will anyone ever sell from that location again. bye bye high street, for good!
Does B&M have a place? Yes. But just look at the high street, my god, there is less and less left every year.
I was out looking for a new shop premises the other day locally, just having a look at where people walk and which shops were available and there were 3 shops on one street and 5 shops on the next street vacant. When I looked 2 years ago there was only one store empty and that looked like a missing tooth, now it's being joined by others.
I don't think that people have completely fallen out of love with the high street, it's just that B&M retailers are now facing higher costs than ever before. Stock costs are higher than 5/6 years ago, delivery of stock is more expensive, you now need credit card processing facilities on site, you need PRS License, rent is pathetically high and business rates have gone up again.
One of our web projects turns over 5k a month with very little input from us, just one computer. The shop is costing 2k a month and is going to get eve more expensive plus there is sod all anywhere to park anymore, so add £5 a day for each car for parking.
B&M needs to be given a break, it isn't completely dead but my god the government and the councils are really smashing it on the head. They're now talking about converting lots of premises to residential, thats residential permanently, never will anyone ever sell from that location again. bye bye high street, for good!
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Banned
I think that's my point. I'm still here, many others are still here. We are surviving, adapting, changing and no it's no easy. Yet ALL we get from a few certain people is "you will die". No, maybe a bit of acknowledgement that we are obviously doing something right and we are not so wet behind the ears as some might think.
Like you Esk I'm on the front line of retail, unlike you my products do not lend themselves to internet sales. If your business is suited to the web then that's obviously the way to go, I have tried. Also similar to you I have another business that gets 90% of it's business through the web. Horses for courses.
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Banned
No you don't, you may know how many visitors you had, what they looked at, who their isp is, what link/site referred them and maybe a vague idea geographically where they are, and what they put in their baskets before fleeing without a purchase.
You do not know their age, sex, ethnic origin and more importantly why the didn't buy from you. If they didn't buy was it because of price, colour, postage cost or simply because they didn't like your website. You don't know why they visited you website in the first place - was it by accident, recommendation, advertising etc. A web referrer doesn't tell you WHY they visited. You simply do not know why 99.999% of the world population (your market place) does not buy from you.
So even if you have a unheard of conversion rate of 10%, you still don't know why 90% of your customers didn't buy from you. I'm proud to say that 95% of people who visit my shop make a purchase and out of the other 5% I know why 4.5% of them don't buy.
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As ever, we go round and round in circles whilst earl tries to wind us up. I am more than happy with how our shops are going and love the roller coaster that we are on. We even found a couple of new (hopefully ethical) suppliers at the Spring Fair and did most of our Christmas shopping. We are planning on an 8% increase year on year whilst increasing margins and decreasing costs and that seems achievable based on what we have done so far in January.
This year will be tough, the internet will grow and the papers will be full of doom and gloom for the High Street because it sells papers
This year will be tough, the internet will grow and the papers will be full of doom and gloom for the High Street because it sells papers
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I simply said we do know who does not buy from us.:|
Not why.
That allows us to do further research into the problem of don't buys.
The big difference being that online you know what you may be missing,wheresa B&M don't have a clue in general.
No idea why common sense would wind anyone up?:|
Earl
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Banned
I simply said we do know who does not buy from us.:|
Not why.
That allows us to do further research into the problem of don't buys.
The big difference being that online you know what you may be missing,wheresa B&M don't have a clue in general.
No idea why common sense would wind anyone up?:|
Earl
I'll bite (again
).Deleted post, changed my mind to biting
Further edit, more of a nibble than a bite
It's not common sense what you say Earl, you just don't understand or are trolling.
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and I don't know if I'm biting or not, but that is a ridiiculous statement to make. I also know who does not buy from us - that's simple maths. Take away the number of customers from those on the planet - eureka !
The difference is, I have a higher percentage of customers than you because my catchment area is smaller- i.e, the few 100,000 of people living in the area
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And do you know where everyone who looks in your shop window and does not buy lives?
Cause if you do then send them a letter with your latest offers to tempt them.
Like what we can do.
Earl
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Banned
And do you know where everyone who looks in your shop window and does not buy lives?
Cause if you do then send them a letter with your latest offers to tempt them.
Like what we can do.
Earl
Once again, no you can't
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Considering the state of the knackered economy you should be pleased to be in business.
Cameron & Co will soon come to the telly and convince that everything is being done to control the situation when they clearly know that they don't even have 1% of this problem under control. He will do some nice chatting on the telly to convince you that he is working to get the dole scoungers back to work so they can earn more and spend more but in reality all he does is telly shows.
Cameron & Co will soon come to the telly and convince that everything is being done to control the situation when they clearly know that they don't even have 1% of this problem under control. He will do some nice chatting on the telly to convince you that he is working to get the dole scoungers back to work so they can earn more and spend more but in reality all he does is telly shows.
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josor
Cause if you do then send them a letter with your latest offers to tempt them.
Like what we can do.
Earl
So you know to send an email to every visitor to your site? Even the ones that don't submit information
Or do you mean a customer database that you send out emails?
Like what I do
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Banned
Couldn't be josor, Earl can send info to ALL customers who have looked at his website. Now if he's doing that without uploading viruses to gain the information you would think he would be selling the software and sunning himself on beach somewhere.
Or of course you have to register to enter Earl's site, in which case he is ignorant as to how many people don't bother and the potential number of customers he loses. Which would be massive as pretty much no one registers to view a website site (well apart from certain "adult" sites!).
Or he just doesn't understand.
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And do you know where everyone who looks in your shop window and does not buy lives?
Cause if you do then send them a letter with your latest offers to tempt them.
Like what we can do.
Earl
We don't do "offers" or "sales" - we don't need to. We DO send out about a thousand emails a month to keep our customers informed and about our new lines. Seems to work a treat !
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As they are not customers it is difficult to gauge their reaction. I don't want the opinion of the general public, I am only interested in the opinion of the people who buy our products. That gives me real business information I can use and it helps me turn a few more of those walking past into customers. When THEY become customers, their opinion matters. As I have said before "If they are not paying your mortgage, you don't need to listen to them"
and the people who walk past our shop pale into insignificance when compared to the millions and millions and millions of people who will never see your web site, so it's a pretty poor argument, even for you Earl
Aren't your customers part of the general public?
Were they not part of the general public before they went into your shop?
Does everybody who goes into your shop, buy?
Surely, those who you questioned, as part of your survey, are giving you the answers you want to hear (as I presume you ask them in your premises after they have bought the item).
Best to question impartial people for a survey, who make up all the potential
customers, ..............or you prefer to ignore the ones that shop elsewhere to find their reasons.
Strange to ignore potential customers.(Who don't know how good your service and staff are).
Surely the more people you can entice into your shop will also sing your praises.
It takes all sorts of consumers to make a successful retail business, they only become a customer after they have gone into your shop, and bought.
The art, is to get them into your shop first, so they become your customers.
To ignore the consumers that don't is a little naive.
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Banned
I may be wrong but I think what mhall means is that not everyone is a potential customer. I'll never pop Anne Summers, never require a model aircraft, kids are grown up so no need to enter a Toy Shop, can't stand sushi so will cross the road to avoid one etc etc.
On the other side of the coin though, we leafleted the whole town recently regarding business two and got clients from areas I wouldn't have bothered with if we had gone for a "targeted" distribution approach.
So waste of a contradictory post :redface: But now I've typed it I'll post it
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I may be wrong but I think what mhall means is that not everyone is a potential customer. I'll never pop Anne Summers, never require a model aircraft, kids are grown up so no need to enter a Toy Shop, can't stand sushi so will cross the road to avoid one etc etc.
How can you possibly know who is a potential customer?:|
By the clothes they wear? How long their hair is? If they are wearing glasses?
I'm curious.
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the above could really be seen as a potential customer....hmm maybe think out the box?
if you own an opticians - and someones wearing glasses?
erm........
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Now hold on, you are assuming I am an amateur when it comes to asking questions. Quite the reverse. My customers CANNOT tell me "what I want to hear" - questionaires like that give me no useful business information at all and are a waste of time to everyone involved.
Yes, almost everyone that comes into the shop buys, if we have just a couple a day that don't it is a bad day. Our staff know what they are doing and can convert "just browsing" customers in a heart beat. Almost all of our "new" customers come in from recomendation- daily we hear "my friend told me I just had to come in and see"
Unlike others, I would rather have much fewer customers and treat them well and let them spend than have loads of customers and not be able to give them what we want to give them. When we started our spend per head was £6 - almost seven years on and we are dissapointed if the average spend over the week is not four times that amount.
We survey what we call our "family" - which must people would call their "loyalty" or "regular" customers . The surveys are done via email (so we certainly cannot influence) and always contain a seperate link that we ask the "family" to send to just one selected friend. That is a slightly different questionairre that entices them into the shop. It is the one solid thing that I am convinced has seen us through the last few years and stands us apart from our competitors.
Sorry if I sound offended, but one of the few things I am VERY good at is questionairres and knowing our customers. I cannot tell you how many customers have bought because we "remembered" their Birthday, Wedding Anniversary, where they went on holiday and, in a couple of cases, the Birthday of their dog !!! . I can tell you their favourite jacket potatoe filling, their favourite smells, their best ever holiday, their political preference, how many kids, their dress size, the name of their favourite teacher at Junior School - almost everything.
Many of those we appear to have no use for but as we always have a final "just for fun" question that appears totally random, it all helps build up the profile of that customer and we alsways give them a tiny bit of general feedback that makes our surveys more fun. For example: " from the last email you all filled out, 8% of you had the same Headmistress at school, Mrs Knifton. Did you know she is also a customer of ours? we have spoken to her and she would love to know what you are all doing now, so next time you call in why not drop off a little note to her, we will make sure she gets them all"
and yes, people have bought little gifts for a headteacher they haven't seen or heard of for over 30 years.
THAT IS WHY I LOVE RETAIL
Takes us a couple of hours a week to do, but worth every second
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I did.
My point is this: How can you tell by looking outside your shop window who is a potential customer and who is not ?
Please enlighten me.
(Lets keep to the average man or woman who walks on the high street, and not about a specific person or trade).
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Sounds like a wonderful business.........
A questionnaire to your customers cannot be scientific as does represent the whole community who are potential customers to your shop.
I do not doubt your professionalism or experience in running a retail shop.
I am merely curious as to how you recognise a potential customer from the average person passing your shop.
To suggest you don't want to increase your customer flow, just in case they do not 'fit in' to your customer profile, and prefer to rely on recommendations is not the norm for a retail shop.
When things are good,it's fine. When there is a downturn, it's difficult.
I wish you success.
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Banned
Maybe it's a hard concept to grasp, but I admitted in the second paragraph that my first paragraph was probably incorrect, and I even gave an example to back up my error. Some of us are mature and experienced enough to admit if we are wrong you know
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Banned
Bit extreme its a bit of dead fish not Jaws?
Earl
Only other fish should eat raw fish. Just the sight of it turns my stomach. Blurrrrghhhh.
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Of course I agree !
(Maybe you haven't been following the whole thread)
It seems that some retailers are happy to pick and choose their customers from whom just walk into their shop.
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josor
How do you recognise a potential customer from the average person passing your website?
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Banned
.......that you can't even physically see.
If we see a dozen old grannies looking in our shop window every day, but not coming in, we know we are either not of interest to them and can choose to lure them in (not in a sinister way mind!) or decide it's not the market we are after.
Internet sites have no idea who has looked at their shop or what to do about it. And forget all the guff about web stats', they are so general as to be useless in comparison. All those millions of people surfing whilst at work through one IP address or a proxy server tell you nothing about the demographic coming to your site.
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By the time they spend on the site and what products they are most interested in.
also where they live often tells one if they got a few bob to spend.
Next question?
Earl
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josor
By the time they spend on the site and what products they are most interested in.
also where they live often tells one if they got a few bob to spend.
Next question?
Earl
But not spent the few quid in the meantime, but how do you target these ones to actually spend the few bob they got? If all you got to go on is location and bounce rate
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Nope we have live real time data on visitors.
Its also possible to send them a message whilst they are browsing.
Next week the Moon.
Earl
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If you care to read Ling on twitter you will be surprised what the Chinese KGB has in its armoury.
Earl
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