ASTRA’S INSIGHTS
Growing in 2015:
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Key Questions to Drive Your Business Strategy
by Kathleen McHugh, president, American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA)
nother holiday season is behind us. Whether your fourth quarter results exceeded your wildest expectations or caused you months of sleepless nights (or both!), there are two goals for the new year shared by most retailers who are members of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA): more sales and more profit. The outlook is optimistic. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, consumers ramped up their spending late in the year, posting a 5.1percent increase in November alone over the previous year. The prediction is for steady, but moderate growth. Are you leveraging your budget, your staff, and your brand to ensure that you benefit from the growth trend? Here is a runthrough of basic questions to help you focus on key areas that can contribute to a successful 2015.
Attract More Customers:
A key to getting new customers walking through your door is to increase awareness of your store and to position it effectively as different from other shopping choices in your market. • Brand. Can your staff say what differentiates your store from the competition? Does your outreach (social media, appearances, advertising, earned media) clearly communicate what is special about your store? • Referrals. Are you asking your current customers to recommend the store to their friends and helping them to follow through? • Social media. Are you talking to potential customers through multiple channels and are you asking your most loyal customers to help you? • Appearances and involvement. Are you involved in the community, sharing your expertise with schools, parent groups, clubs, and churches? Are you developing win-win tie-ins with non-profits that provide support to your charity while raising awareness about your store? • Public relations. Do journalists and bloggers who cover your market know you are your community’s expert on toys and play? Do they know you are available as a reliable resource for when they’re working on stories?
Sell More to Each Customer:
A satisfying in-store experience makes customers more willing to sup-
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port your store—even if they can get a slightly lower price elsewhere. • Staffing. Do you hire people who make customers feel wonderful about the value and service they are receiving? Is your team skilled at asking targeted questions and providing solutions to the “problem” the customer is seeking to solve? • Product knowledge. Does your staff know your products and how to communicate the value of specialty toys to customers who may be concerned about price? Do they help your store build its reputation as the place to come for reliable information about toys? • Merchandising. Does your store present a unique, welcoming, easy-to-navigate visual image and feature displays that encourage customer interest in additional products? • Events. Do you offer appealing family activities that encourage customers to spend more time in the store and consider additional products?
Get Customers to Come Back (Often):
It costs five times more to get a new customer than to keep the one you already have, so customer retention is a critical part of any growth strategy. • Relationships. Do you get the name and contact information for all of your customers in order to send them news and special offers? • Service. Is the service you provide so far ahead of the competition that your customers feel you know them well and care about them? • Information. Do you make it simple for customers to contact you for additional information or needs? • Incentives. Beyond the great everyday experiences customers have in your store, do you give them reasons to come back more often? • Shop local. Do your website, social media, signage, and outreach remind customers about the value of shopping locally and how much you appreciate it? Whether you are just starting a retail store or you are a seasoned veteran who shares your experience with other specialty retailers, ASTRA is a central resource for independent toy store owners growing their businesses. For more information about ASTRA membership, check us out at www.astratoy.org, or join us in June at ASTRA’s annual Marketplace & Academy. l
FEBRUARY 2015