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Increasing Convenience Store Sales in 11 Simple Steps
Convenience stores are a cornerstone in their communities, providing everything from household items to grab-and-go products. As the owner of a convenience store, you know the ins and outs of the business. But there’s always something you can do to improve your revenue and better serve your customers. Here are 11 strategies for increasing convenience store sales:
1. Offer More Products and Services
Have you ever had a customer ask for something you don’t have?Are competing convenience stores offering more products than yours? Convenience store loans can help you add a new line of products or services to your selection of offerings. Not only can this help you gain and retain customers who need a broad range of items, it can increase your sales when you decide to add products that are high in demand.
2. Keep the Store Stocked
Inventory is the backbone of your store. Your customers usually come in with an idea of what they’d like to purchase. When you’ve run out of what they need, they’ll need to try their luck at another store. Retail inventory loans can help you keep your shelves stocked to handle business as usual. By consistently having products in stock, your customers will know your business is reliable for the last-minute items they need and continue to return to your store.
3. Properly Train Staff
Without fully engaged, active workers, your convenience store might be falling short in its execution of services. Make sure you touch base with your staff to ensure they are trained on best practices and up to date on the policies and procedures of your business. Also, check out these top hiring tips for small businesses to check that the new employees you’re bringing on are qualified and hardworking.
4. Provide Top-Notch Customer Service
Increasing convenience store sales may involve improving customer return rates. When you offer excellent customer service, consumers will be more likely to visit your business again. According to Business.com, returning customers typically spend 60% more on average than first-time visitors. Convenience stores often have a high degree of returning customers – your customers are often local to your community who use your store to purchase essentials. Don’t underestimate the value of excellent customer service to connect with your loyal customers and keep them coming back.
5. Improve Marketing and Advertising Initiatives
You can attract new customers to your convenience store through on-brand marketing and advertising campaigns. You can use the loans you’ve secured from an online lender to buy ad space in multiple formats, including newspaper, TV, radio, and even billboards.
6. Offer Sales and Discounts
Nothing excites the budget-savvy shopper like a good markdown. To encourage impulse buys and get your products flying off the shelves, consider a buy-one-get-one or 25% off discount. Sale items should be placed either near the front of the store or next to the most in-demand products; that way, you’ll get more eyes on the bargains.
7. Expand the Business
When your business is doing well, you can grow sales even more by purchasing another retail space and expanding your chain. You can use the best practices you’ve learned from your original business space to make your expansion successful and profitable. QuickBridge can help you offset expansion costs with a short-term loan.
8. Build Your Brand
In today’s competitive market, memorability is everything. There are a few factors you’ll want to keep in consideration when building your brand: your target customer, your best-selling items, and your intended image, for instance. When you solidify these branding initiatives, you offer higher brand recognition to consumers. This in turn makes them more likely to frequent your business.
9. Make Yourself Known on Google Maps
It’s important for people to know how to get to your store, especially new or potential customers. You can do this yourself in minutes by using a Google Business Profile. You’ll just need to add your business’s name and address in the search box and select “add your business.” You may need to wait a week or two for Google to verify the address. Once you receive a verification PIN, you’re good to go.
10. Keep Up with Technical Trends
To keep your business profitable, it’s important to look out for what the competition is up to. Even if you aren’t ready to update your store just yet, it can be helpful to see technology trends in your sector. For instance, one recent innovation in the convenience store industry is Amazon Go, the conglomerate’s first attempt in the grab-and-go business. According to PYMNTS, 10% of customers have used these self-service convenience stores. Even though you probably aren’t ready to take this drastic stride, you might start with improvements such as self checkout counters.
11. Gather Customer Reviews
Never underestimate the power of consumer insight. Pay attention to your customer reviews across all areas of the business. When going about your own strategy, you should consider how small businesses should manage online reviews. You might understand the importance of responding to these comments. It’s just as useful to track reviews to align your priorities with feedback trends.
Increasing Convenience Store Sales with an Alternative Lender
There are many ways of increasing convenience store sales, but these efforts tend to take a good amount of time and resources. However, taking out a small business loan can be the best place to start. Contact QuickBridge today to find out how we can help your store grow.
