����������
All the answers OUR EXPERTS TACKLE YOUR RETAIL-RELATED QUERIES Neil Coxon is founder and Managing Director of ‘from you to me’, creators of awardwinning journals. Previously he climbed the corporate human resources career ladder specialising in people, organisational and leadership development. His passion for psychology and relationships inspired him to create the ‘from you to me’ Journals of a Lifetime and gifts to treasure. Visual merchandising How can I make my shop windows more enticing to potential customers? Q AHelen Goodwin says: By asking this question, you will have realised the importance of a good display and the huge contribution it makes not only to your own business, but to your surroundings too. Exciting, colourful shop window displays play a crucial part in keeping the local profile high and customers returning time and again. So the first step? Positive thinking! Think colour, vibrancy and excitement. We all know about the wow factor – and that is what you need to create to keep those customers’ heads constantly turning. Sometimes, people will even go out of their way just to see your latest creation! Then you need to work out your message. Do you have a new product or promotion, or a special event you need to advertise? If so – theme it. Can you tie it in with a local festival, season or a particular colour? Inspiration can be found almost anywhere. Helen Goodwin is one half of Made You Look Made You Stare, specialists in visual display training. Helen and her business partner, Janet ® Billings, have both worked in retail display for the past 25 years, working for various clients from small independents to large national companies. Contact her at +44 (0)1904 654 933 or at helen@madeyoulook madeyoustare.co.uk Pull everything together and arrange your merchandise in pyramids – height at the back, working forwards and outwards. Your eye must flow easily from one item to the next, so space has an important part to play too. Good display techniques will help pull everything together. Finally, make sure you have good lighting, and keep on top of your general housekeeping as there are no excuses for dead flies or dirty windows! Take a look at our portfolio page online for some merchandising ideas: www.madeyoulookmadeyoustare.co.uk. Q Barbara Aspin is the Business Development Manager at SiteWizard. co.uk. She has 10 years experience within the website design industry. SiteWizard.co.uk has been trading for 15 years and has designed websites for thousands of companies. Contact her at +44 (0)1622 200 045 or at barbara. aspin@sitewizard.co.uk for more information. Team building What steps can I take to improve the way our team of staff operate together? ANeil Coxon says: Building a successful team takes many interventions, but one effective and quick step is to hold a short meeting, spending 30 minutes or so drawing up some team ground rules. Ask everyone to share their ideas on the rules that they think you should have on RETAIL Q&A Caroline Easton, Segment Manager for retail and hospitality at Philips Lighting, focuses on the marketing impact of light in the retail environment. She has a wealth of experience, working with retailers both locally and internationally, with an acute focus on consumer trends, behaviours and loyalty drivers. Contact her at caroline.easton@ philips.com how everyone in the team needs to behave and work together. The word rule is strong in nature, but a process around rules can help to draw out what people suggest in terms of how you work together/sell more/learn/deliver better service, etc. Start your meeting by putting up a large piece of paper on the wall, then use it to capture everyone’s suggestions for the rules that will help your team be more effective and achieve whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Remember that at this stage, neither you nor the team need to agree to these early ideas, so do capture them all. When everyone has finished, hold a team discussion on which rules you all think are the right ones for you all to stick to when you work together – gain commitment from everyone in the team. Write up the agreed list and use this at appropriate occasions to review your progress. You can even use them on a day-to-day basis to rate your team out of 10, and to identify any improvements or training needs. ���������� �