Top of Mind for Retailers
Retailers share their thoughts at IndieChat Live - A 2024 SuperZoo Education session
IndiePet was pleased to be part of the 2024 SuperZoo education series as hosts of an in-person IndieChat session.
Regular IndieChats, organized by IndiePet via Zoom, are a popular IndiePet member benefit. They provide a platform for retailers to share ideas, work through common issues, and help each other – in a friendly, non-competitive setting. What follows is a recap of our session held on Wednesday, Aug 14 at SuperZoo.
Our group discussion, led by IndiePet’s Growing People committee, stimulated great discussion on many top-of-mind issues for retailers including point-of-sale systems, services, product mix, traffic driving tactics and store design. Following are some highlights from the discussion.
Point of Sale systems are something every retailer uses and that retailers have a lot of thoughts about. (POS vendors – listen up!)
Integration. Participants’ biggest “want” was for integration with their inventory and online ordering platform. Connection to scheduling for grooming and delivery routing was also part of the discussion
Ease of use. A number of participants felt their current POS systems were difficult to manage and required too much “off the floor” time for retail staff. Another mentioned feeling like their information was “held hostage.”
Recommended POS providers. Several members recommended two POS providers, Celerant and Franpos, both IndiePet members and both of whom provide products that address many retailer needs with easy to use, integrated products that let retailers focus more time on their customers and less time managing their point-of-sale systems.
Product mix management provides challenges and opportunities.
What to do with slow and non-sellers and how to select products from a new supplier were two issues that participants had thoughts about. The takeaways:
Do your due diligence. Get to know as much as you can about a new supplier and their products you are considering.
Figure out your ‘must haves’. Use a scorecard system for evaluation focusing on what is important to you. Will the new supplier help train your staff on their products? Will they provide guarantees such as credit for customer returns or credit for product that doesn’t sell? Will they replace slow selling products with better sellers.
Knowledge fosters confidence and inspires trustworthiness. The more thoroughly staff know and understand products, the more confidently and knowledgeably they can make recommendations and the more likely the customer is to trust that recommendation. Staff should be able to confidently direct customers to the best products for them – not necessarily what they come in asking for. While the “no, but…” response was suggested, taking a more positive approach such: “Yes, that’s a great (or very well known, or very heavily advertised) product. We carry something nearly identical (or very comparable). Let me show you.” may be more successful.
Reduce the likelihood of stocking slow selling products by working with your reps and keeping on top of industry trends. Make sure products are more than personal favorites and have appeal to your shopping demographic.
Make (the inevitable) unsold products work for you. Donate to local shelters or animal rescues or other community organizations that help pets. Create an event around seasonal or periodic donations. Invite the community to contribute.
Pet services are part of indie pet retail.
As specialty pet products expand into multiple channels, many retailers have added or are considering adding a variety of service businesses.
One experienced retailer who provides grooming in-store shared that in their stores, every dollar of grooming equaled an increased dollar of retail sales.
Other services including self-wash stations, can increase foot traffic, customer loyalty, and basket value.
As an indie differentiator, pet services allow retailers to cater to customer needs in a way that that online stores cannot.
Get people into your store.
Traffic driving strategies, including events such as IndiePet’s Neighborhood Pet Store Day, are an important element of any retail business, especially in today’s economic environment. Partnering with community and other organizations such as animal rescues, grooming and other service suppliers, even neighborhood restaurants and non-pet retailers can expand the reach and influence of your event. Getting the word out through targeted social media messages is a verifiably successful way to market locally (set a budget for dollars and time spent to get the most out of social media marketing.)
Getting someone into your store once is not enough.
The million-dollar question is what will bring a customer into your store again and again and for more of their pets’ needs?
Get to know your customers. If they come in for treats or toys but do not buy food, find out why not.
Know your products. If you do not carry what they say they want, recommend a “nearly identical” or “higher quality” product that you do carry.
Remind them of your services. Is managing a heavy bag of dog food or cat litter an issue? Remind your customers that you deliver. Do they have need of a product you don’t stock, but can get? Offer to special order or stock for them.
All participants agreed – it’s the knowledgeable, personalized service that most strongly differentiates indie pet retailers from big box and online retailers.
Looks matter when it comes to store design, but so does ease of access.
Because indie stores are, well, independent, there is no one right way to lay out a store for all indie retailers. While aesthetics are important so is knowing your customers.
Ensure your store is easy to navigate and access. Are aisles wide enough, shelves reachable, lighting adequate?
Provide a consistent look, feel and product placement. If you operate multiple stores and have customers who shop in these different locations, you want to ensure a positive shopping experience in every location.
Simplify your offerings. Not only will fewer products help customers from becoming overwhelmed by too many choices, fewer SKUs are easier to manage.
Ensure your store is well lit. Customers won’t buy what they can’t clearly see. Consider using flexible lighting options such as track lighting, and make sure freezers are well lit so product is visible without excessive opening of freezer doors. One participant noted that their local electric company provides free lightbulbs – something to check out with your local electric service provider.
If there is one thing to be learned from IndieChats, it is that independent pet retailers often face the very same challenges no matter where they operate. Coming together to discuss these issues can leverage the experience of many into the benefit of all. We invite you to join us for future IndieChats. Share your experiences and ideas, learn from others and ensure that independent pet retail lives long and strong. IndieChats are for IndiePet members only. We host IndieChats for retailers only, associate members only, and occasionally for all members. If you are not yet a member, we invite you to join.
