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How To Compete Against Big-Box Retailers
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Article 1: Create A Value Image
It happens all the time: A big-box store opens up and old-time retailers shut down.
There’s no mystery why. Huge corporations have the buying power to get their merchandise cheap. That means they can undercut the shelf prices of traditional mom-and-pop stores.
If a big box store invades your market, will you go out of business? Not if you take steps to compete successfully. Consider this: In every market invaded by the major chains, you can find a few independent operators who continue to fatten their bottom lines.
What’s their secret? They avoid the costly mistake of trying to beat the warehouse store at its own game.
“You cannot compete with a big box on pricing,” cautions Tom Shay, a St. Petersburg, Fla., retail consultant who helps independents go up against mass merchandisers.
Instead, suggests Shay, create a “value image” which is more attractive to customers than the big-box store’s “price image.”
Mass merchandisers offer little or none of these ingredients for Shay’s tasty value image recipe:
- Responsive merchandising. Continually survey your customers on what they want – then stock it.
- Personal service. Get to know your customers individually and suggest new purchases that fill their needs.
- Professional help. Know your merchandise inside and out, then educate customers on how your merchandise fills their needs.
- Helpful displays. Design displays that educate customers on how to use and enjoy merchandise.
Yes, big-box retailers offer low prices. Saving money, through, does little good when customers only receive a fraction of what they really need.
Customers will return to your store if it offers more: A shopping experience that educates them about how merchandise can make their lives better. In other words, create a value image and customers will reward you with their business.
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