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How Can I Attract More Customers? (toys)
Posted By: s_baeshen on 5/29/2005 1:58 AM (CST) 250 Points
We specialize on educational, clever toys. We Have 5 different branches in 3 major cities. We would like to increase our custmer number & loyalty.

How can I encourage my branches to reach my goals?
I'm usually use to e-marketing, catalogs, brochures, fliers, magazines & envelopes.

Posted by: mgoodman Accepted Answer
5/29/2005 5:06 PM (CST)
I'd suggest you start by getting to know what's driving your sales now. Learn all you can about your target audience ... from first-hand interviews and from some professionally-conducted market research.

Your question suggests that you want to PUSH more business to the market through the branches. Instead try generating PULL from your end-user customers. In the long run that's the real solution.

Your quesiton was about what YOU want to do ... increase customer loyalty, etc. The question should be, "What needs do my customers have that are not being met by the marketplace today? And how can I satisfy those needs profitably."
 
Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB Accepted Answer
5/31/2005 8:24 PM (CST)
Are you doing any advertising to the end-user? That might be one way to increase demand, and add to the PULL that Michael mentions above.

Also look at the incentives you give your branches.

What motivates the staff to get the sale when customers walk in the store - are they actually selling, or just standing around helplessly?

Try visiting the branches - better still send "Mystery Shoppers" to gain an understanding of the experience the customer receives when they visit.

Be very self-critical - what can YOU do to make the customer experience more rewarding, so the customer is more likely to BUY?

Good Luck!
 
Posted by: Sanjeev Kumar Vyas Accepted Answer
6/3/2005 5:57 AM (CST)
Do you have any confirmed evidence that the reason your sales are not upto the mark due to less number of branches? Are you sure that increasing the number of branches will increase your sales? If not then you are focusing on the wrong reason.

I agree with mgoodman you need to know what are driving your sales and also try to find the "bottlenecks" that are hampering the sales growth and then work on those reasons.

 
Posted by: NoStressXpress Accepted Answer
6/9/2005 7:19 PM (CST)
It appears that you have not given us enough information to give you even some good advice. You say you have 5 branches in 3 major cities. Does this imply that you have a main store? And, what is the distribution of those branches? Do you have 2 in 2 cities and 1 in one city? And in terms of sales, are they somewhat equal or does one do better than the others? And demographically, which ones are ideally located to serve the maximum number of school children?

Does each branch have its own goals and targets or do all 5 work under some master plan? And, are you the owner of all the branches? I ask this because if you are the owner, then you can impose upon them to reach your goals.

From all that I have read so far, it appears that you're probably looking at doing something DIFFERENT if you are not happy with present performance. The suggestions given to you are quite excellent and should be considered seriously. Tell us more about your operation. We need more information to be more helpful.

Best wishes,
Conrad
 
Posted by: Mushfique Manzoor Accepted Answer
6/10/2005 12:30 PM (CST)
hi there

great response from the experts above. i agree with experts that you should also create a PULL apart from your current Pull.

however, my 2 cents...

1. who are your target age group?? usually kids are purchase-influencers whereas the parents are Purchase-Decision maker. so try to tap into the psyche of both Purchase-Influencer and Purchase-Decision Makers, otherwise you will loose out on any side.

2. did you ever find out what the customer wants from your toys? like i mentioned above, this WANT is different from Kids and Parents perspective. while the parents want "Educational Toys", kids want "Exciting Toys". do you have "Exciting Toys that are Educational" or "Exciting Educational Toys"

3. also the concern is how are you communicating those toys to the consumers. if communicate as "Exciting Educational Toys" that will interest the parents more rather than the kids. So you have to create a balance the "educational" and "excitement" element in your toys to hook both the target audience type.

IMHO, the key lies in understanding the WANT/NEED of the consumers (both Parents and Kids) as well as properly communicating that. Also both the target sect must see, feel the benefit. use the "Mystery-Shopper" as mentioned by ChrisB in this regard.

now coming to create some hype in the consumers mind, can you organize a Contest in your stores on some Exciting-EduToys? how about having a contest of MonoPoly or Rubiks Cube to create some excitement in the kids as well as parents.

thats all based on whatever info you have given us. hope this helps.

cheers!!
 
Posted by: billc24 Accepted Answer
6/12/2005 3:00 PM (CST)
Great advice above. I just have a couple of additional thoughts:

1) You offer unique products, consider unique markets such as the educational (school) markets. You can either market your branches to the educational market or you can go direct, either through a specialized sales force or targeted website.

2) Listen to the advice of the others. Look at things through the eyes of your customers. Figure out what they are buying and why. Preferrably, you will find out what they are buying from you AND what they are buying from your competitors and why. Consider focus groups as a way to raise issues and give you ideas about the strengths and weaknesses you may have.

3) Look at the market. Identify a market that others aren't pursuing. I mentioned the education market. Perhaps you could also look to the whimsical toys for grown-ups (purposely avoiding the term adult toys here!) to grow same store sales.

I hope this helps!

Bill
 
Posted by: v-man Accepted Answer
6/14/2005 7:21 PM (CST)
The branch manager is the key. Does s/he have the autonomy to do what s/he believes necessary to reach the goals? Or, is the manager required to "run everything through headquarters?" If so, how long does it take to get an answer?

If the manager is salaried (even with a bonus commission incentive), consider transitioning managers to commission-only compensation. And make it sweet. They earn X% of monthly sales plus 20% (or more) of the profit generated by their outlet at the end of the year.

As the business (branch) grows, the numbers can be "tweaked" to reflect the growth, but always with the eye on rewarding strong managers well.
 
Posted by: carrie77 Moderator Response
6/15/2005 11:45 AM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question since it's more than 2 weeks old. We do this to reward the contributions of participants in a timely manner + to give increased visibility to the newer questions.

Thanks for participating!
Carrie (Production Editor)
 


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