fbpx As a retailer, you’re always looking at the bottom line of your business and how to improve it. One of the problems many retailers are facing is the lack of increasing cash flow. Cash flow allows you to ensure you can continue running your business at full steam. So how can you make sure you’re giving your business the best chance for improving cash flow? Check out our three tips that can help!

Practice Heat-Mapping

Heat-mapping is the practice of identifying your best-selling locations in your store. Once you identify what spots historically sell the best, you can start moving inventory around to see if new placement helps low performers sell better. Sometimes, it’s a great way to move merchandise that you were thinking about marking down and sending to the clearance section.

Plan an effective markdown strategy

Contrary to popular belief, marking down inventory can actually have a positive effect on your cash flow. Your inventory only has a 60-90 day shelf life before it loses its steam with customers. Make sure that you identify the shelf life of your products and are marketing down appropriately. Even though you’re not making the full monetary amount you hoped for, you’re still able to make money and room for newer inventory that will sell at full price.

Strategic Staffing

As a business owner, you know that there are overhead costs that can drive down your bottom line. Employees are one part of your business that can help you make more money or cost you money. One way to ensure employees aren’t hurting your business is to practice strategic staffing. This involves staffing more (and your best) employees at peak sales time, while scheduling fewer employees at hours in the day when you don’t see a lot of foot traffic. Strategic staffing enables you to cut back on salary costs when they aren’t needed and ensure you have enough people on the floor to help customers during busy times. Putting more cash back in your pocket gives you the power to confidently stock the right inventory at the right time for your customers. These tips are just a few ways you can start to improve your overall cash flow. For more tips, check out our Cash Flow: How to Make More Now ebook!