fbpx The Running Event 2015 was a great opportunity to hear from a variety of retailers in the running specialty industry. Most of their advice was applicable to all retailers, so we thought we would pass it along! They offered tips that covered a range of topics around buying, marketing, and selling. Buying Making sure you are buying the right products, at the right places, at the right time, for the right customers is an important part of running a successful retail business. In turn, it is essential to form relationships with your vendors, reps, and customers in order to be an effective buyer. Each of these relationships will benefit a different aspect of your business. Another important part of buying is having the appropriate data to help inform your buying decisions. Marketing Having a marketing strategy in place that attracts customers to your store will help you be a more profitable retailer. Knowing your audience, aligning with belief-based brands, and offering a memorable customer experience will all help to increase your revenue. When your customers have a good experience, they’re going to want to share it with others and become advocates. The selling process starts before a customer enters your store and continues long after they leave. What strategies do you currently have in place? Selling Selling is where you see the return on your investment and in order to sell well, you need to be equipped with reliable technology and invested employees. If your staff feel valued and believe in what they’re selling, they’re going to be much more successful. Learn other ways to get your staff to sell more here. Being able to educate your customers about your products is another way to sell effectively while creating relationships and loyal customers. With Millennials holding the spending power, it is important that you can reach them through multiple channels, whether that’s an ecommerce site, mobile site, social media, email campaigns, etc. To learn more tips for retailers from retailers, check out this guide!