Retail Management Tour Overview

So you are a retail manager. You are in a position like no other. Your position and the face of retail are as volatile as they are revered. As a former retail manager, I know from personal experience. In the business world, retail is like no other. You have to convince the consumer you have a better brand than the competition. If not, your business will no longer be viable. Viability translates to market share, investor confidence, profitability increases, and sales increases to name a few.

Now you know the end result, maintaining a viable brand. What do you need to do to maintain your brand representation? In the world of retail, you will need to tour your store on a daily basis. Best case scenario is to tour your business multiple times throughout the day. The key times are morning, afternoon, evening, overnight, and weekends. These times are critical due to ever changing customer traffic.

Now that you have the times established, what do you look for during the tour? A key tip is to think through the eyes of a customer during your entire store tours. You are looking for cleanliness, presentation, and organization. These three aspects of your business are considered the three components for success.

Cleanliness

What do see as being clean? Is it simply the removal of surface dirt and debris; or is the level of cleaning more detail in orientation? A management tour allows you to focus your energies on detailed levels of cleanliness. You do not want to underestimate your customer base. If you only give them half, they will simply leave your establishment. When you consider detail, think of someone being on their hand and knees scrubbing the floor. You will need to review every square inch of your business to ensure it is as spotless as the last.

Presentation

If you work in a retail setting which has promotional displays, how will you as the leader showcase these items? During your management tour, make notations of how the displays are built. For example, if you have a promotional display with multiple flavors, stripe the flavors left to right. This tip will break up the color scheme and be more visually appealing. Another fact to remember is your customer. When touring, remember the main consumer is female. The average height of a woman is 5'5". Ensure you make constant notations if promotional displays are higher than average. If they are, chances are women will not purchase the item.

Organization

Clutter within a retail organization breeds confusion and chaos. If the customer cannot figure out where to go to purchase their items, they will leave your business and go to your competitor. During a management tour, notations will be made if anything is out of place. This will need to include signing, marketing material, and promotional displays to name a few. Having more items in front of a customer does not guarantee sales increase. This only adds to a chaotic shopping experience..

You are now armed and dangerous. Not in the sense of harming someone, but rather harming your competition. Competition in the retail world is good, but you as a retail manager want to be the best. Being the best means you are have the ability to win at all costs. And possessing the ability means you utilize the three components to become more successful with each passing day.