As a grocer or convenience store owner, you know the importance of connecting with your local community to boost sales and foster customer loyalty. However, marketing efforts can be costly, especially for small businesses with limited budgets. But fear not! Here are six low-cost and highly effective ways to market your store to your community that will help you enhance brand visibility, attract new customers, and create a strong sense of community around your store.
By Maggie Paulk
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Combat Inflation at Your Retail Store in 4 Ways
Inflation is another challenge retail stores are having to face this year. Rising costs can hit businesses hard, but there are ways you can work towards minimizing the impact inflation has on your business. Here are 4 ways you can combat inflation at your retail store, according to a blog from American Express.
1. Stock up on supplies
Try to stock up on essential store supplies before prices raise but be sure to only order what you need. This is a great way to keep expenses moderate while ensuring that your shelves stay stocked, which will also help you avoid inventory shortages.
2. Improve Productivity
Make sure your business is running smoothly and efficiently. When your employees are more productive, your profit margins will increase which is helpful in staying afloat during inflation. Invest in your employees and encourage productivity by setting up training time, giving constructive feedback, and checking in on them every so often to make sure they are staying up to date with training and continuing to do a good job. You can also find ways to automate some tasks like scheduling or keeping up with inventory in order to free up employee time for more pressing tasks.
3. Cut back on expenses
This is not always easy to do and sometimes it may not be an option, but another way to combat inflation is to cut back on expenses. To start, you can try to negotiate better deals with your suppliers – especially if you are stocking up on supplies you can try to get a bulk discount. Another good thing to do is to cancel any subscriptions or services your business isn’t really using anymore or doesn’t need, monthly fees like that tend to add up quickly.
4. Raise prices by a small percentage
Raising prices can be a scary thought because you don’t want to scare your customers away, but there is definitely a way to go about raising your prices that will keep your customers happy. To start, make sure you are honest with your customers and explain the situation. Secondly, make sure you don’t dramatically increase your prices, but only increase them by a small percentage which will be less noticeable to customers. Lastly, run a big sale before the set date of prices increases and encourage customers to come to it, this will not only help you clean out older inventory but will also bring in more customers and more sales.
While rising prices can be daunting for a business, there are ways you can adjust and weather the storm. The past few years have certainly been challenging for business owners, but hopefully things will be getting better soon.
To learn several other ways you can combat inflation at your retail store, check out this blog from American Express...
7 Ways Small-Business Owners Can Cope with Inflation
