If you own or operate one or more retail locations, understanding the best ways to merchandise the available retail footprint you have available is essential for maximizing revenues and providing customers with a more complete shopping experience. However, what do you do when you have available space that is not monetized?
Read below to find 5 ways to optimize vacant retail space:
1. In-store displays – Adding new merchandising shelving or display units can be a great way to offer customers new product lines, introduce new brands, or simply supplement existing inventory for more popular items. However, this type of hardware can be expensive up front - especially when you don't know how productive it will be.
SEE ALSO: 4 Benefits of Outsourcing Retail Site Management
2. Vendor displays– Many of your vendors and suppliers are always looking for new ways and locations to place incremental displays in your retail format. What makes this even more appealing is that many vendors will absorb the cost of any needed display units, shelving or racks. This can be a great way to fill available space, but the key is to make sure the display is truly incremental and delivering new sales, and not just adding inventory to the sales floor.
3. Long-term incentives – For those employees in higher grade positions you may want to consider a long-term incentive (LTI) program. This not only helps motivate top talent but also helps ensure they stick around for the long haul.
4. Temporary "pop-up" retail – A growing trend in retail are "pop-up" stores that seize retail opportunities with temporary store fronts and mobile merchandising displays that serve not only to increase sales, but also to test concepts at a retail without investing a significant amount of capital before knowing how viable it is. Solutions like StrasGlobal's Rapid Retail can turn vacant retail space into a vibrant customer experience. This can help retailers maintain or increase foot traffic while also generating incremental sales.
SEE ALSO: Four Reasons C-Stores Should Invest in Employee Training
5. Modular retail offers – For retailers looking for a more permanent retail evolution, but are not sure where to start, it can be beneficial to partner with an experienced team that offers a variety of institutional solutions and that has the expertise to establish profitability on day one. StrasGlobal's Kiosk Korner offers retailers a fee-based program that focuses on providing fresh, healthy and local products to your customers. This can allow retailers to capitalize on recent foodservice trends and shifting customer preferences, while also expanding your retail merchandising footprint.
For 35 years StrasGlobal has represented the best of the convenience industry’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive for innovation – providing turnkey small format retail site contract operations, staffing services, accounting services and retail consulting to companies large and small.
Contact us to learn how StrasGlobal consulting can help you maximize your retail merchandising footprint.