How to increase sales: valuable tips.

Various promotions and special offers are primarily seen as a way to increase sales. But this marketing tool, in fact, brings business much more benefits in a variety of ways. For example, good promotions can replace the share of the customer base that the business loses over time and encourage repeat purchases from existing customers.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that it is not enough just to come up with and conduct an action - you also need to convey information about it to as many people as possible from among your target audience. You can organize the dissemination of information using channels such as publications and banners on the site, social networks, banners on the display network, and also use e-mail newsletters for this purpose.

Here are 25 ideas you can use for your online store to attract new customers, increase sales, and spread the word about your brand.

1. Random Reward. This option is aimed at working with existing customers, and not at attracting new ones. The rules are simple: among buyers who made an order in a certain period of time, a prize is played in the form of a certain item or a cash reward, and the winner is determined using a random number generator. An example of a service with similar functionality is mrandom.com .
2. Package offer. A proven way to encourage customers to spend more than they originally intended is to bundle several products together and offer them at a lower price than if they were purchased individually. For example, a bunch of camera + bag + memory card.
3. Create a sense of scarcity. Specify that the promotional offer is only valid for a limited time, such as this week or the next three days. Make people feel like they're losing money if they don't act now. Limited supply stimulates additional demand.
4. Opportunity to get first. We are talking about such a scheme for the purchase of goods as a pre-order. True, the return from such a promotion in an online store will be only if it is a very popular product, for example, a new iPhone model.
5. Weekend offer. Buying activity usually drops on weekends, and you can stimulate it by sending offers to the subscriber base with a selection of products that are discounted when ordering on Saturday-Sunday.
6. Personal selections. Segmenting customers and suggesting each group of products that may be of potential interest to them based on the analysis of products viewed or previous orders can provide a good return in terms of repeat purchases.
7. Buy more to save. Such offers are attractive to customers because they create a sense of benefit, despite the fact that the average check becomes higher. Don't give big discounts, just make sure they're attractive enough to spur potential customers into action.
8. small gift. Let's be honest - everyone loves a freebie. It is enough to give just some nice little thing, and it is desirable that it reminds the person of your brand. It can be a mug, a keychain, a phone case, etc. It seems like a small bonus, but many people will appreciate it with dignity.
9. Points for loyalty. Every time a customer buys something, they earn reward points that can be redeemed for a cash discount on the next product. You can first test this special offer for a certain period of time, and if it works well, make the loyalty program perpetual, relevant for the entire time the online store as a business operates.
   
10. Find cheaper. One of the popular ways to promote a brand, relevant for new niches and product categories with a low level of competition. The basic rule is that you will deduct the difference between the prices if the buyer has found a similar item cheaper in another online store. But it is worth recalling once again that such a scheme will not be relevant if we are talking about a highly competitive niche, which is characterized by a small margin on goods.
11. Bring a friend. Offer registered users bonus points or a cash discount if one of their friends registers using their referral link. This can work great in popular niches such as clothing retail. Thus, you can expand your customer base through the users themselves, who act as a kind of marketers for your business.
12. Birthday gift. If you have enough data about your customers to keep track of such information, you can set up automatic special offers for those people who have an upcoming birthday. Everyone will be happy with such a manifestation of attention to his person on the part of business.
13. Subscribers Only. Not quite the right name, since the analogy with e-mail distribution usually arises as the first association. We are talking about the formation of a unique offer for a particular channel. For example, in this way you can increase activity in social networks by making a limited special offer for all subscribers of the page, valid for a specific period of time.
14. We change the old for the new. This technique is called trade-in, and the most famous example of its use in retail is the ability to exchange an old iPhone for a new one at Apple retail stores. You can offer your regular customers to exchange an old item for a new one, with a small surcharge on their part.
    
15. Gift certificates. It can work well in a niche that is in high demand, such as clothing, accessories, jewelry, digital technology, books, and others. It often happens that we want to give a gift to a person dear to us, but we haven’t decided what exactly is better to choose, but we just don’t want to give money. In such cases, a gift certificate of a certain denomination will come in handy.
16. tell me a story. Surely among your subscribers in social networks and e-mail newsletters there are people who do not mind showing imagination if in exchange you offer them something of value. Set up a contest where everyone can submit a story related to your online store theme or use of a particular category of product you are selling. In principle, the story does not have to be related to your product, you can, for example, time it to a specific event.
17. family purchase. You can offer a discount or a free gift to those who buy things from you not only for themselves, but also, for example, for their child. So, when ordering clothes for an adult and a child at the same time, offer a discount, free shipping, or generally give one set of clothes as a gift.
18. Service as a bonus. Not all products fit the "buy and use" definition. Some require pre-installation, configuration and similar actions on the part of the future owner. The seller can take over this task by offering to perform it completely free of charge, thus acquiring loyal customers.
19. Master Class. If the products you offer are actively used in creativity or to create something, you can invite website visitors and subscribers in social networks to send a master class in the format of an article (with photo) or a video. This is especially true for online stores that specialize in goods for hobbies and creativity.
    
20. Guess the result. On the eve of some significant event, before which a certain intrigue remains, you can invite users to guess its results. And it doesn’t have to be related exclusively to your niche, because there are events that are equally interesting for almost everyone. For example, the football championship and other sports competitions. Whoever guesses the final score will win a prize!
21. Review Bonus. If your online store has already implemented a system of cumulative discounts, bonus points, or something similar, you can experiment further, expanding it. Offer your customers reward points for reviewing a product after placing an order, which they can use to receive a discount on their next purchase.
22. Hurry up to be the first. A variant of a promotional offer that should be considered when promoting a new product or category of products. Offer a discount, gift or free shipping to the first 10 customers. The number of buyers, of course, can be any.
23. Subscription Gift. A great way to grow your email subscriber base in a short amount of time. Simply declare that everyone who signs up for your e-mail newsletter will receive a gift voucher that guarantees a discount of a certain denomination on any item in the catalog.
    
24. special days. It is difficult to find a person who has not heard about the famous "Black Friday", the fashion for which came to us from the USA and other Western countries. But there is only one such Friday in a year, and you can conduct an experiment and make a specific day special for buyers, but do not limit the promotion to one week. Free shipping, a small gift, club card bonuses - there are many ways to stimulate buyers , and in the end, this one day can generate excellent revenue for you.
25. two plus one. An option that is suitable for online stores that operate in niches with good margins. Well, or in cases where you need PR at any cost. Form sets of promotional goods from several products, one of which will be free for the buyer. And you, in turn, will be able to earn by increasing the average check.

What else should be considered?

After all, you need not only to hold an action as an end in itself, but also to achieve certain goals at the same time? Therefore, when planning this event every time, think carefully about whether it will or will meet the interests of your target audience. So that it doesn't happen that you are giving away a set of car tires in the cycling community. An exaggeration, of course, but sometimes there are similar examples.

And one more important point - avoid excessive passion for discounts. It is better to make an effort to organize such promotions that encourage users to return to your online store again and make repeat purchases. Work to grow your loyal customer base, not random customers.

We hope that the ideas from this article will be useful to you when working on increasing sales of your online store and will help you achieve success in the difficult task of developing your own business. We also recommend that you read our article - any activity that will help you increase customer loyalty is worth spending your time and money on it in our time.

For the last six years I have been selling myself and teaching others how to sell.

At one time, I was lucky to develop the sales department at IPS (Isaac Pintosevich Systems), close space checks in the Amazon Chamber of Commerce, and now I build sales in the LABA educational platform.

We sell our products in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany and the Baltic countries. This is a rather complex process that requires the coordinated work of the entire team.

What happened in those six years?

In the first week of work as a sales manager, I signed 3 contracts for a total of $23,000

Year held the first place in sales among thirty people

Personal record - 372% of the plan

For a year of work, he went from trainee to acting. head of the IPS sales department with thirty sales managers subordinate

Signed contracts with thirty unfamiliar clients in one day of the conference

Doubled the turnover of the LABA educational platform in the first month of operation

I am constantly learning, I have been trained by the best specialists: Belfort, Adizes, Cialdini, Ferrazi, Gandapas etc.

Another personal record - sales of a product of a budget price category for $62,000 per month

I sold a lot, experimented with different schemes and made enough mistakes until I came up with the formula for the perfect sale. This formula can be used to increase the turnover of the ENTIRE sales department, not an individual manager.

Myths that are often found in novice sales managers.

A salesperson needs to be born

This is how most people think, especially those who are just starting their journey in this direction. In fact, selling is an accessible formula that anyone can master.

If you're juggling or driving a car for the first time, chances are you'll make mistakes at first.

But if you have good teachers, over time, you will learn to do it easily and with minimal mistakes. Sales are no exception!

Selling is vaping

You can hardly tell 97% of salespeople apart. These inept managers from the very beginning of the conversation are trying to tell as quickly as possible that they are the best, they have the best company, the best delivery, conditions, etc.

They do not know and do not try to find out what the client needs at all. With this approach, it is really vparivanie. What benefit does such a salesperson bring to the client and what is the probability that the client will buy your product and be satisfied?

Selling is bad

Every day we all sell something. Going to the cinema, what dish to eat for dinner, an idea for clients or management, services, etc.

When selling a quality service or product that can help the client, this cannot be bad. If you help a person, what's wrong with that?

In fact, selling high-quality, sought-after goods is prestigious, and most importantly, they pay very well for it.

Myths of Sales Executives or Business Owners

A good sales manager is easy to find

Now I'll probably upset you. Good sales managers don't look for work - work finds them. There are practically no good sales managers on the market. It's not enough to just post a job and sales geniuses will come to you.

A good sales manager has long since sold his competencies and of course has highly paid commissions. Not in your company.

Practice has shown that it is necessary to look for potential employees who are ready to learn and grow real “sales wolves” out of them. It is difficult, requires certain knowledge and effort. But it definitely works.

Sales managers will actively sell themselves, as they want to earn more

Alas, no matter how well-thought-out system of material motivation you have, it is not enough to keep the fuse of your employee at the highest level.

A sales manager is a person with his own inner beliefs, fears, interests and priorities. Only thanks to the right approach to the management of each employee, you will be able to keep your sales department at a high motivational level.

The most terrible myth that can destroy your sales team

Once everything is set up, everything works fine and it will always be so.

I think each of you at least once thought or hopes that this is possible.

The sales department is the link that should bring most of the finances to the company. And it should be constantly worked on and improved.

Once every three months, it is necessary to improve and revise the strategy in the sales department.

Set new bonuses for certain indicators, change teams or projects on which they worked, set plans for a month, three and six months.

Sales managers are storm troopers by nature and the usual routine affects them negatively - motivation is lost, indicators begin to fall, there are fewer satisfied customers.

Therefore, you must constantly keep your finger on the pulse of your sales team and, if it begins to weaken, take prompt action.

7 tips to increase the turnover of your sales force

RIGHT PEOPLE

The right people are the backbone of any sales force.

How often do you conduct interviews? How often do you manage to find a good sales manager?

Most companies conduct face-to-face interviews. This approach works in the selection of top management, but not for the sales department.

Competitive interviews are required. So you can save your time and, no less important, emphasize the value of the vacancy in the eyes of the applicant.

If your new employee has not just passed the interview, but openly fought for his position with competitors, he will appreciate it much more.

One of the most important skills of a "salesperson" is purposefulness. Make the competition so that it can show this quality. The selection process should take place in several stages.

It is important that each stage is much more difficult - so you can understand how goal-oriented a potential employee is.

ADAPTATION SYSTEM

In many companies, in the first days of work, an employee in the sales department encounters such problems:

• they do not know what and how to do, so they walk, drink coffee and interfere with other employees;
• they try to sell before they have all the tools and just burn leads or, even worse, ruin your reputation.

You must have a clear system of adaptation. It is necessary to equip the employee with all the knowledge about the product and scripts for working with the client. This will allow you to get rid of the turnover and quickly introduce the manager to the position.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Surprisingly, most companies do not use the most important tools for the work of the sales department, even though they are quite easy to master - CRM, IP-telephony, voice recording system, etc.

Implementing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) will help you see the picture of your relationship with each client. Here you can enter the client's phone number, his full name, position, city and many other data into the database.

With the help of such a system, it is convenient to keep track of invoices, prepayments and completed transactions - this will allow you to quickly respond to any changes in sales.

The introduction of such a system usually increases turnover by at least 15%. And cloud solutions do not require large budgets.

In the LABA educational platform, we write our own software product that meets all our sales analytics needs. We will definitely devote a separate article to this product, it is worth it).

SALES TOOLS

Many people know what scripts are (algorithms for talking with a client), but few people use them. Managers understand that such a toolkit increases sales in the company, but for some reason they give their managers the opportunity to improvise in a conversation with a client.

Improvisation is the worst case scenario in a conversation when a manager needs to understand the needs of the client and correctly explain all the benefits of the product.

The script needs to be developed, and this, believe me, is not the easiest task you have encountered. It constantly needs to be tightened up and tested in conversations - this is a permanent process.

However, the game is worth the candle - the introduction of such a tool can increase the manager's sales by 30% after the first month.

Don't forget the food book. This is your company's product catalog, which every manager should know by heart. Every detail and detail, every feature of your product. A seller who knows his product perfectly, customers consider a professional - this is an axiom.

AUTOMATION

At this point, it is important to note that your sales department should work automatically. Like a Swiss watch - without interruption.

To do this, you need a technical specialist - administrator. This employee will monitor overdue tasks from managers, unloading potential customers. It is also his task to ensure that telephony accounts do not run out of money.

It is very important to constantly work with the customer base. The administrator of the sales department will be able to control clients that take a lot of time. At the same time, the result from such clients is zero.

Create a black pool where you will bring in customers who have not bought anything for a long time or a lot of contact with them.

In the 21st century, the profession of a sales consultant remains one of the most sought after in the labor market. Sales people or sales managers are always needed, and good sales people are worth their weight in gold. For such personnel, there is very high competition and having mastered the technique of sales, you will definitely not be left without a job. But getting a job as a seller is not difficult, but learning a lot, selling and, accordingly, earning a lot is much more difficult. Let's take a look: how to increase personal sales to a salesperson.

Knowledge, skill, skill

To increase personal sales to the seller you need to understand that in any case you must be able to sell. In order to be able to, you need to know, and over time, skills will develop into a skill and sales will go by themselves. On the one hand, there is nothing complicated here, but if you look at it, then this is a whole science. Here you have the stages of sales, and, and and. You can sell, etc. What should a competent seller know?

1. . You should start studying sales with the 5 stages of selling. This is the basis of any sales and you cannot do without this knowledge.
2. Knowledge of the product you are going to sell. The better you know about the product, the more competent advice you can give to the buyer.
3. Knowledge of competitors and customers. No wonder now all companies invest a lot of money in market research. It is your duty to know the competitor and even more so the buyer.
4. Non-verbal communication is a very powerful tool, you should at least understand the basics of non-verbal communication in order to avoid the classic mistakes of salespeople.

Most large companies are held, but what if no one trains you or gives you not enough knowledge? For starters, I would advise you to read books for sellers, you can find a lot of useful information in them. To get started, read - "" and the book. In addition, you can find out a lot of useful information on our website - you can also ask your questions at.

Motivation and sales funnel

Any leader knows. But ordinary sellers, as a rule, do not delve into such terms. But the sales funnel is the best way to understand what to do to increase the result in sales. Speaking without going deep, the sales funnel shows at what stages of interaction with the client we lose sales. To make a sales funnel, an ordinary seller needs to calculate how many contacts he had with customers, how many of them refused to communicate immediately, how many after the presentation of the product, how many decided to think, how many agreed to purchase. This is a simple example because these items will vary depending on the type of sale. First of all, it is important for you to understand:

1. At what stages do the most customers refuse? For example, if, when establishing contact with a buyer, it means that you need to somehow change this stage, etc.
2. Understand how the result will change if you increase the number of contacts.

Increasing the number of customers is the easiest way to increase sales, minus it is not available to all sellers. But as a rule, sellers do not even think that if you spend less time on each client and try to serve as many buyers as possible, this will quickly lead to an increase in sales. Or you can just spend more time working. One way or another, it all depends on the motivation of the seller, as a rule, the most active managers sell a lot.

Self-motivated sellers

The seller, if he wants to increase his results, must work on his personal motivation. You must set a goal for yourself, such as buying a car or an apartment. Calculate how much money you need for this and how much you need to sell daily. Draw yourself a poster, print yourself a photo of your goal - visualize and review before you go to sell. This will help you be more focused on the result rather than the process.

Seller - sells himself from the beginning!

The seller first sells himself, then the company, and then the product. This phrase is taken from, but nevertheless it is suitable for sales to individuals the same. You need to understand that people do not like being sold to, but they love to buy, and the role of the seller here is not to impose and not sell the goods, but to establish a trusting contact and charge the client with positive emotions. The seller must be an adviser to the buyer, a friend and partner in a common cause. For many buyers, visiting a store or communicating with a seller is a certain stress, the client is afraid of being deceived and wasting money and time for nothing. The seller must create an atmosphere of ease and trust, only then the client will truly open up to you and you will be able to sell anything.

It is very important for the seller to be in a good mood and be focused on the buyer. There are a number of simple rules that you need to follow for a good mood:

• Get enough sleep. Always get as much sleep as you need to feel good.
• Deal with personal issues. Very often I meet sellers who are focused on personal problems. This greatly distracts from work and buyers feel it.
• Don't work with a hangover.
• Watch your hygiene and be neat.

Pareto Principle

The Pareto principle (often called or the 80/20 rule) states:

• 80% of the profit comes from 20% of the customers.
• 20% of labor brings 80% of profit

This means that the main profit you bring is not significant labor costs. And most of the time and effort is spent on minor activities that do not bring you the expected income. The main thing is to understand what is included in these 20% of efforts, clients, time and work on improving the processes associated with these costs. Since the remaining 80% do not give a significant result. Here are some real life examples:

Example #1

In a household appliance store, each salesperson, in addition to sales, is responsible for putting things in order in the department. Sellers with the best results spend less time cleaning up, do it faster and in the morning when there are few buyers, while they are customer-oriented and immediately go to him when a buyer appears. In addition, more successful sellers try to take days off on weekdays, since there are fewer customers on these days, to dine in the morning, not to have smoke breaks in the evening. Salespeople with poorer results get immersed in the process, take longer to clean up, and lose sales as a result. That is, more successful sellers understand that you need to concentrate on customers who bring money, and everything else can wait.

Example #2

Active sales agents sell the services of an Internet provider using the door-to-door approach. Bypass is carried out in the evening. The most successful managers put in the most effort from 19.00 to 22.00 because at this time people are more at home and they are more willing to communicate. Whereas less successful agents at this time can spend a lot of time on smoke breaks or communicating with the client, and who are not going to buy today.

These examples show that it is important to focus your efforts on those things that bring you the maximum profit. This is exactly what successful sales people do.

Analyze your sales

Sellers have a very bad habit: to justify their poor results by blaming the buyer, seasonality, competitors, etc. The vast majority of people feel sorry for themselves and do not want to change something in themselves, looking for problems in others. It is important to decide what you want: to remove responsibility from yourself or to earn money. If the latter, then when faced with difficulties, you need to look for a solution, and not blame the injustice of the world. There is a good story among sellers about this:

One shoe company sent their salesman to Africa, a week later the salesman sent a telegram: get me out of here, there is nothing to do here, all people go barefoot.

After a while, another merchant was sent there, after a while he reported: “This is a great success! - the second wrote enthusiastically, - Send everything you have, the market is practically unlimited! Here everyone walks barefoot!

There is another good proverb - the weak is looking for a reason, the strong is looking for opportunities. It is much easier to justify your failures than to analyze the situation and look for ways to sell more.

A good seller always analyzes his work and looks for areas of growth. Any seller always has something to improve, but not everyone can see what exactly. In order to understand, you need to start daily and if something goes wrong, look for ways to do it differently.

Such store formats are popular not only due to the pricing policy, but also due to the possibility of complex purchases.

Goods presented in hypermarkets - food, household chemicals and cosmetics, dishes, children's goods, clothes and shoes, products for recreation and sports.

The organization of the work of a hypermarket is associated with high costs due to the need to maintain a wide range of goods, stocks, staff salaries and utilities. Therefore, in order to increase the number of customers and the size of the average check, hypermarkets organize various promotion and sales promotion activities.

What marketing moves does the hypermarket use to attract customers?

The marketing promotion strategy depends on the type of hypermarket (a network of trading enterprises or local placement of one store), pricing and assortment policy.

• ATL-advertising (television, radio, press, outdoor advertising);
• BTL advertising (sales promotion, promotions, POS materials, trade marketing, direct marketing, exhibitions and fairs, development of loyalty programs, event marketing, database management, etc.).

ATL advertising

To improve the image of the hypermarket and increase sales, it will be effective to use the following communication channels:

• commercials on the regional television channel and radio stations;
• placing an advertisement in the regional print media;
• advertising on billboards installed within a radius of up to 1 km from the store;
• advertising on transport, the route of which lies in the hypermarket area;
• advertising at public transport stops near a trading enterprise.

BTL advertising

If stores use ATL advertising tools to attract potential buyers to retail outlets, then BTL advertising helps them complete the purchase, makes it possible to highlight one or another group of goods, and "detune" from competitors with unique offers. BTL advertising involves communication with a narrower segment of the target audience, with the personification of an advertising message, individual work with each target group. Such methods allow hypermarkets to be closer to their consumer, since the self-service system, which is most often organized in large stores, is "soulless" and does not allow customers to receive a high level of service and attention from sellers.

Sales promotion and promotions

Sales promotion activities can be organized as short-term incentives to make a purchase, or as long-term programs focused on repeat purchases of goods. With the help of incentives, you can increase the volume of sales, the frequency of purchases and the average check.

The main tools that are used to stimulate sales in hypermarkets:

• Discount programs. Using cards with a cumulative discount increases the possibility of repeat purchases. The amount of the discount received using a discount card can be written on the check so that the buyer knows how much he saves.
• Price reduction for a product/group of products. This method is optimal for achieving a short-term effect, when promoting a new product or a sale. It is best to indicate the old price and the amount of the discount (in monetary or percentage terms) so that the consumer can appreciate the difference. In addition to discounts, you can offer price reductions when purchasing a package of goods or a set of related products. It is effective to provide an additional quantity of goods for free at the old price.
• Price reduction at a certain time (for example, for home-made products - pastries, salads, semi-finished products - "from 19.00 to ...").
• Special prices for a certain category of consumers (students, pensioners, disabled people).
• The use of "psychological" prices. A product that costs 200 rubles, when the price drops to 199.99, is already perceived as more economical.
• "Product of the day/week". A very low price is set for a product (group of products) to attract customers to the store, who will undoubtedly purchase a whole list of products they need.
• The offer of a unique product (among competitors in the area). It can be fresh pastries, branded salads, freshly squeezed juices, "live" beer, etc.
• Aromarketing.

When conducting promotions, the following methods are used:

• Free gifts, distribution of samples and samplers, tastings. Promotional tools such as tastings or samplers are effective in bringing new food, cosmetics and perfumes to market. You can give gifts during a variety of promotional events - when buying a certain amount of goods, on holidays, "every hundredth buyer", etc.
• Games, lotteries and contests. Both children and adults willingly join the game activities encouraged by prizes.

In order for sales promotion and promotion activities to be effective, it is necessary to inform potential buyers about them in advance using ATL advertising tools (television, radio, print, outdoor advertising), as well as through the distribution of flyers that can be posted on mailboxes, distribute at public transport stops. When designing promotional layouts that communicate price cuts, it is important to include the old price so that potential buyers can evaluate the benefits of making a purchase.

To increase sales, various psychological techniques are also used:

• competent display of goods;
• the use of large carts (the buyer subconsciously tries to fill the empty space in the basket, respectively, purchases more goods);
• placing pallets with products directly in the way of buyers;
• placement of staples away from the entrance to the store.

Direct Marketing

With this type of marketing, direct communications between the store and the end consumer are established. E-mails or postal letters are used. Information about the contact details of buyers can be obtained when filling out questionnaires (for obtaining discount cards, when participating in lotteries and contests). Effectively send letters of congratulations on birthdays, national holidays, to inform about large-scale promotional events.

Development of loyalty programs

The formation of customer loyalty is the key to increasing sales and forming a circle of regular customers in the long term. The main methods of loyalty formation are:

• Quality control of the presented goods (in any price segment). The results of numerous studies show that a customer dissatisfied with the quality does not return to the store, and at the same time he will tell his friends and relatives about his negative experience, therefore, the quality control of all goods should take place at the level of choosing suppliers for a trading enterprise.
• Staff work. In self-service stores, the speed of cashiers, their courtesy and competence are very important. The presence of consultants on the trading floor will help buyers to understand a wide range and easily find the product they need.
• Advertising communications (image articles in the press, competent dissemination of rumors, etc.).
• Additional services. Additional services include, for example, assistance in packing goods (especially important on holidays, when queues gather near the cash registers), as well as the placement of terminals for replenishing mobile phones, ATMs. In the premises of the hypermarket, it is also possible to organize a "children's zone" with animators so that parents can leave their children while they are shopping; cafe or fast food restaurant; you can place film rentals, small souvenir sales or gift wrapping. Ordering groceries over the Internet has become a current trend, so you can organize a home delivery service in the store.
• Extended work schedule (optimally - around the clock). Shopping in a grocery store on weekdays is most active in the evening.

Event marketing

To attract new customers to hypermarkets, it is effective to conduct various situational marketing events - holidays, contests, fairs, flash mobs. It is necessary to inform the target audience about the planned events in advance through the media.

POS materials

• draw attention to a certain group of goods;
• form the opinion of buyers about the goods and the hypermarket itself.

Placed near stores or in shop windows, advertising materials attract additional visitors.

Types of POS materials that can be used for hypermarkets:

1. Dynamic objects (with elements of movement, flashing, etc.). They can be located in front of the entrance to the store, on showcases, on the trading floor.
2. Refrigerators and showcases branded in the corporate style of the products placed in them.
3. Advertising racks / displays (work well in the checkout area, for making impulse unplanned purchases).
4. Wobblers, shelftalkers - pointers that are attached to the rack and highlight a certain group of goods, are used for vertical layouts.
5. Mobiles are figured non-standard designs that are attached to the ceiling above the advertised product.
6. Posters and posters. With the help of print advertising, you can advertise a specific product, or announce planned promotional activities.
7. Flags and garlands. Effectively highlight the place of display or department, can be used during sales, seasonal promotions.
8. Polyethylene bags with the application of the logo and contacts of the store.

Audio and video advertising on the trading floor

• advertising audio clips;
• public address announcements;
• the use of LED plasma screens to promote goods and services.

Assortment management

All goods presented by a trading enterprise can be characterized by the following indicators: breadth of assortment (number of product groups), depth of assortment (number of goods in a group), balance (the optimal combination of different product groups, taking into account the store format, pricing policy and the needs of the target audience).

The formation of an assortment for hypermarkets involves the provision a large number commodity items (tens of thousands). Assortment management is one of the most important tools for increasing sales and optimizing warehousing and storage costs. When forming a product range, it is necessary to analyze competitors and the needs of your target group in order to differentiate your product offer. Traditionally, the range of supermarkets is divided into three price segments - economy (50%), business (40%), premium (10%).

Ilyukha Sergey

For a year now, all sellers feel that there are crisis phenomena in the market. Customers come to the store less often, buy fewer and cheaper goods. Sales and revenues are falling, while expenses are rising. And the reason for this is not only sanctions, the depreciation of the ruble, the complication of access to loans and their rise in price. The reason is that all these factors act simultaneously. Let's consider technologies for increasing sales in such a situation.

In this article you will read:

• What technologies to increase sales work effectively
• Step-by-step algorithm of a unique sales strategy

Technologies to increase sales, which are used today by all market players, have become ineffective. The reason is that the conditions of the game in the market have changed. And those who understand the new rules earlier and learn how to work effectively in a new situation will be able to grow into a crisis.

What has changed in the market?

1. Decreased incomes of buyers, increased operating costs (utilities, gasoline, tuition fees)
2. Sanctioned imports from traditional markets
3. Deliveries of goods from new markets have not yet been established
4. Significantly increased prices for imported goods
5. Due to the rise in the cost of loans and the decrease in revenue, almost all companies had financial difficulties.

The situation is similar to the rescue of drowning people after a shipwreck. If you wallow in place and wait for help, you can drown. We must swim to the shore! "The salvation of the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves."

A company in a crisis must fight and move forward. At the same time go faster than others. We need to use new technologies.

1. We are moving from process management to personnel management. In the "fat" pre-crisis times, it was possible to set tasks as a whole, to hold an action, to purchase, lay out, sell. The result was evaluated as a whole. And if at least a small increase was observed at the end of the month, it was believed that the whole team worked well. In a crisis, it is necessary to delve into business processes, it is necessary to set tasks and evaluate the effectiveness of each unit and each employee in achieving the goal. The way it is done with active sales.
2. We set an ambitious but achievable goal.

What technologies to increase sales are effective today

First of all, increase turnover!

At the same time, of course, we should not forget about profitability and the budget that has to be spent on increasing trade. In retail, you can also apply sales increase technologies used in wholesale.

Suppose a company is faced with the task of increasing turnover during a crisis. By how much can turnover be increased? 1, 3, 5 percent? At first glance, this may seem like a very ambitious task!

1. We set goals for each department and employee to achieve the goal.

In wholesale sales, in order to increase turnover, tasks are set for customers and goods. Retail technologies have long been known to everyone, these methods are used by everyone. It is necessary to look for and use new tools and technologies for retail sales of goods. To solve ambitious problems, I recommend using the best-situation synthesis technique.

Algorithm for working on increasing sales

1. Formulate a goal
2. Determine the indicators that affect the achievement of the goal (decomposition).
3. Define targets by indicators to achieve the goal
4. Identify ways to improve performance
5. Create a performance improvement plan
6. Conduct a synthesis and determine the objectives and schedule for achieving the goal.

Synthesizing the situation:

1. Goal (increase in turnover)
2. Decomposition

In order to sell a lot, it is necessary to increase all the components that affect the volume of sales.

In any trade, the same rules apply:

Turnover = number of sales * amount of sales

To increase turnover, it is necessary to increase the number of sales and the average amount of the transaction (the amount of the "average bill").

To quantify the effectiveness of an offer in a crisis, we use a sales funnel, which is widely used in evaluating the effectiveness of sales in personal sales. The sales funnel for wholesale and retail trade is shown in fig. 1.

As can be seen from the figure, the retail sales process contains more stages (in order to make contact with the buyer, he must be attracted to the store). And the formulas for calculating the sales funnel are different.

For retail:

Conversion in retail sales is determined by the ratio of those who made a purchase to the number of people who came to the store. In "personal" sales, it ranges from 0.1 to 0.5. In wholesale trade - 0.6 - 0.8. In retail, it may strive for a unit. Accordingly, to analyze the sales funnel in retail, it is necessary to use slightly different algorithms.

In active sales, a manager can increase the number of requests by simply making an offer to more potential customers, and, with a constant conversion rate, get an increase in the number of sales.

In retail, the marketing department is primarily involved in attracting customers to the store. It should create an image of the store that is most attractive to the buyer. The task is complex and in this article I will not dwell on the issues of creating additional traffic.

Retail conversion rates vary significantly by industry. When trading in a boutique, it can be 0.5 or even 0.1. But the boutique has a consultant who makes “personal” sales and can directly influence the conversion rate.

In the grocery store, the situation is completely different. As a rule, the buyer goes to the grocery store for a product that:

• he needs
• guaranteed to be present in this store

There may or may not be a consultant. At the same time, the conversion rate still tends to 1. As a rule, it is quite difficult and expensive to count the number of store visitors who came but did not make a purchase. In order for the sales funnel indicator to work effectively in retail, it is necessary to set a lower limit (the minimum check amount) at which it is considered that a purchase has been made. Conditionally, 100, 200, 300 rubles. Establishing a lower limit on the check amount will allow you to distinguish loyal customers from customers who did not find the right product, bought the minimum of the most necessary and left unsatisfied.

The second multiplier is the amount of sales, or the amount of the average check. In general, the distribution of check amounts has the following form, shown in Figure 2. The figure shows an example of the distribution of purchase amounts and the average check amount for 20 purchases. With a larger number of checks, it makes sense to determine the number of checks that fall into a certain range.

What parameters directly affect the turnover of the store?

• The number of buyers (checks) in the whole store
• Number of checks for an amount exceeding the minimum amount
• Conversion rate
• The amount of the average check for the store

Rice. 2. Information about the amount of the check in general for the store.

The assortment of the store consists of an assortment of product categories. The overall level of sales is influenced by two groups of employees: a marketer who determines positioning, a customer acquisition strategy and a general promotion policy, and category managers who solve the same tasks, but at the level of a product category.

When managing sales in a product category, the conversion rate is equal to the ratio of the number of "receipts" that contain products of this category to the total number of receipts in the store. (This coefficient is also called category penetration coefficient). The conversion rate is calculated based on information about the number of receipts that contained at least one item from this category.

Calculation of the sum of the average sale (average check) in a product category should be calculated as the ratio of the sum of sales in the category to the number of "checks" in which the product was present (Fig. 3).

To evaluate the quality of work in a category, two parameters must be used:

• Category Conversion Rate
• The amount of the average check in the category

Rice. 3. Information about the sales of the product category.

We divided the general task - increasing the turnover into intermediate tasks: increasing the customer flow, increasing the amount of the average check in the store and by category, increasing the conversion in the store and by category. Different departments and employees are responsible for these indicators. Now you can set them specific tasks.

We will set the tasks on an example close to reality. The current state of affairs in the store is as follows:

Table 1. Current value of indicators.

Goal: Increase turnover.

To increase turnover, you need:

• in each product category to increase the conversion and the amount of the average check. The task is assigned to category managers;
• create an additional flow of customers through advertising campaigns and marketing campaigns. The task is assigned to the marketing department;
• increase conversions and the average check amount in the whole store, by properly allocating advertising budgets and helping category managers achieve their category targets. The task is assigned to the marketing department.

We set the task: within the next 6 months to increase each of the indicators by 5% (quite a doable task!). The target list is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Target list for increasing turnover.

We define a plan for improving performance.

We make a list of necessary activities:

1. activities aimed at increasing the number of store visitors

• informing customers about promotions aimed at attracting new customers
• promotions to encourage repeat purchases
• conducting loyalty programs
• holidays
• promotions that form the image of the store and the overall loyalty of customers, etc.

2. measures aimed at increasing the average check and store conversion

• provision of cumulative discounts
• sale of sets
• providing a discount on the purchase of a certain amount

3. Activities aimed at increasing the conversion in the category:

1. Cross Merchandising
2. Additional display of products
3. Carrying out price promotions
4. Participation in sets, promotions held in the store as a whole
5. Activities aimed at increasing the amount of the average check in the category:
6. Discount for a set in a category
7. Quantity discount
8. Stimulating the purchase of more expensive goods
9. Any kind of marketing activity

Each manager is required to draw up an action plan for 6 months.

Based on the action plan, we draw up a monthly plan for achieving indicators. When drawing up a plan, we take into account seasonality and sales statistics, since the task of our technologies is to increase retail sales in addition to seasonal and other factors.

Table 3. Monthly plan by indicators.

At the first stage of the application of technologies for the retail sale of goods, when setting the task, we considered the growth of turnover by 5% as an ambitious goal. At the same time, we knew the general set of methods, but were not ready to use them purposefully and evaluate the effectiveness of the selected retail sales technologies.

We have created the best situation for increasing turnover:

• Determine what indicators affect the turnover
• We found out which departments and employees influence the values ​​of indicators
• Set a task for each department and employee
• Created an action plan to achieve the goal
• Created a plan to achieve the goal for each indicator

Now you need to draw up a master plan for the store.

Table 4. Plan for increasing turnover.

Table 4 shows that our plan, which provides for the growth of individual indicators by only 5%, can increase the turnover of the store by 10%. If the growth plan for all categories is fulfilled, then the growth in trade turnover can reach 16% due to the synergistic effect. At the same time, a specific performer is responsible for the growth of each of the indicators.

The same technique can be used in solving the problem of reducing costs, increasing profits and other tasks facing the company.

In order to be the best in a crisis, you must:

1. Choose indicators that are important for assessing the performance of the company
2. Determine what and who influences the value of each indicator
3. Assess the values ​​of these indicators from competitors and industry leaders
4. Set a goal for each of the indicators
5. Using the best situation synthesis technology, develop a plan to achieve target values
6. Determine and reserve a budget to achieve the goal
7. Regularly evaluate the results and, if necessary, adjust the technology to increase sales.

And do not forget to keep an eye on the market and the actions of competitors. They, too, can set themselves ambitious goals.