3 Easy Ways to Improve Sales and Profits

As we near the holiday season, businesses everywhere are ordering inventory, stocking the shelves, and hiring seasonal staff to prep for the rush of shoppers that awaits. According to the National Retail Federation, 2016 Holiday sales are projected to rise 3.6% this year and, for many stores, the holiday season from November to December can represent as much as 30% of their annual sales. As a business owner, you want to capitalize on this opportunity but you don’t want to go over budget by investing in unnecessary holiday expenditures. Here are 3 tips we have for you so that you can make the most of this holiday season without breaking the bank:

1. Upsell

Upselling is a sales technique utilized by associates to promote the purchase of additional goods, services, or upgrades. The key to upselling is recommending something that your customer truly needs. By simply educating your employees on proper practices of upselling you can improve your profits greatly with no additional costs.

Example: offering the purchase of a pair of socks with the purchase of new shoes

2. Margins

Margin is the difference between the cost of the products and the price at which they are sold. Managing inventory versus items sold can help identify areas where margins are suffering, being fraudulently manipulated, or have room for improvement. Directing a manager’s attention to small factors frequently overlooked can add revenue back to your bottom line and prevent margin erosion.

Example: monitoring Miscellaneous SKU usage can improve the accuracy of inventory counts, reducing over/under orders and improving margin

3. Loyalty

Loyalty programs are an easy way to reward your returning customers, attract new customers, and provide insight into the structure of your holiday promotions. Keeping your customers happy is key to developing a loyal business relationship. By collecting customer data, you can more efficiently offer promotions that are based on what your customers are buying. Also, offering these more valued consumer benefits make joining your loyalty program and shopping at your store attractive for new customers.

Example: remind customers of what they bought last year, and show them this year's hot items.  This spurs sales and keeps customers happy throughout the shopping season

As you head into the holiday season know that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to capitalize on the tips above. At Agilence, we have the applications to help you increase profits and drive sales without adding labor and hidden costs. With 20/20 Data Analytics™ you can monitor associate behavior to take advantage of upselling opportunities, view sales trends and inventory data to improve margins, and track customer information to improve the shopping experience.

Want to increase profits and drive sales without additional labor costs? Try out the tips above and give us a call to see how 20/20 can help you make the most of this holiday season.