small retailers, retail consulting
Email Marketing - The Small Retailer's Friend
Sep/25/2009 07:22 Filed in: Marketing
for the Small Retailer
Email
Marketing - The Small Retailer's Friend
With all of the hype on social media there’s a danger that the small retailer might take his eye off a marketing tool that really works. Email marketing continues to be an effective, low-cost way for the small retailer to reach out to, inform and retain their current customers. We all know that it’s a lot easier to get a previous customer back in the door than it is to find and motivate a new one.
Your customer likes receiving targeted messages about products and services they care about. That is why Email marketing works. Don’t mess-up your relationship with that customer by bombarding them with un-targeted messages.
Email marketing is all about customer retention and growing your business. It’s about building stronger relationships with customers who already know you. Your customer wants to hear about new products, hot deals and what’s going on at your store. When your messages land in their inbox it helps keep your stores name in their top of mind. No, they are not going to respond or even open every Email you send, but when they have a need guess who they’re going to think of first.
Here at Solutions For Retailers, when we run a store closing or going out of business sale, an Email campaign is always part of our marketing plan. That plan is a balance of direct mail, Email, traditional media and social media. Email remains the most cost effective marketing tool we use. Though running a store closing sale is different than trying to grow your business, Emails to existing customers always result in increased traffic at a low cost.
With all of the hype on social media there’s a danger that the small retailer might take his eye off a marketing tool that really works. Email marketing continues to be an effective, low-cost way for the small retailer to reach out to, inform and retain their current customers. We all know that it’s a lot easier to get a previous customer back in the door than it is to find and motivate a new one.
Your customer likes receiving targeted messages about products and services they care about. That is why Email marketing works. Don’t mess-up your relationship with that customer by bombarding them with un-targeted messages.
Email marketing is all about customer retention and growing your business. It’s about building stronger relationships with customers who already know you. Your customer wants to hear about new products, hot deals and what’s going on at your store. When your messages land in their inbox it helps keep your stores name in their top of mind. No, they are not going to respond or even open every Email you send, but when they have a need guess who they’re going to think of first.
Here at Solutions For Retailers, when we run a store closing or going out of business sale, an Email campaign is always part of our marketing plan. That plan is a balance of direct mail, Email, traditional media and social media. Email remains the most cost effective marketing tool we use. Though running a store closing sale is different than trying to grow your business, Emails to existing customers always result in increased traffic at a low cost.
Small Independent Retailers Face Another Invasion
Jun/29/2009 15:45 Filed in: Marketing
for the Small Retailer
Even
though brick & mortar storefronts sales continue
to struggle, the online retailers are seeing a
continued growth in sales.
Forrester Research forecasts
online sales to grow from 11 percent to 13 percent in
2009. That’s an increase of $156.1 billion. One has
to ask why?
Online retail stores are a convenient, easy way for customers to shop. It saves both gas and time from driving store to store. It allows the customer to compare prices without ever leaving their home or office. The return policies for online retailers continue to improve as store-front retailers seem to be making it more difficult. The shopping habits that consumers are developing during this recession are not going to go away when the recession ends. “Shopping” will never be the pass-time that so many once enjoyed.
In the past, small independent retailers had to face the invasion of the “big box stores”, Walmart and Target. Many survived – many did not. They now face the challenge of the “online” retailer. Again many will survive and many will not. Those small independent retailers that do survive will do it because they give their customers a reason to shop in their store.
“Why should I shop in your store?”
Online retail stores are a convenient, easy way for customers to shop. It saves both gas and time from driving store to store. It allows the customer to compare prices without ever leaving their home or office. The return policies for online retailers continue to improve as store-front retailers seem to be making it more difficult. The shopping habits that consumers are developing during this recession are not going to go away when the recession ends. “Shopping” will never be the pass-time that so many once enjoyed.
In the past, small independent retailers had to face the invasion of the “big box stores”, Walmart and Target. Many survived – many did not. They now face the challenge of the “online” retailer. Again many will survive and many will not. Those small independent retailers that do survive will do it because they give their customers a reason to shop in their store.
“Why should I shop in your store?”