Location, Location, Location:
An often overlooked aspect of marketing begins even before you open your doors. The most important element in real estate also pertains to the pet boutique retail business; location, location; location. Even with the most extensive marketing and advertising schedule, if the location is poor it will be difficult to succeed. Before choosing a location or relocation, establish your target market. Once you have established what type of clientele your store will cater to, choose a location that compliments the store. For example, if you are selling mostly food, choose a strip mall location next to a major grocery store with plenty of foot traffic. If you are a high end pet boutique, choose a city location with a large population or a high end tourist destination. Also make sure you are highly visible – in other words not around corner or up a lot of stairs. Trust us – we have made the mistake of having a few stairs leading to our store (in our old location; Tails by the Bay in Sausalito, CA) and lost about of the foot traffic due to stairs. These small obstacles can seem miniscule but can greatly affect your traffic flow so consider every little aspect of the location.

Advertising Mediums:
The various advertising mediums include newspaper, magazine, television, radio internet and phone book. Each avenue has advantages and disadvantages and what works for your store will depend on various issues but the best method to take is to try and see what works for your particular store. That being said, there are different aspects and important points for each medium you should consider. Newspaper advertising can be expensive but look into smaller local papers that have lower prices. These papers are generally read by most of the town and can be very effective with advertising sales, new items or just the store location and general product selection. For higher end boutiques, magazines are a great way to advertise a high end image with a classy high gloss ad. Radio can also be an effective medium as it has more of a personality then a print ad. The radio ad can tell a story about your store and include more information then a print ad. Radio is also very effective to advertise sales and events. Another extremely important advertising tactic is television. Don’t shy away from television due to high cost – in most instances, it’s less expensive then print. Local television commercials can be low as $1-2 an ad on stations such as Animal Planet, Comedy Central and MSN. Also, similar to radio, it’s more effective at showing the uniqueness of the store and will most likely intrigue the customer more then print. Finally, the internet can be an effective advertising tool – make sure you are in all the local “where to shop” listings including Yahoo Yellow Pages and look into websites such as http://www.shoplocal.com and http://www.yokel.com. Also, the internet can be an effective tool to advertise your store events; look into your local event websites in your area. Typically the event listings are free, especially if they are benefiting a local charity. Of course, if you also have an internet website as well as a retail location, internet advertising is the best avenue to advertise your website because the customer is already online shopping for pet items. Which advertising avenue works for you will depend on your specific store so don’t be afraid to try different mediums to see what works best for your unique retail shop. However, don’t switch haphazardly; make sure to give your chosen advertising a chance to work for you. Celia Sack & Paula Harris from Noe Valley Pet Co in San Francisco, CA recommend, “We like the regularity of advertising in the same places over the years, because we believe seeing an ad over time will stick in consumers’ minds. Businesses often make the mistake of offering coupons to see if their ads are working, and when they get no coupons back, they switch to a different medium for advertising. You rarely get coupons back, but that doesn’t mean your ad isn’t being seen.”

Budget:
An important consideration is your advertising & marketing budget. The standard rule for advertising expenditure nationally is 5-7% of sales but this doesn’t take into account your markup or your rent or type of store. A better rule of thumb for smaller retail stores such as ours is not to spend less then 3% of sales on advertising and marketing. Also, as mentioned previously expensive rent for a high-visibility location is often the best advertising as you will need to advertise significantly less then a similar business with an average location. Also, look into co-op advertising with vendors to keep advertising costs down. Or team up with local rescue organizations to host events at your store. Often the free press for helping a rescue group combined with the rescue groups advertising and client base will help with a significant amount of the advertising and marketing cost.

Events:
As just mentioned events can be a hugely successful way to advertise and market your store for little expense. The event itself may not yield huge sales, but the exposure and good will can benefit your store significantly. Try adoption days, holiday events such as Santa paws photos or a Halloween costume contest. Or create a truly unique event that will draw patrons from near and far. To counter act the cost of the event, you can co-op with vendors, event sponsors, rescue groups or other retail stores in the vicinity. Sponsoring local events in your community is another great way for exposure for little expenditure. Celia & Paula from Noe Valley Pet Co recommend, “The best advertising we do is sponsoring and donating to events, festivals, etc. Businesses often don’t see this as advertising, but it is the best kind, because you’re also doing something charitable, and consumers appreciate that you’re giving back to the community.”

Author: Lori Dotterweich
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rates

There are many ways to increase holiday business but four key elements are knowledgeable salespeople, point of purchase displays, holiday gift baskets and setting the holiday scene. First and foremost is your staff – having knowledgeable salespeople who know the product line as well as all the product offerings is key to successful sales. Even with the most gorgeous holiday displays, if your salespeople can’t sell the items, the holiday displays are serving merely as a store decoration. Kerry King from Kool Dog Kafe, a doggie bakery in New Mexico, states, “Sales associates up selling last minute items or gift certificates are extremely important in successful holiday business.”

Point of purchase displays and those last minute items at the register are also a great way to increase add on sales at the holidays. Kerry King recommends, “Rounders or shelves around your counter for impulse purchases are important as well as point of sale signage at the counter with hot holiday items.” Kristen Stavistky from Max’s Place, a pet boutique in Spring Valley, NY, suggests holiday impulse items should be displayed at the counter, “Cute dog toys are perfect or all-natural dog biscuits. The key is inexpensive, $10 and under, and cute, unique gifts. You want to show items that people will “need” to buy.”

Gift baskets are also a key holiday merchandising technique that will increase your sales. The baskets add to the festivity of the store while giving your customers a great gift idea for their friends or pets. Kerry King states, “We find holiday gift baskets and packaged sets make for easy gift shopping and increased sales”.

Finally, your store should encapsulate the holiday season with color, in store merchandising and holiday window displays. Basically, you want to “set the scene” of the entire store with an assortment of products and holiday accouchements. Kerry from Kool Dog Kafe recommends, “We found using theatrical props such as a sleigh or fake snow, etc. in our window displays draws attention to the store with a hip/cool element.” Kristen from Max’s Place suggests, “We’ve found that it helps to set the scene; we include a range of products so that we can inspire our customers. They might feel as if they are looking at a room in a house, rather than a single item display. We also group products by color and style.” Elena Ferrante from Sophisticated Canines in Westwood, NJ recommends setting up little vignettes with a holiday theme to show people how the items could be used, i.e. have a little decorated Christmas tree set up with a dressed up stuffed dog wearing holiday attire. She states, “Set up the display so that people can envision how their purchases will look.” Whether it’s grouping products by color, style or showing how the products can be used, it’s important that the entire scene of the store flows together with your chosen holiday theme.

The holidays (Christmas, Hannukah, etc) are a great way to enlighten your store with color, products and displays but what about other holidays during the year such as Thanksgiving, Halloween and more. These are great opportunities to spruce up the store with color, themes and products to sell. Kristin from Max’s Place suggests decorating the store with goblins, ghosts and dummies at Halloween and she even has one idea that might really spook the clientele, “We also have been known to color our pond and fountain displays and have an eyeball or two floating by!” Kerry from Kool Dog Kafe says, “We bring Halloween decorations to create a spooky atmosphere and also use fall leaves and hay bails. This time of year is such a great time for creating that cozy (shopping) holiday experience.”

Whether you are decorating your store for Christmas, Hannukah, Halloween or even Ground Hogs Day, remember to spotlight your best holiday merchandise.

Quick Tips for Holiday Merchandising:

Do use holiday colors and holiday product assortment for unique displays
Do set up holiday scenes rather then random products
Do use fun props such as lighted sleds, snowmen, etc
Don’t let your props overtake your products being displayed
Don’t use items that can be dangerous to animals, i.e. poinsettias, open cords

Author: Lori Dotterweich
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty