martinhoffmitz.com

It has been a wild ride for retailers.

What questions should a retail organization that wants to win more customers, be asking themselves?

Let’s take a look at the following article that tracks retail sales this last month first, then we can pose this question in the right light.

(12-04) 15:53 PST – A surge in day-after Thanksgiving shopping wasn’t enough to save retailers from weak November sales, signaling the industry is likely headed toward one of the worst holiday seasons in years.

Among the many retailers that reported sales figures Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. remained one of the few bright spots, with a sales gain of 3.4 percent last month compared with the same month a year ago. But virtually all retailers faltered, even such stalwarts as Costco Wholesale Corp., which posted a sales decline of 5 percent.

Heavy discounts lured consumers to malls and shops on what’s dubbed Black Friday, generating reports of sales increases both nationally and locally. But that couldn’t offset what was overall a disappointing month, exacerbated by early holiday promotions that cut into profit margins along with a late Thanksgiving that shortens the shopping period.

“It’s going to be a very, very challenging period and a lot of companies are not going to make their numbers because consumers are still not going to be spending,” said Dale Achabal, executive director of Santa Clara University’s Retail Management Institute.

Consumers will continue to be cautious until the economy improves, Achabal said. “Until that happens, an awful lot of consumers are not going to spend because they’re not certain about their own personal situation,” he said.

Discount and warehouse-style stores tended to do better than department and specialty stores, as is typical during a economic slump. But Target Corp. had a 10 percent drop in same-store sales.

Same-store or comparable sales are considered a reliable indicator of a retailer’s health because they compare stores open at least a year, thus excluding the impact of store openings and closings.

Sales at Nordstrom Inc. sank 15.9 percent compared with the same month last year, while sales at Neiman Marcus Inc. dropped 11.9 percent and sales were down 13.3 percent at Macy’s Inc.

“Those double-digit declines like that you just don’t see very often. Clearly those apparel and department stores retailers had as tough a month as they’ve ever had,” said Frank Badillo, senior economist at TNS Retail Forward, a market research and consulting firm.

Gap Inc., which is based in San Francisco, reported a 10 percent decline in comparable sales for the four weeks that ended Nov. 29.

“In anticipation of a challenging holiday season, we made the decision to attract customers with more aggressive offers than last year,” Gap’s chief financial officer, Sabrina Simmons, said in a statement. “While this resulted in November merchandise margins below last year, our strategy allowed us to successfully clear through inventory in the month.”

Among 40 retailers reporting results Thursday, sales declined about 2.5 percent, according to TNS Retail Forward. Badillo said that number compares with a relatively healthy 4.3 percent gain last November over 2006, which makes the comparison even tougher this year.

Retail sales slide

Most retailers reported that sales declined for the month of November compared with this time last year.

* Compares sales at stores open at least a year with November 2007.

Here are the National Retail Mall numbers, for more scary numbers:

http://tinyurl.com/5h8pjd /

Whenever we engage customers and browsers at the store level, in order to measure great service and sales interactions that result in:

More customers visits, more frequency, and social network referral and higher purchases during the visit, we find one factor rises above the rest, and becomes a “SECRET WEAPON” for the smart retailers. 

What is the “SECRET WEAPON“?

Retail Managers

Retail Managers build, train and motivate the team that faces customers every day.

What Talents and Behaviours Create Winning Retail Stores?

Mental Toughness, 

Retail Managers are in the trenches every day, trying to balance the team against the never ending work load, while keeping the team focussed on the customer, the browser, and selling.

Mental Toughness is the behavioral quality that does not let obstacles stand in the way, Mentally tough Retail managers understand at a very deep level, that “Getting the Job Done – Is Job One”

Successful Retailers use behavioural profiling tools to hire for Mental Toughness, and then they reinforce these traits with appropriate managerial sikills to give them the “toolset” to be effective.

But without the underlying behavioral “sets” no amount of “tool training” will stick.

Creativity, 

Winning Retail Managers face a never ending set of changing demands, and the work flow is never steady.  They need to face these challenges with Creativity, again this is a behavioral trait that can be

augmented with the right training, but don’t make the common retail mistake of trying to turn a “sow’s ear, into a silk purse”  Too many retailers don’t bother to step back and get excellent at hiring the right

traits in the most critical person in the customer facing chain, the Retail Managers, who make all the difference.

Listening to the Customer, and your Browser

A great Retail Manager needs a great “nervous system”  a tool that actively listens to the voice of the customer, and your store browsers.  In addition, it helps to be able to listen to the voice of employees with a neutral and fair tool that employees feel safe talking to.

Head office needs this tool as well, how do you really know what is happening on a day to day, hour to hour basis?

How can you understand which stores are creating the excellence experience?  How can you possibly know what part of your team is breaking down, in time to take effective action?

So, if you want to win, you need the right people at the critical point of differentiation, and you need the right tools.

15 years of helping retailers make a difference has taught me that in tough times like these, the winners will win, by making a difference, and these are the best ways to get started now.

Martin Hoffmitz