How Convenient is Your Convenience Store?
By Lloyd Masel In the days before the deregulation of trading hours for shopping, the Convenience Store had a real place in the commercial needs of the community. A Convenience Store was the place where you could buy a loaf of bread or a pair of socks when all the big shopping malls were closed. Often situated on main roads, the Convenience Store filled an important role for shoppers who needed something at a time when most of the big stores were closed, either after hours or on week-ends. These days that’s all changed. Now stores of all sizes and types are open for much longer hours, some of them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even with increased overheads to cover the cost of extended hours, the attitude seems to be that market share is of paramount importance, in preference to profitability. Resulting from this gradual change in trading hours over some years, owners of small Convenience Stores need to find innovative ways to retain their business to compensate for the loss of exclusiveness they once enjoyed. Innovation is something which every proprietor of a Small Business should study. Whether it be a novel price offer, a crowd-pulling advertisement or an unusual service benefit, the novelty must be strong enough to draw store traffic. Furthermore, the more innovative you make your business, the more customers will enjoy shopping with you. Shopping is not something which everybody enjoys. So, make the shopping experience at your store a memorable one. Your customers will thank you for the effort and you can expect return business. Many years ago the writer came across the expression: “The great profitless volume.” This applied to the cost of getting business with extended hours blowing out the cost of securing it. Make sure you don’t get sucked into this soul destroying business strategy. Dare to be different. Make your shop one that people will remember. Make it not just convenient, but innovatively different. Lloyd Masel spent 40 years shopkeeping specializing in customer relations, staff training, marketing and advertising. You can contact him on falstaff@zahav.net.il for writing projects. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lloyd_Masel http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Convenient-is-Your-Convenience-Store?&id=437468 church being softball since message might board many western where custom through cowhide out bible should covers of wives be of out joseph being smith do jesus been chris another of our latter came day they saints a church did video my
