Retail Industry Heating up for Summer and Back to School

Strategy Plan One

June 29, 2012

Retail Industry – Summer Period

Like other economic indicators, the retail industry is slowly improving.  It has been estimated that the retail industry will grow in the summer months as food and retail sales increase due to the tourism season.  Retail centered around tourism and travel see marked improvement as many tourism destination packages are developed and offered up to consumers.  Building into the summer retail period, back to school retail sales occur in the summer month, and this year’s consumer trends are interesting.

In terms of consumer behaviour and trends, The National Retail Federation (NRF) –BigInsight have released information on their Independence Day Survey, which highlights 67% or roughly 160 million Americans will be out and partaking in July 4^th celebrations.  Retail is estimated to be up in many categories as consumers buy up patio furniture, grills, and beach merchandise.  From the survey, more than 48 million or 23% will buy patriotic US gear and merchandise.  This is a marked 3% improvement from the previous annual survey.

For those businesses centered around events, like fireworks or parades, the survey data shows estimates that 115 million will attend events, and an additional 35 million will be spectators at parades.

Back to School – Retail Trends for 2012

Summer retail period also includes the “back to school” retail craze.  This year’s survey byNRF suggests that consumers may be a bit more frugal this year, indicating that spending behaviour may be down by 5-6%.  Last year the average person spent $603 on all back to school items including clothing, supplies and electronics.  It is estimated that this year’s average spending may be in the range of $580-590 according to the survey.

E-commerce plays a significant role in back to school retail, as the survey data suggests 31% will conduct comparative shopping online and 17% stated that they will shop more online.  Both figures show increasing trends over last year’s survey data.

Here are the comparative results of a BigInsight Consumer spending survey, illustrating consumer behaviour 2010-2012 with respect to back to school retail.

More responses in this survey show consumers siding with cautious, with very conservative behavioral responses to the survey questions.  Businesses and entrepreneurs should analyze survey data and adjust retail planning accordingly.  For instance, the survey suggests more will be shopping online, the trend of using coupons or find deals is increasing and spending less overall.

More Reading

• EService, Social Media and Customer Service Trends [infographic]
• Digital Marketing – Conversion Opportunities for Business
• Product Mix – Designing Products and Services for the Consumer
• Content Marketing – Targeting Local Markets [infographic]

• Business Issues Faced in the Summer Months

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

SEO Guide to Higher Conversions with a Few Steps [infographic]

Strategy Plan One

June 28, 2012 

SEO Guide

A few strategic steps have been pointed out by SeoGadget in this infographic, to obtain higher conversion rates on sites.

To note, the steps highlighted in this infographic follow the steps in strategic thinking and  strategic planning, including identification of issues, development of options, selection and implementation, and measuring results and revisions.  The steps and methodologies pointed out in the infographic include:

• Establishing funnels and use of measurement tools
• Using analytics to measure what is going on with visitor actions on websites
• More tools to determine the barriers to conversion
• Surveying internal staff and customers on the process, barriers, feedback to conversion
• Gathering and implementing more external feedback mechanisms on your products, site, service
• Building strong marketing and advertising programs
• Framing the solutions
• Testing, review of methods and results, revision and repeat

Source: SeoGadget 

Other relevant blogs, articles and infographics you may find interesting:

• EService, Social Media and Customer Service Trends [infographic]
• Digital Marketing – Conversion Opportunities for Business
• Social Media Buttons for Targeting Your Business Audience [infographic]
• Product Mix – Designing Products and Services for the Consumer

• Content Marketing – Targeting Local Markets [infographic]

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

Productivity – 6 Small Steps For a More Productive Day

Strategy Plan One

June 25, 2012 

Productivity Improvements

Business owners and staff all around encounter busy agendas daily, with most wanting to achieve more productive days.  However, in the complex business world with volumes of work to do, many struggle with getting things done.  It is sometimes common at the end of the day for some to state and ask, “Wow, what a brutal day…Did I get anything done?”

Entrepreneurs, staff, specialists and others feel buried under mountains of tasks and may feel during periods that nothing gets done.

But through a simple few tweaks, the work force, and you as an entrepreneur, can improve and show marked, increased productivity.

1.  Productive Days – Getting Organized

Individuals and businesses can get through the mountains with careful planning and organization.  Part of getting organized in the volumes of tasks is documenting it out, listing tasks, jobs and projects and to prioritize them.  Many tasks and essential duties fall through the cracks when businesses and individuals are not organized.  To keep focused, a list of prioritized action items can be developed and tracked to be more organized.

2.  Project Management Tools to Improve Productivity 

In developing lists, prioritizing and tracking action items, project management tools, such as Microsoft Project can assist.  These tools make it easier to develop a timeline from first tasks to completion of projects, step by step, milestone by milestone.  In using tools such as Project, a manager can establish tasks, attach time frames and track persons responsible.  With delegating tasks down to operational specialists, you lighten the load for others that are overwhelmed.

3.  Productivity Improvements Through Automation

How much manual labor or duties is your team performing that take up significant amounts of time?  Can any of these duties be automated?  Although you need to be careful around adding a personal touch to communications through email, you may find through evaluation that some of your email broadcasts to client bases or internal staff can be automated.  An example is establishing frequent reminders utilizing tools within email platforms.

In other productivity improvement examples, payment and shipping processes can be automated easily with such platforms as Paypal and others.  In most business operational cases, there may not be a justifiable need for a full-time payment processing clerk.  E-payments could lessen the work load of administrative staff by implementing e-payment systems.   In another valuable example of automation, the Kiva Robot system is revolutionizing the way warehouses work, as automated robots can run around the clock, helping pick orders and move goods.

4.  Behavior and your leadership actions

As an entrepreneur, the way you act and provide leadership can have a dramatic effect on staff.  Leading and managing in a genuine manner, with strength and passion can have an immediate impact on staff productivity.  Leaders that can motivate staff, illustrating the vision and use of positive tones can lead to positive impacts on the floor and higher productivity.

5.  Partnering

Productivity can be improved by bringing on a synergistic partner to the business. Partnership building can lead to the sharing of projects and duties, but also sharing of the risks and benefits.  You may find that partners and or contracting out will lead to higher productivity and resolution of complex projects in a more timely manner.

6.  Recharging and Health to be Productive

For most, it is not humanly possible to plug through mountains of tasks hour after hour.  Long hours of complicated, tenuous or repetitive tasks can lead to overload of mistakes and burnout.  People’s performance will improve if the body and brain are given a chance to break and recharge.  Ensure you and staff take appropriate breaks frequently as scheduled.  Certain Labor laws and regulations were put into place for a reason … bodies can’t handle longer hours, with very little breaks.  Even though there are laws and regulations regarding this, show adaptability as a leader and allow better working conditions with flexible work-life balance programs.

The health of employees and your own health should be main priorities.  Without healthy individuals, there would be no employees on the floor and no business.  Take the time to promote healthy living, from good rest to eating right to great exercise.  A healthy work force will be a more productive workforce, with less medical issues.  Integrate your programs around healthy living .. you obviously care about your employees.

With a few changes in your organization and the way your lead as a responsible entrepreneur, can lead to higher productivity all around.  Start with practices and actions that will lead to higher productivity with yourself, and then lead by example.  You will note that in small steps productivity will improve across your business.

Relevant blogs and articles:

• Strategies to Improve Performance in your Personal Life and Business
• Communication Strategies, Policies and Processes to Control Messages
• EService, Social Media and Customer Service Trends [infographic]
• Positive Words – Business Communications in a Positive Way

Productivity:

• Productivity Articles
• Simple Productivity – Essentials
• Economic Studies – Productivity & Performance

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

EService, Social Media and Customer Service Trends [infographic]

Strategy Plan One

June 23, 2012 

Eservice, Social Media and the Customer

With the social media craze estimated to grow by 37% this year, businesses must be ready to intercept social media friendly customers and serve them well.  It’s not just about speed of service to customers, but the other factors that play into building that customer base, and just as important, retaining those customers.

Here is a strategic look at customer service from the Eservice & Social Media business side, in this infographic from Bluewolf.

Ground-breaking customer service models driven by:

• 87% customer demand for better service
• 71% from pressures from competition 
• 28% loyalty of the customer

Customer behavior when businesses screw up:

• 17% leave after a single mistake
• 40% hit the road after a two mess-ups
• 28% have had enough after the third mistake

Social Media and Eservice Trends:

• E-service (web, social media, chat) estimated to grow by 53% in the next year
• Social media expected to grow by 37%
• By 2020: 90% of businesses will use social media for responding to customer inquiries
• 20% of Fortune 500 companies engage with customers on Facebook

Changing the customer service model may be necessary for businesses as the social media platforms in use will continue to grow.  Integrating and emphasizing an Eservice model would seem essential to the speed and effectiveness of customer service, in satisfying the customers for long-term relationships with businesses.

Here are some additional Social Media articles, blogs and infographics:

• Social Media, Mobile and Internet Data by the Minute [infographic]

• Social Media Use, From the Employer Perspective [infographic]
• Twitter Statistics Showing Exponential Growth [infographic]
• Digital Marketing – Conversion Opportunities for Business
• Social Media Buttons for Targeting Your Business Audience [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on the Fortune 500 Companies [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on Pinterest – Traffic and Online Sales Impacts

Customer Service blogs and infographics:

• Self-Service – The Evolving Automated Customer Service Experience
• Contract Proposal Can Lead to More Clients, More Revenue
• Product Mix – Designing Products and Services for the Consumer

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

Social Media, Mobile and Internet Data by the Minute [infographic]

Strategy Plan One

June 22, 2012 

Social Media, Mobile, Internet Data

It is mind boggling how much data we create and digest through multiple forms of electronic media and devices.  Taking the business perspective on the “data created every minute” information in the infographic from Domo:

• Consumers spend over $272,000 / minute – sites are showing trends in e-commerce fused with social media activities
• Brands receive ~35,000 likes / minute on Facebook – does your business have a presence in social media sites?
• YouTube users upload 48 hours of content / minute – Sites with video lead to more sales
• Mobile increases its user base by 217 every minute – trends are favorable in mobile app and e-commerce through mobile devices
• Facebook users share almost 700,000 pieces of content / minute – as an astute marketer in your business, create valuable content worth sharing

Here are some additional Social Media articles, blogs and infographics:

• Social Media and Online Customer Trends [Infographic]
• Twitter Statistics Showing Exponential Growth [infographic]
• Digital Marketing – Conversion Opportunities for Business
• Social Media Buttons for Targeting Your Business Audience [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on the Fortune 500 Companies [infographic]
• Social Media Statistics on Pinterest – Traffic and Online Sales Impacts

More on Mobile Market and Mobile Apps:

• Competitive Mobile App Market
• Mobile User Business Challenges [infographic]
• Popular Apps – The Best Apps for Small Business
• How do you like those Apps? App Sales [infographic]

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One

Business Issues Faced in the Summer Months

Strategy Plan One

June 20, 2012 

Business Issues 

As summer months on now upon us, it is important as leaders to plan in advance for the differing business dynamic summer months bring.  Your business needs to be prepared in order to meet customer needs, continue business as usual and continue to grow.  Whether it’s staffing levels, supplier issues, demand issues or opportunities, it is best to plan contingencies around the challenges you may face in the summer.

The three key business issues faced in the summer discussed here include:

• Staffing and human resources issues
• Supply and demand issues
• Business development and opportunities

Staffing Levels

Of course the summer season is notorious for the majority of staff wanting a bit of a break during the summer months.  Some of it is centered on family concerns with children off school, while others find it advantageous to take off the months during the best weather and tourism offerings.  Certain human resource strategies can alleviate these pressures.

Ensure you have policies and procedures in place for staffing when there are leaves from work.  The policies will differ and be stronger if you are in a business of essential services, like medical practices.  For the most part, policies and procedures can be flexible and fair to all staff to ensure everyone has the ability to take much needed breaks.  Policies and procedures will provide standardization to the organizations and will bring clarity to staff when all are seeking leaves.

To alleviate pressures of staffing levels, you as a leader can plan to fill the gaps in the summer in creative ways.  Students are always looking for work in the summer and would be an appropriate human resource pool to pull from.  Contracting out is another option if you need professional services to carry on complicated, complex projects in your business.  Offering opportunities to staff for assignments or acting positions may fill the void temporarily and would go a long way to building up capacity in your organization.  Lastly, encouraging and implementing work-life balance with flexible scheduling in the business may give the flexibility across all employees to manage the staffing levels.

Supply and Demand Challenges

Depending on what business you are in, summer months can bring a higher demand on some products or services, and likewise, supplies can fluctuate during this period.  Supply and demand issues should be adequately identified in you business plan.

A simple example of supply and demand is the local ice suppliers as ice demand would be in high demand by all sectors in the summer.  On the services front, certain services would be in high demand and potentially hard to obtain such as HVAC specialists around cooling system maintenance, or in the case of trying to acquire service from pool maintenance companies.  Building contractors and the construction industry are in higher demand during the summer months.  These businesses face the same human resource issues during the summer months to complicate their own operational demand issues.

If you are business that relies on specific supplies and through your research you know supplies fluctuate during the summer period, ensure you have planned out your contingencies to keep the supply level consistent.  This may require you to secure commitments from a number of suppliers in the chain.   You may also develop RFP processes in advance to ensure you have suitable suppliers ready to go.

If you are in a business where the demand for your products or services increases in the summer, once again your business planning process should identify your operational plan to cope and accommodate increased operational demand.  Through a pattern of previous annual experiences, you may plan to ramp up staffing to accommodate increased service demand.  In terms of a supplier type business, retail or food services, you may increase inventory levels in advance of the summer months to ensure you can entertain increased commerce levels.  This piece should be carefully researched, analyzed and planned well within your business planning process.  Over estimates can be costly, but so can missed business and revenue with not being prepared and having to hang the dreaded “out of stock” sign.

Business Development and Opportunities

Summer months can be challenging to try and grow your business.  As your business has challenges regarding staffing levels and the need for everyone to take time off, so do your partners, investors and other entrepreneurs that could help you in business development and partnership building.

Although people can be away for periods during the summer months, most know that entrepreneurs stay connected, no matter where they go or what they are doing.  In the interests of their own business goals and growth, entrepreneurs and business leaders are highly motivated and dedicated to their own businesses.  It may be easy to connect with those partners and synergistic businesses out there during the summer months for further business development.

In the case where you or other business leaders cannot be connected during the summer months, it is appropriate as a good leader to delegate tasks to those who do remain in the office.  Delegating to staff members and encouraging responsibility, accountability and decision-making are ways to build excellent capacity building in your organization and build business at the same time.

Know well in advance of what challenges summer may bring your business.  Through adequate planning and establishing your plan of contingencies, your business will be ready to more than satisfy the markets, and your business will be well positioned to grow.

Relevant blogs and articles:

• Business Planning Tips
• Talent Management – How to Build a Solid Human Resource Base
• Supply and Demand
• Young Entrepreneurs – Programs and Funding Sources
• Economic Efficiency – 5 Tips to Create Efficiencies in Your Business
• Strategies to Improve Performance

Strategy Plan One

http://strategyplanone.com

Business information, resources and tips for the entrepreneur

© 2012 Strategy Plan One