Maximize Your Market Strategy: Pre-Market Planning and Mystery Shopping Insights for Retail Success

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With the August WSA Shoe Show about to open this is perhaps a good time to discuss market strategy. Based solely on personal observation far too great a number of retailers do very little if any pre-market planning. For sure there may be some appointments made with vendors ahead of time but that is not what I mean by planning. Markets take time and resources away from the store for days at a time in some cases and while admittedly it can be exciting to see fresh new offerings at first hand visiting a market is no time to waste time. Decisions will be made that you will have to live with for perhaps the next six months making this a time to pay attention to business.

Pre-Market Planning

Prior to attending any market it is important to meet with your buying staff. Participants should be prepared to discuss vendor performance including sell-through profitability shipping promotional allowances etc. If a vendor has not produced at an acceptable level this is the meeting to formulate a plan for dealing with the vendor since decision-makers usually attend major trade shows.

The Store’s Open-to-Buy

The store’s open-to-buy should also be discussed so that buyers know what the budgets will be for a given class of merchandise. Open-to-buy (OTB) plans for the upcoming season should be reviewed and finalized so that pending any major fashion shifts buyers have a good idea of how much to spend by store and classification.

Make the Trip Pay for Itself

It is also a very good practice to challenge every buyer to find enough opportunistically priced merchandise (off-price goods) to at least cover their individual market expenses (travel lodging food). If you encourage buyers to go to markets with the caveat of finding enough “deals” to cover their expenses rarely will you be disappointed. This idea can pay huge dividends—and it can sharpen a buyer’s focus.

Show Time

Some stores like to spend the first day of a show getting acclimated to what’s going on. They like to “walk” the show get a visual of trends check out new lines that might look interesting talk to old friends and otherwise give themselves an overview experience. I think this is a healthy practice. It is also a good idea to have buyers check out other retailers when traveling on business. Look at the lines other stores are carrying and how the goods are displayed; check signage; evaluate sales personnel. You won’t be able to help but compare your operation to those you are visiting and you’re almost sure to get some new ideas.

Don’t Overbook

Most retailers have preset market appointments with their major vendors. Be careful however not to get yourself so overcommitted that you leave no time to look for new vendors to test. Remember the constant flow of fresh new product is what keeps customers coming back—fresh product produces sales increases which in turn improve turnover and cash flow.

Look by Classifications

Another market strategy that is useful is to organize your buying into major classifications whenever possible. Larger stores can afford to have separate buyers for each product class.

Product Classification

In the majority of independent shoe stores buyers buy it all. Shopping by classification helps make it easier. For example if you are shopping for athletic shoes winter footwear and women’s dress shoes at a particular market buy.

Richie Sayner

Develop a Productive Market Strategy

Ritchie Sayner
continued on page 20

Six Steps to More Productive Markets

• Pre-market plan—Develop your plan before you leave.
• Cover expenses—Find off-price goods to cover market expenses.
• Shop other retailers—Look at how other stores handle things to give yourself new perspectives.
• Look for new lines—Always leave enough time to see something that you don’t already carry.
• Shop by classification—Organize appointments by classification whenever possible.
• Hold a wrap-up session—As soon after the market as possible bring everyone involved in buying to a wrap-up session where you can review make commitments and reallocate as needed.

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Schedule appointments when previewing dress shoes to look at as many dress shoe lines as you feel you need to in your price range. Try not to confuse the issue by looking at a dress shoe line then going to a boot resource then seeing an athletic shoe company then back to a dress shoe line. Shop your dress shoes then move on to your boot lines then preview your athletic shoes vendors. You will make better buying decisions—and avoid duplication—by using this strategy to stay focused.

I am not a proponent of “leaving paper” at market. In making that statement I know I am risking bodily injury not to mention the emails that are sure to come from reps telling me what they think of my opinion. However that being said I hold firm to the premise that leaving orders in a showroom without having seen all of the other lines on your shopping list is a surefire way of getting overbought having duplications and ending up with too many markdowns at season end.

After Market

A market recap held at the conclusion of the show or shortly after returning home with everyone involved in the buying decisions is a good practice. Everything you have just seen will still be fresh in your minds. Open-to-buys and assortment plans can be reallocated as needed; new lines and trends can be finalized and commitments made.

If you commit to embracing the above market strategy I am convinced you will be able to maximize market time and expense. Try it beginning with the upcoming show—and enjoy a more productive market experience.

■ Ritchie Sayner is vice president of business development at RMSA. He can be reached at rsayner@rmsa.com.

Mystery Shopper in a Music Store

He was looking for an expensive instrument. The sales associate helping him advised that he go to a pawn shop instead where the price would be much less expensive. “Under the guise of helping a customer he was killing the store” Huisken says. “That’s not behavior you want to foster.”

Another time he was employed to shoplift something—and not a single employee reported him. “Again” he says “anyone can have a bad day. But you create a checklist of what you’re looking for when you hire a mystery shopper. It’s your decision what you’re looking for and your decision on how to handle what you find.”

Kenerson’s Advice

Kenerson advises stores to use mystery shoppers on a once-a-month basis. The major advantage of using professional mystery shoppers is that they are well trained: They know what to look for and how to report back with useful feedback and explanations of what they learned that can assist an owner in offering rewards or corrective measures. Also if anything potentially involving the law occurs they will testify in court.

Low-Cost Alternatives

For a low-cost alternative Huisken suggests considering asking current customers to perform—“maybe one of your customers is a mom with four kids who’s got some free time between her mothering duties” he says—or even enlisting an employee from another shoe store in a different city.

The Bigger Picture

Mystery shopping Sacca adds is a method that “allows you to look at the bigger picture to design your training program around what you learn and to reward your employees for doing things the way you want them done.”

Today as Huisken says “It’s much more important to sell yourself than a product. You can get the product elsewhere maybe anywhere but the customer can’t get you—your knowledge your service your expertise—everywhere. There’s only one place the customer gets everything you bring to the shopping experience. So if your employees want to improve mystery shopping can be one avenue.”

As Kenerson sums up “Mystery shopping helps a business.”

sby allowing the owner to see how employees are treating customers in the owner’s absence. As a tool it can be invaluable.
Aetrex 1/4 pg to come continued from page 19

Ritchie Sayner

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