How to Be a Successful Retailer in Three Steps Step 3

Lower your cost of doing business as much as possible,  while remaining consistent with the level of quality of product and service  you desire to offer.  Set the image of the store you wish to present the customer and determine how much you will have to spend in order to maintain that image.  There is nothing wrong with having a store with dusty shelves and faded posters in the window, as long as that is the image you have decided you want to deliver to shoppers.  As more stores upgrade their fixtures and appearance, such stores will likely become outliers, serving current customers but not developing new ones.  When deciding on a fixture up grade, product line expansion or service enhancement, to remain successful, it is important to do so at the lowest cost possible, consistent with the image you want.  Lowest cost does not mean cheap but it does mean cheapest.  If I want a custom mural painted on my wall, and such work is consistent with my image, that’s great.  I still should negotiate the lowest cost possible to do so.

Following these three steps will make your store successful. However, you will have to implement specific tactics in order to carry the strategy out.  That’s the hard part.