There is no better time of year to freshen up the parts of your life that need a little extra TLC. Usually in spring, we go through our closets and cupboards and remove the items that we haven’t used in our day-to-day lives over the past year – why shouldn’t we do the same with our retail strategy? When it comes to your brand, it might be time to get rid of areas that are weighing you down, seem to be outdated, or just aren’t bringing the results you want. Too often we see brands get stuck in a rut using the same tactics over and over, and they don’t understand why they aren’t moving the needle like they had hoped.

It’s time to swap out those old strategies for something new! We’ve put together a list of three retail tactics you should consider retiring in order for your brand to be successful the rest of the year.

1. Adios, Standard Retail Associate Training

You spend a lot of money ensuring your products are sold at retail. You purchase prime shelf space, produce expensive displays to showcase your products, and pay a premium to advertise in all the right channels to push customers to stores. However, most often customers arrive at stores knowing way more about the product than the store associate, who often can only provide basic product specs, or worse, no information at all. Bottom line: you might be losing sales because of an ineffective training strategy.

This is the perfect time to switch up your retail associate training strategy to focus less on the basics and more on the customer conversation. Have you thought about providing store associates with interactive sales tools during visits, or considered implementing an associate-facing campaign & incentive program?  Maybe adding a mix of lunch & learns, plus one-one training is what you need. It could even be as simple as increasing the length of your visits from 30 minutes to an hour to ensure your trainers are interacting with all available store associates. If any of these tactics peaked your interest, BDS’ is here to assist. Whether you need a dedicated or syndicated program, our Trainers promote more than just your key product features; they work with store associates to ensure they understand and can communicate the benefits, differentiation, and lifestyle solutions to any customer that walks through the door.

2. Arrivederci, Ad Hoc Display Maintenance

When customers walk by your product displays in store, they can have two reactions:

“Wow, this is an awesome display! I want to try this product.”

“Yikes, this display is broken. I’ll try this other product instead.”

84% of shoppers demo a product before purchasing, and if your display isn’t working properly, you can bet it’s not helping you close any sales. As more and more brands implement interactive displays in stores, most aren’t considering a how much wear and tear these displays will really experience over their lifespan. If your displays are highly complex, chances are store associates aren’t trained to fix every malfunction they encounter, which means you need to send specialists into stores to do the work for you.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it might be time to swap out the expensive, one time display fix visits for an ongoing, dedicated Display Maintenance program. Our Break Fix team is highly trained and properly equipped with the tools to ensure your interactive displays are functioning properly at all times. They do more for your brand than the typical sales associate; they’re experts at troubleshooting, problem solving, and thinking on their feet to quickly solve your display issues at retail.

3. Bon Voyage, Basic Signage

Promoting your products in store with signage and graphics allows you to grab your customers’ attention and drive brand awareness. But, sometimes we notice brands forget to continually refresh those graphics in order to keep their audience’s interest. You don’t want to be one of those brands who forgets to replace their Christmas end cap months after the holidays. Drab, outdated signage doesn’t make shoppers excited about your products. It does the opposite. If you’re noticing your graphics in store aren’t getting the customer interaction they once were, it’s time to toss out the old signage! Not only will this show that you are actively promoting your products, but it will also give your space a new and rejuvenated look.

Our team of professional Installers are equipped to install large format graphics and signage, both on the interior or exterior of the store. Whether you’re launching a new product, or doing a seasonal reset, our teams will bring your retail vision to life and handle your graphics with care.

Don’t get stuck in a retail rut. This spring, change out what’s not working for your brand, and renew your sales with a refreshed strategy. Contact us to start creating your custom retail activation plan today.