IT’S ALL ABOUT IMAGE

You make an impression every time you come in contact with someone. Someone evaluates the way you look, your hair, your manner of dress, , your personal hygiene, and every other aspect of your personal presentation. How dare they make assumptions you say? Guess what, you do the same thing to others! We all do this as human nature. We evaluate where we want to shop by the way the store presents itself. We determine often where we will dine do the first impression that a restaurant makes on us visually prior to tasting their cuisine. These impressions are so important to your daily business as well.
Take a look around your retail shop. What message does your display window send out? Does it say come in and see what other wonderful surprises we have in store for you to enjoy! Or, does it say I am tired and faded, dusty, dirty and I have a lot more that is equally as bad if you do decide to make the effort to look inside. Display windows are the eyes to your shop and what potential customers see first. Make sure it is bright, and clean and tells the story you want it to. Summer is a great time to plan a display calendar for the shop’s display window so everyone will know what is up next and who is responsible for making it happen. It doesn’t just happen automatically. You have to make it a priority and plan for it!
Once your customers are inside, what is there for them to look at? Are the visual displays current, clean, well stocked and all the merchandise priced to sell? Or, are there still a few Valentines Day and Mothers Day designs with plastic picks in them? Again, planning is the key to making a retail store successful. Use this time to plan the display for the autumn and Christmas season now. Write down when you will start flipping the store from summer to early fall; then to strong fall, introduce Christmas in late fall to keep people interested and to let them know it is never too early to make some decorating decisions. Then move into Thanksgiving or a trans-seasonal look for the holidays. It won’t happen if you don’t have a when and who calendar to check on.
Move on to your cooler. Ask yourself,” Would I shop here if I had a choice? Are there plenty of well designed, well priced choices to choose from”? Are the flowers and foliages color grouped or does it look like a bowl of tossed salad with every color mixed together? Is there a strong selection of product to choose from? Are there a few unusual products that pique my interest that I may not be familiar with? Obviously no shop can stock every flower, but you do want to have enough traditional products and featured items that you can also showcase on the “What’s New” section of your website. Create some interest. Talk to your customers and show them just how progressive you really are no matter how large or small your town is. People like to be educated and see different things even though they may continue with their traditional requests. It shows your progressiveness and wiliness to try new things.
This is a good time to evaluate your website as well. Remember to include and activities you might be participating in. Post some pictures of your attendance at AIFD or a state, allied or wholesale program you have attended or participated in. Do some floral stylings that reflect a new technique that you learned and post that as well. Customers like to see you learning and not staying status quo.
Take advantage of the summer to fix up – perk up and notch it up a bit. The time you spend will be well recognized and appreciated by your customers. Remember to call your Account Manager for some different products for your cooler and web site photos.