Five Tips…

1. Don’t squeeze all of your products into the window display<
The less clutter, the easier it is for someone to apply their attention. Don’t fill your shop window with every product you can squeeze into it, focus on a select few products that you want to push more than others.

2. Let your creative side run wild
A simple and quite effect example could be if you are a garden store, why not have a miniature garden in your shop window that is decorated with the items you sell. You could even go as far as having a mannequin set up mimicking the actions of a person gardening using your products.

This can help people visualise themselves having the products themselves.

3. Mannequins
We may of mentioned mannequins in the above point, but they deserve one of their own. They can apply to a range of retail stores, from the garden store we mentioned above right through to a book or gift store. They help people make a connection and visualise themselves performing the action (so possibly reading a book, wearing clothes and so on).

4. Experiment with themes
Consider matching your window displays to themes such as Halloween, Christmas or possibly even other events such as the Olympics or the World Cup and promoting products that relate to them.

5. Stock up on featured items
If your window display was a success, would you have enough of the items you are promoting to meet demand?

Inspirational Window Displays
Possibly one of the best things you can do when considering what to do with your window display is look at others and see if you can expand on their ideas. There are many websites you can search to try and find inspiration, such as Flickr and Pinterest.

Below is a selection of window displays we’ve found from a quick search which we think are different and could attract the attention of people passing by.

Apple’s eye-catching effect of a cracked window to visualise the power of a speaker.

GAP’s take on a window display is interesting because it focuses purely on the products. The vibrant colours can help catch attention of people passing by.

River Island’s inclusion of animal heads on the mannequins differentiates them from the competition which use mannequins.

Following a review of our support calls an account management feedback we have compiled this help sheet to clarify the processes involved in the new KC Back Office Accounts Adjustment transaction type transactions.

Read the helpsheet

Encourage customer feedback and action it
Engaging with your customers in a two-way dialogue can make individuals feel special because it shows them you are truly interested in what they have to say. After all, they are the people that keep you in business. This could be through simply asking them while they’re at the checkout or having a Twitter or Facebook page where you encourage feedback.

It can lead to more than just retaining customers
There is also a bigger picture to look at. By increasing customer satisfaction there is the potential that you’ll get more customers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and if you’re keeping your customers happy then they may tell friends and colleagues about you.

Don’t forget the people who may decide to move to shopping with you because you offer a loyalty scheme. So don’t rule out making it clear that you do so in your marketing efforts.

If you’d like to learn more on how KC Loyalty can help you retain customers, contact us on 01724 400303 or alternatively send an email to email@hbp-group.co.uk.

To help you ProspectSoft have posted a guide on their blog to make your emails more efficient, and as users of email marketing ourselves we have added our own thoughts to this post.

Below are two pieces of advice mixing together both ProspectSoft’s thoughts and ours.

Measure real results
The obvious measurements are how many and sales your emails generate but you should also look at statistics such as how many people opened your emails and which links within your emails were clicked on. With a little more work you could track everything from someone opening your email through to them purchasing a product on your website.

Why? You’re able to get a real understanding of how people are interacting with your emails. It’s important because you can then tailor future emails to better drive sales. You can also see whether certain design aspects or subject lines are working or not, allowing you to further tailor your efforts.

Consider who you’re emailing
Do you consider whether the people you’re sending your emails to are actually interested in what you have to say? It’s an obvious question, but one definitely worth asking.

Why? Each time you send a badly targeted email it lowers the chances of the recipient opening and interacting with future emails you send.

Do your best to counter this by having multiple email lists that are tailored around the different products you offer. For example, if you sell a range of products from soft toys through to electrical goods, do your customers really want to know you have an offer on soft toys?

You may think that building such lists or measuring the results of your emails is hard but there are tools available to make these tasks easier, and if you’d like to learn more contact us on 01724 400303 or alternatively send an email to email@hbp-group.co.uk.

What’s next?
Next month we’re going to take a look at the design of email marketing in-depth and how it can make a real difference to the return you get.

But what impact has this had on the traditional high street? And how is the growth of social media and mobile affecting the retail industry? Take a look at this whitepaper to hear from Experian’s experts, who discuss multi-channel marketing and how you can embrace it to harness customer engagement, improve the shopping experience and ensure your busy is ready for the future.

Download ‘The changing face of UK retail in today’s multi-channel world’ white paper >>>

- Batch processing (orders to deliveries, deliveries to invoices)

- Optional consolidation of batch processed documents

- Optional stock costing methods per stock item for either standard or average costing

- Optional user definable lookup user fields for association with stock records

- SOP quote / proformas

- Sales & purchase ledge unallocated facility

If you would like further information on the latest version of KC Back Office Accounts or information on how you can upgrade, contact the relevant support company using the details below:

HBP Systems Ltd:
01724 400301

Kamarin Computers Ltd:
01733 297105

Monpellier Ltd:
01913 055 062

Or alternatively email retailsupport@hbp-group.co.uk.

- Save time
When the two link together you no longer have to worry about entering your new product records or orders because they are automatically transferred between your accounts and your online store. Not only can this help you save time, but it can also help you reduce the risk of errors in your work as you do not have to re-key data.

You also receive real-time stock levels so you can always ensure you have enough stock to serve your customers.

- Gain a competitive edge
With real-time sales information you always know which products are your best sellers and you can go into more detail by producing reports on your online sales history so you can make informed business decisions rather than making ‘best guesses’. 

- Manage special pricing easily

The link can also take your special pricing for individual customers so when a user is logged into your eCommerce website they receive the pricing you have specified in your accounts package.

If you have an online store that is using the popular OpenCart platform, we can provide you with a link that offers all of the above benefits. Our solution can link to many popular accounts solution such as:

Contact us on 0800 0433 106 or email us for more information.

Below is a list of sessions we think you may be interested in:

KCPOS Hints, Tips & FAQs
Stephanie Pogson from the HBP Group offers her own hints, tips and advice on getting the most from your KCPOS system as well as answering some frequently asked questions.

How to Maximise Your Online Sales Opportunities
Join Vicki Watmough of ProspectSoft to see how you can make more of your eCommerce website and your online presence in an increasingly competitive world of online sales.

How Innovative Marketing Can Transform Your Business
Join branding expert David White, from the Host Agency, to learn how to position and differentiate your products and services from your competitors in this interactive 2 hour workshop.

If you would like more information please feel free to call us on 0800 0433 106 or visit our educate 2011.

You can also view more KCPOS helpsheets by visiting our dedicated support section at hbp-group.co.uk/support and clicking KCPOS.

[View the helpsheet]

We currently have twelve help sheet available to view online, or to download, as well as four videos showing you how to use the hospitality, retail and Units of Measure functionality in KC Back Office Accounts.

The videos and help sheets have all been created by the HBP Group EPOS Support team which includes Stephanie Pogson who will be presenting her KCPOS Hints & Tips seminar at educate2011. The session, which takes places on Friday November 18^th, will be full of advice for KCPOS users and will help you to get the most from you system.

To register for the KCPOS Hints and Tips seminar at educate2011 and to see the full line-up of sessions please visit www.hbp-group.co.uk/educate