Retail Reset: Out With The Old In With The New

Running a retail business can make you feel like a dinosaur sometimes. Well don’t be so downbeat just yet because recent consumer studies have expressed there is a long life ahead for the retail store yet. It’s true, things have massively changed in just the last decade with more and more e-commerce businesses opening up and using drop shipping methods. But there are many millions of people around the world that still want to go outside and do their buying face to face. There’s nothing quite like holding a product in your hand for the first time and really seeing if it’s the one you want. A retail business does come with it’s charm but also it’s challenges. The concept of refreshing the store constantly is definitely the most important to any business. You need to keep putting your front foot forwards as the store changes in it’s inevitable ways.

Three times a day

You have three phases in a retail store that happen or should be happening each day. This is when you check the status of the inventory on the shelves. Whether you’re running a grocery store or an electronics store, you need to see what kind of shelf life you have, literally speaking. Every morning, lunchtime and evening you need to walk around the store checking to see if you have the latest products right at the front. In a grocery store you will want to make sure you have the best quality products all neatly presented in a line without any product laying on it’s side at the back. For an electronics store you’ll want to put the newest and most expensive products at the front and perhaps the less so towards the side. Customers often pick up things and then lay them back down but never how they were in the first place. So cleaning things up and making the shelves presentable is a three times a day duty.

Unpacking the delivery

When you get new stock in your retail business it’s always a great feeling. Brand spanking new items are ready and waiting to be put on the shelves. However what comes with this is all the packaging. The cardboard boxes, foam filler and plastic wrap has to be opened and peeled away. After a new delivery has been fully opened you have half your storage area packed with waste. Before you can go outside with the new you need to get rid of the old. Take the waste and put it in your cardboard balers which can compress many hundreds of kilos into cubes. You can then give these giant cubes to the delivery trucks which can then be driven up to the factories from where your products were packed. Not only do you save money but you reset the store from the front and back ends.

Retail businesses are not going anywhere and instead they are improving the overall experience. Going around the store three times a day to reset the shelves keeps the business looking presentable and professional. When you get a new delivery of goods, you should do away with all the packaging with your own balers, saving your money and making a good recycling of materials.