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4 Proven Ways to Make Your Gift Shop a Success

June 27, 2022
15 minute read
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Home and gift shops have to compete with more stores than ever before. Since a lot of what these stores sell are things that people might think of as "commodities," it's easy to miss out on places that sell the same things for less. Your business doesn't have to go through the same thing, though. You can stand out and win customers without competing on price or products if you use some creative and up-to-date strategies. Continue reading to find out:

1. Design a unique in-store experience

cancode.io gift option app ecommerce tips User experience UX Gift Shop

Your gift shop shouldn't be like shopping anywhere else. Don't just put things on shelves and call it a day; make it a point to create a memorable customer experience. This is done very well by Oklahoma, a small store in Manchester that sells everything from cactus lemon juicers to jewelry made by hand. People often call the store Aladdin's Cave because it's a place where great finds and treasures can be found.

“It’s not a conventional retail space,” explains co-owner Yaw Djang. “There are things hanging from the ceilings and the walls. That’s important to us, it’s not just what we sell, it’s essentially how we sell it and the experience the customer has when they’re going around the shop. We’re certainly trying to create more than a place just to come and get stuff.”

The goal, says Yaw, is to “offer customers the kind of experience you have when you travel to different countries, looking for those unique kinds of treasures.”

2. Make use of Technology

Technology will not only make running your business easier, but it can also make your customers' time in your store better. Obviously, your business will determine what kind of solutions you should use. Here are a few ways that other retailers use technology in their stores:

Mobile POS

If you still use a cash register to run your retail business, you might want to switch to a modern point of sale system to make your business run more smoothly and make shopping more enjoyable for your customers. These days, many point-of-sale systems do more than just let you ring up sales. A lot of them come with features that make it easier to manage your store's inventory and customers. When it comes to the shopping experience in the store, these solutions help employees help customers better. Tablet-based tools let them help customers from anywhere in the store, and mPOS systems can cut down on lines at the checkout, so customers can get what they need much faster. Borough Kitchen is a good example. With the help of their iPad POS, the cookware store stays on top of things even during its busiest times. When the store gets busy, they just switch on their extra iPad registers so they can serve customers more quickly.

“Within our shops, at peak times, and in particular at Christmas time, we can add a new till instantly by switching on another iPad,” says founders David Caldana & Justin Kowbel. “That just wouldn’t work with a traditional till system.”

Reporting and analysis that is thorough

If you have access to the right information, you can make better business decisions. This is why it makes sense to spend money on reporting and analytics tools that will help you get the data you need and figure out what it all means. Most modern POS systems have their own reporting tools, so if you're already using one, be sure to use the data and analytics tools that your provider gives you. You should try to find a solution that keeps track of important retail metrics like sales, margins, profit, conversions, and more. Podarok is a great example of a gift shop that uses reports well. The store, which is based in the UK, looks closely at its sales data and bases its decisions on that.

“My favorite feature has to be the sales reports. By day, by month, by period, by hour, but most importantly, by supplier, says Podarok’s Andrey Pronin. “We can predict what is going to happen next year and therefore plan our staff rosters and product ordering in advance.”

The technologies listed above are just some of the tools you can use in your business. If you want to improve things in your store, you should definitely check them out. But the best way to figure out which technologies will work for you is to do some research on your own. Find out what's wrong with your store and see if technology can help. Once you've found tools you can use, try them out and ask users what they think to see if they're a good fit for your store.

Taking care of customer relationships

Your business should have a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that lets you collect information about your customers. You can then use this information to encourage customer loyalty and repeat purchases. We can see this at TheSuperCool, a store in South Melbourne that sells gifts. The store has a customer loyalty program called SuperCoolAmigos. The program is run by Vend and Collect Rewards. In the three years that TheSuperCool has been using Vend, their email list has grown by 750 percent. Because of their smart CRM efforts, TheSuperCool now has a solid database of customers that they can keep marketing to.

3. Adding value through services

You can set yourself apart from competitors and add value to the shopping experience by offering services that customers can't get at other homeware or gift stores. You could try the following: Gift wrapping – You might want to offer gift wrapping in your store. It will be easy for shoppers and give you more money at the same time. Even if the service is free, you could sell extra boxes and wrappers to customers. Consultations – Depending on what kind of store you have, you could help customers make the right purchases by giving them advice. Take a look at what The Container Store is up to. The store, which specializes in storage and organization tools, has a service called "Contained Home" that helps people organize their homes. A professional organizer will come to your home and help you get things in order for a fee. They will also give you tips on how to make your space look better. Classes or events – Gather people in your shop for a few hours of learning and getting to know each other. Many stores with forward-thinking owners now offer classes and events in-store that bring in more customers, help them buy more, and get them involved. Take Michael's as an example. The arts and crafts store holds classes on different DIY or art projects so that customers can get to know each other and the store better. Cake decorating, knitting, making jewelry, and other things are covered. Serve food and drinks – Why not offer food options at your business if it makes sense? It will give more people a reason to stop by your store and stay for a while. Sustainable NYC, a store that sells green and sustainable products, is a good example of how this works in real life. The owner of Sustainable NYC, Dominique Camacho, says that having a cafe on site has been a big help for business.

“We love how people come in here every five minutes. Just having the traffic—it makes a difference,”

Even though it's not always possible to have a cafe in your store, that doesn't mean you can't have some food and drinks in your store. Why not have parties and serve snacks or appetizers? Or, you could offer your customers something to drink while they look around your store.

4. Get out there and freshen up your inventory

If your products aren't selling, you might want to try giving them a new look. Talk to your customers, find out what's popular, and use that information the next time you need to order new products. This is what the beautiful design shop Cat Socrates in Singapore is doing. Hellen Jiang, the store's owner, says that Cat Socrates has a lot of regular customers, so they have to keep their products fresh.

“We’re always trying to find new brands and items, and we look at sales reports to determine the quantity and type of goods,” she said. On top of that, “we listen to feedback from our customers.”

You should also think about going to trade shows, which can help you learn about the latest trends. If you work in the gift or homeware business, you might want to go to ASD Las Vegas, the Autumn Gift, Home Fair, or Las Vegas Market.

Posh Wrap: Gift Option Manager App

If you have an online store, you can offer a gift wrapping service to help you boost your sales, especially during holidays. You can download Posh Wrap: Gift Option Manager App from CanCode.io, it helps your customers to choose a product to give as a gift because the App has a feature that will help you create a gift guide. The App can be installed easily and in a convenient way, it can be added directly as an option to your product page.

Conclusion

Keeping up with the competition in the gift and home goods business can be hard, but this is a task that can be done with the right products, tools, and in-store strategies. We hope you got some ideas from the above tips that you can use in your stores.

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One Response

gate io nedir says:

May 2, 2023 at 5:12 pm

I am sorting out relevant information about gate io recently, and I saw your article, and your creative ideas are of great help to me. However, I have doubts about some creative issues, can you answer them for me? I will continue to pay attention to your reply. Thanks.

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4 Proven Ways to Make Your Gift Shop a Success

1. Design a unique in-store experience