I'm sure this has happened to you -- my business partner Lynne and I went out to lunch the other day, and we stopped at a specialty store next door that had a cute name, a cute awning, and a cute sign in the window. We had never been there before...and we'll never go back. Why? Because the inside message did not match the outside. The product mix was confusing and the store had no clear concept. In a space that was about 600 square feet, they had expensive ($100-$200) handcrafted jewelry merchandised with under $20 costume jewelry, children's toys, stationery, women's bitch-themed products, school supplies, maternity shirts, hand towels, books for the bride-to-be, sassy greeting cards, bath products -- suffice it to say the product mix was a mess. Was this a store for kids or adults? Was it sweet or sassy? Were the price points low, moderate or high? What the heck was going on?? There was no clear purpose, no solid concept to this business. You could tell the owner was artistic and put a lot of work into the appearance but not into the concept. It's a shame, because half the battle in retail is to get a customer to walk in your store for the first time.
You should be able to answer the following 4 questions about your store's concept:
1. What is the Category? 2. What is the specialty? 3. What is the target market? 4. What is the personality/image/theme? Following each are covered in more detail:
1. What is the cateogry in which your store falls? This should be a fairly simple one or two word answer: Apparel? Home Decor? Toys?
2. What is the specialty within your category? Be as specific as possilbe. For example:
- Apparel: Women's special occasion dresses sizes 2 through 18
- Apparel: Women's Lingerie sizes 0 - 16
- Apparel: Infantwear sizes preemie - 24 Mo.
- Home Decor: Art Deco Home Accessories
- Home Decor: Lamps & Chandeliers
- Home Decor: Hand crafted wood furniture
- Toys: Dolls
- Toys: Educational for infants through age 12
- Toys: antiques and collectibles
You can have more than one specialty, but too many stores make the mistake of trying to be too broad. The smaller your square footage, the fewer specialties you should have. There are no hard and fast rules, but you can't have something for everyone and do it well. Choose your core specialty or couple of specialties and clearly define your business.
3. What is your target market or most likely audience? Again be specific:
- Teen Girls Ages 14 - 18 (high school)
- Career women ages 25 - 39
- Married couples ages 40 - 55
4. The final part of the concept is determining your store's personality, or image. Just as a celebrity reflects a particular image, so will your store. For example, a lingerie store could reflect pure sex, like Frederick's of Hollywood. Or it could be young & sexy, like Victoria's Secret. It could also be practical -- foundations specializing in bra fittings, post-mastectomy products and control garments. A home decor store could portray an image of formal elegance, French country charm, or rustic cabin comfort.
Having a clearly defined concept will not only make decorating your store easier, but buying for it as well, because you will know exactly what your message is and for whom is is intended. In future blogs we will feature some specific stores that have clear, well executed concepts.
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