I walked into a fine china specialty store recently. In the midst of their elegant products and presentation were a few strangely unrelated items such as notepads, bath products, and even a few children's sweaters. Curious, I asked the man behind the counter how these items found their way into his store. "My wife fell in love with them at a buying show," he said. "They really have no reason to be here other than that."
Everyone who has owned a store has made this mistake at least once and probably more. Maybe you saw something you just couldn't resist even though it was unrelated to your concept. Maybe you wanted to buy something at wholesale for yourself but in order to get it you had to buy a case or two, and the rest ended up in your store. Whatever the reason, it doesn't belong there and you know it -- and so do your customers. You want to be known as THE specialty store to go to for A, B, and C. So don't buy D, E, and F just because you couldn't pass it up. All of the products you sell need to fit in with your concept and categories. Otherwise, you risk hurting your image and confusing your customers.
Think of it this way, rock bands don't have opera singers as their opening act, and vice-versa. Why? Because these acts are for different audiences. Imagine how confused an audience waiting to hear an opera would be if the curtains flew open to reveal the Rolling Stones as the opening act? It doesn't mean that you can't like both opera and the Rolling Stones, but you go to different venues to see them, and everything about the experience is different. The same is true for shopping in a specialty store. It's supposed to specialize in something. Items that aren't within that specialty confuse your audience and look out of place. You don't go to a shoe store expecting to see a table of pots & pans. You don't go to a furniture store expecting to see a rack of pants. In the case of the fine china shop I mentioned above, the "extra" products they had didn't relate to their concept in any way, interrupted the otherwise elegant look of the store, and cheapened it.
Don't send mixed messages about who you are. When you define your store concept and categories (see our 08/27/09 blog) strictly follow it when buying for your store, and be disciplined. You don't want to be the one that has Mick Jagger in the middle of your opera!
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