Use your window to attract high margin customers

We decide who steps foot through the front door of our shops by the pitch in our front window.

A window promoting low margin products will attract low margin shoppers. A window promoting lottery products will attract lottery shoppers. The window promoting higher margin homewares will attract a shopper for homewares.

We decide who shops with us and their likely spend based on our front window.

I can’t make that statement often enough to any independent store owner. It is Retail 101.

The photo shows the front window from last week at one of my newsagencies. In this display we are pitching good margin funky products to the homewares and gift shoppers. It’s part of a cycle of regularly refreshed window displays that we are using to attract new shoppers to the business, shoppers who are looking for higher margin gift and homewares lines. It’s working.

This window display is an example of us making conscious choices as to who we want to attract. As I have noted previously, it is easier to convert this higher margin shopper to purchase what else we carry than to use traditional newsagency lines to convert to purchasing these items.

For an independent UK retailer the same can be said. Chase lower margin sales and you get low margin customers, chase Lottery and agency services and you get few delivering customers. Only by looking for and chasing high margin products will you attract high margin delivering customers.

What do customers see from your shop window? Share your examples with us.