Our annual JCK Retailer Survey takes the market’s temperature in five essential categories of retail operations. How does your business stack up?
For JCK’s 2011 Retailer Survey, we quizzed hundreds of retailers about their businesses vis-à-vis five essential categories of retail operations—Store, Stock, Sales, Staff, and Salary—and stumbled upon some intriguing findings in the process.
The upshot, though hardly a news flash, bears repeating: Service is your single most effective selling point. What’s especially noteworthy, however, is the nuance behind that result. The retailers who reported higher sales in 2011 than the year prior were less likely to report a price/value USP and more likely to report selection/quality of diamonds, customization, or ambience as the reasons behind their success.
In other words, three years after the Great Recession, many jewelers are finding there’s wisdom in one of the luxury market’s basic tenets: Thou shalt not be nickel-and-dimed.
Here’s a sample of questions you’ll find answered inside:
- How many stores do you operate?
- What are your annual per store gross sales?
- Do you think the economy will improve in 2012?
- Are your 2011 gross profits up or down as compared to 2010?
- Are your sales up or down from 2010?
- Have have your sales in different categories performed?
- What are your top three best sellers?
- How important is buying gold to your business?
- Do you buy gold from the public?
- How has your gold-buying business been affected by the rising cost of metal?
- What percentage of annual gross sales do you spend promoting your business?
- What best describes your retail brand’s unique selling proposition?
- On what media do you rely most to promote your business?
- How many employees do you have, on average, per store?
- How do you compensate your sales staff?
- How often do you run sales incentives or rewards?
- How do you train your sales staff?
- What is your primary source for new hires?
- How do you measure your sales staff’s results?
- How did your salary change in 2011?
- What is the average number of hours you work per week?
- What is your single biggest on-the-job concern?