Retailing In The Age of Amazon

The life of small retailers has always been challenging and recently it has got even harder.  Trying to run a retailing business in the Age of Amazon really requires you to know what your customers are likely to want to buy even before they realise themselves.

This understandably can be overwhelming.  Make the wrong decision and you are likely to need to be marking down your stock and giving up on making the profit you require if you are to pay the business expenses let alone yourself.

Of course, if you are lucky and guess correctly you could find yourself on top of the newest and hottest trends and drawing in great margins.

At 51st Business Solutions, we know how operations like Amazon and eBay can impact small conventional retailers.  However, by adopting the right strategies, we also know you can ensure you stand out in the crowd.

The first tip for successfully retailing in the age of Amazon is to become a master in the category and niche in which you operate.  If you can show you have greater product knowledge in a specific area then Amazon will always be behind.

When your sales associates know exactly what to recommend to customers you will be on target to achieve a winning streak. Use whatever Point of Sale System you employ to track your customer purchases. It will enable you to quickly answer questions like “What did I buy previously?”, and combined with a liberal return policy you can earn powerful customer loyalty. 

Big box retailers and Amazon are not set up to compete with this sort of attention to detail.

A second tip is to aim to create experiences.  Amazon’s USP is convenience, but we humans are social and generally like to gather together with our peers.  This is particularly true for younger generations, who tend to crave experiences even more than the things they may acquire along the way. 

As a women’s boutique, for example, you can excel in this, by holding designer trunk shows many times each year to which customers who have bought similar products before are invited. As an added attraction you could serve drinks and light snacks to make the event a real outing.

Additionally, you could consider curating outfits for your more enthusiastic customers based on their past purchases.  Once you get a new product in, use your knowledge of customers to put together collections and market these.  Another plus compared to Amazon is the wardrobe stylist assistance you can provide.

A third tip for retailing in an age dominated by Amazon is to accept that it is a powerful platform and take advantage of it. Let’s face it technology has made it much more feasible for small retailers to sell on a multitude of marketplace platforms – why not Amazon too?

Of course, you need to make sure the technology you are using is actually supporting your sales.  There is nothing worse than making a sale on Amazon and not being capable of fulfilling the order.  Amazon would quickly remove you if orders are not fulfilled properly. 

In addition, if you are able to make the customer’s online experience feel like an extension of their experience in your store you will enhance the relationship you have with that customer.

Make sure your online presence mirrors your bricks-and-mortar store, enable your customers to browse and shop online but allow them to pick up in store.  If you would like help and advice making your business ready for retail in the age of Amazon contact us for more information.