In the face of online sales and a slowing economy, can retail stores be saved? I’m really beginning to think “no”.

Now when I say “retail stores”, I am generally referring to big box type specialty stores (your Best Buy’s, Home Depot’s, Lowes, many “strip mall” type stores, the stores in your local mall… etc - those kind of places.) I am not referring to all retail. Because, let’s face it, we’ve been doing face to face trading with merchants for thousands of years, and we’ll be doing it for thousands of years to come.  

Heck, on that note, I’m sure merchants traded (and people bought) even during the Inquisition and the Black Plague, so a little recession and the internet will not kill all retail (in the interest of full disclosure, I feel I should mention that I have, on occasion, wished Black Death  - or Inquisition, I’m not picky - on rude retail clerks. But I digress.)

I also think the giant “all in one” places like WalMart and Target will survive. However, they do most of the things I’m about to complain about fairly well.

But some places are in big trouble.

To begin, retail is generally in trouble not just because of a slowing economy - it’s  because of a slowing economy and online sales.  It’s a serious double whammy that has already claimed the life of electronics retailer Circuit City (while Amazon dot com is doing pretty well.)

So let’s establish a premise - online sales are generally hurting retail stores the most. Good?

Now let’s figure out WHY that is.

I will tell you, it’s not price. Any good salesperson worth their salt tells you that price isn’t the key component in buying. Oh sure, there’s always going to be some schmuck who brags in an online forum that he “goes to see the product in the store, then goes home and buys it online for 6% cheaper.. yay me”  That’s always going to happen - idiots like that will also spend $10 in gas to save $5 on an item. They’re assholes, and a scant part of the marketing equation.

So, price isn’t the big reason people go online… what could it be??

How about convenience?

Ok, now we’re getting somewhere… talk to any online shopper, and the first thing they’ll say is how convenient it is. “Point / Click / Buy” - wait a few days, and your item is delivered.

But how can waiting a few days be more convenient than getting the product right now??? Well, here’s where the shooting themselves in the foot comes in.

In the last few years, in the face of increased online competition, retailers, on a whole, have actually made it MORE inconvenient to shop at their stores. They have decreased inventory on all but the hottest sellers (meaning the stuff you want probably isn’t in stock), and they have decreased staff, meaning it takes you forever to get out of the store. They make things harder to buy, they skimp on floor help, and they make register transactions a grueling “point of sale” process by offering everyone magazine subscriptions, buyer’s club memberships, and extended warranties.

Now, I’m sure some weenie in Dockers and a golf shirt (hey, it’s Casual Friday) will explain to me that above is necessary in the face of softer sales. That the revenue generated per square foot has to equal a pre-described amount of inventory turns while maintaining a certain exponential percentage of associate expenditures (”cashier pay” to you and me) while still generating an increased amount of gross margins.

To which I say “Shut the @#$% up Mr. Regional Manager and get your lazy, Dockers-wearing ass behind a register and start ringing people out.”

Because that’s what it boils down to. Lots of talk, lots of powerpoints, lots of spreadsheets, and only one cashier to ring people out.

You know what, retail? You did this to yourself. You should be EXPLOITING the “get it right here, right now” angle to the fullest. But you aren’t - you are actually making it more unpleasant and more of an ordeal to shop at your stores. 

Ok, enough complaining. I’m a solutions guy, so let’s offer some solutions.

Those of you who know me and know my work understand that I’m all about simplicity. Many times, the solution for business ills is not complicated, regardless of company size. Sometimes, it’s not about spreadsheets or trying to reduce logistical expenses or any other topic that gets talked about in a room full of golf-loving business guys. It’s about the front lines, and what the customer wants.

Here are some “Dan Style” solutions:

• Retailers need to take a look at their stock and start offering “more” stuff. I realize this flies in the face of what they now do (get rid of slower moving items for faster turning stuff), but what that does is it creates an atmosphere where nothing is special. My local supermarket has pretty close to the same general DVD selection as Best Buy.  Online sales thrive because I can buy anything. I realize stores can’t carry everything, and that inventory turns are important (I ran a store, so I know the drill), but it’s gone way too far in the last several years. If it’s anything but a mainstream item, I won’t even venture out anymore, because I know nobody will carry it. That’s bad.

• More cashiers. No nice way to say this, but find a way to increase store payroll. I come to a retail store because I want the item now, and I want to get the heck out of there. The regional managers can argue all they like about this one, but the fact of the matter is their stores are failing - what they are doing isn’t working. Cutting cashier hours / payroll has been a pet project of retailers for years, and it’s not helping. You have to get me out of the store. Target can get me out of there - why can’t Home Depot?

• Related to the above, stop making the checkout process a sales pitch. Stop offering warranties at the register, stop selling magazines at the register, stop offering your store credit card at the register. It’s driving people away, because, combined with your one cashier, they have to wait forever to get the heck out of your store.

• A group of smokers on break right outside your front door is a turnoff. Sorry about that, but it is.  

• I understand theft is a problem, but you have to stop hiding stuff. I want to buy a game/dvd box set/ink cartridge… and I have to hunt down a clerk (who is probably on break having a cigarette out front.)  Really… didn’t you invest in those alarm thingees at the front of the store to stop theft? Or were they just to annoy paying customers whose item’s security tag didn’t de-activate?

• Lastly, if you MUST hide stuff, can you at least tell me where it is? I go to where you keep your x-box games, looking for the new title. It’s not there (because they are all locked away up front.) Maybe a sign, or an empty box, or something telling me “we hid this, look over here instead”. Yes, Best Buy, this is aimed at you.

I’m not sure if the above solutions will work - maybe it’s just the natural cycle of things. The internet is going to kill many newspapers; maybe big box retailers can’t do anything about it. But I have to tell you, right now, they aren’t even trying.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

By all accounts, I run a few pretty successful websites. Ultimately, they are responsible for a huge chunk of my business.

The main thing that makes my websites work is the simple fact that they convert. Meaning a certain percentage of people who visit my site take action (in my case, contact me for my services.) This is commonly called “website conversion”.

There are a ton of factors that influence website conversion. The quality of your visitor, what you say, your headline, how your visitor got there, etc. So I’ll start another “ongoing series” and begin discussing website conversion tips here in the blog. And with that said, here’s today’s conversion tip:

Make sure your website focuses on solving a visitor’s problem

Your customers didn’t come to your website to listen to music, find out how many awards you’ve won, or learn about your environmental causes (”save the snails!”) They came to your website because they have some kind of problem. And you need to let them know, almost right away, that you can solve their problem.

For example, I let you know right away that yes, I can solve your writing issues. I don’t make people wonder if I can help them - I let them know right away I have the answer for their writing problem.

Expanding on the above, many businesspeople do not know why their customers came to them. I once wrote for a private investigator’s website. At first, all he wanted his site to talk about were his low rates, which I felt was a mistake. I basically had to tell him “Your customer did not come to your site to save money. Your customer came to your website because they think their spouse is cheating or the like. SOLVE THAT PROBLEM. Your low fee is a bonus, and the icing on the cake.”

Makes sense, right?

Solve problems - right away. I’m talking within the first paragraph or two. Don’t mention your company philosophy or how wonderful you are or the slew of awards you’ve been showered with. Nobody cares. At least not in the beginning (those things may have merit later on.)

And don’t use a broad yet vague statement either. This means no “at Bloat Incorporated, our goal is to systematically provide dynamic, efficient Information Technology solutions and innovative answers with a synergy that encompasses the broad spectrum of our unique problem-solving expertise.”

Trust me - nobody knows what that actually means. Not even the person who wrote it.

Be clear, be specific, and solve real problems. Do those things, and your website will convert better.

Have a great day!

I want to get all “Zen” on you for a moment and talk about the power of vision. Or perhaps I should say “ENvision”.

It’s a very powerful thing - if you can envision something, I mean REALLY envision it, well, that’s the first step to making it happen.

Now I’m not going to get outrageous here - envision as I might, I’m not becoming the starting center fielder for the NY Yankees. But as I sit here, looking at my books on Amazon.com, and looking around my office and how my life turned out, I’m struck by something profound…

I kinda planned this. 

Ten years ago, I had just gotten divorced, and was making $10 per hour working a tech support job. I was 32. It seemed like life was going nowhere. I had been in business for myself a few times before then, but never really went anywhere. I think that’s because partially, I didn’t know where I was going.

So, at 32, I started thinking about where I really wanted to be.  I didn’t set any “official” goals. No five year plan or anything like that (that’s WAY too “type A” for me.) But I envisioned what I wanted out of life:

And here’s what I wanted:

• A loving wife and a great marriage
• A nice little house
• To work for myself - as a writer
• From a basement office
• I even had the office decorated in my mind - I’m not kidding. I’d have a nice desk, a nice TV, surrounded by my favorite movies, horror movie memorabilia on the wall, Owls everywhere…
• I’d have a black pickup truck in the driveway. Seriously, I even had the color picked out.
• And yes, writing a few books was part of this dream, too

I was dead serious about what I wanted - I actually envisioned myself living this life.

And you know what? It’s all there. Even the black pickup.

There’s actually more stuff on the list - a third / fourth / fifth book (not on just business, either - I’d like to also write about life motivation, relationships, living a happy life, etc.) I’d also like to be on the radio some, maybe do some seminars. More consulting for sure, because I’m good at writing and web conversion and such - and I can teach it, too. Lots of things, really. 

The point is, I don’t just dream this stuff. I actually envision it. 

Then I do the next step (which is vital.) I ask myself the all-important question - “Ok Dan, how do we go about making this happen?” 

Like I said before, I set no timetables, no “goals”, none of that. I just envision what I want, and begin the process of making it happen.

Do you think it was an accident that I started my writing business? Was it dumb luck that made me send a proposal to a publisher (truth be told, hundreds of thousands of writers have millions of rejections - I have like four. Once I decided to write the book, I simply made it happen and sold it.) 

I don’t say the above to brag or impress you in any way. I say it because millions of people dream. They dream, but they don’t ENVISION. And even if they do, they certainly don’t say “ok, how do we make this happen.”

I’m telling you to do just that. Envision what you want. Then really go about making it happen. 

So how do we go about making it happen? That’s next in the series (give me a week or two )

Not that I want to get too political (because all that invites is pointless argument where each side will not bend… although I did vote for Obama ), I was VERY pleased to hear Obama quote one of my all-time favorite writers, Thomas Paine (without whom, there might not even be an America.)

The quote he used was at the end, when he mentioned that the father of our nation (General Washington) read the following to his troops in the dead of winter:

Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.

He was quoting the end of Paine’s “The American Crisis” (Number I), which also sports one of the all-time great opening lines (”These are the times that try men’s souls”). I still get chills reading that line…

How that paper came about was Paine (the author of Common Sense, if you didn’t know) was asked to write something to help rally the troops. He was asked to do this for two reasons:

1) He was an excellent (and prolific) writer. Perhaps one of the best who ever lived.

2) Since Paine was a bit of a loose cannon, they (meaning the founders) wanted/needed to give him something to do, and keep him somewhat occupied. 

Easily one of my favorite writers, and it pleases me to no end that Obama quoted him.

Good Paine book here, if you are interested.

Ok, time for an update on the books (books is plural because two are being printed now.)

First up is the second edition of Start and Run a Real Home Based Business. Yup, that’s right - it’s getting a second edition, which makes me pretty proud. The fact that it’s getting a second edition in a little over a year out is pretty special too. Ok, it’s not Harry Potter, but I’m still pretty juiced that the book warranted another edition after such a short time. It should be getting printed any day now.

Right after that one goes to print, Do the Web Write goes to print. I would really rather it the other way around, because it’s a great book (so is Start and Run, but ”Web Write” is FAR more advanced in a web marketing sense, and it’s also got a HUGE 20,000 word chapter on copywriting, which I know you’re going to love.)

The reason for Web Write being a little late is kind of my fault… I finished the manuscript in July, and got the Galley copy in October (which is essentially the edited / “we’re going to print” copy.) Well, I didn’t like it - they had it laid out in two columns. Now, that was fine for Real Home Based Business, but it didn’t look good for Web Write, because the latter contained many pictures as examples. So there were times I’d say in the book “see what I’m talking about in the following picture…” and the picture would be two pages later… not what I intended at all.

I already had a successful book under my belt, so I figured I had enough juice to complain and get it the way I wanted. Turned out I did, and the publisher was happy to change it. But that set things back a bit - if I didn’t say anything, you’d have a copy in your hands right now. But in the end, it’ll be worth the wait - you’re going to get a better product, which is really important to me.

Anyway, I suspect both will see the light of day within two months. And I’m starting to kick around ideas for book #3 (and there will be a #3… there will be a #10 if I have my way.)