Author: vendorco

This step is highly recommended, especially if you are expanding your retail placement. All retailers have unique requirements, processes, and procedures and you should always be knowledgeable before approaching each avenue. Some trial and error is to be expected; however, you should not be completely blind.

We recommend seeking retail experts that specialize in a particular field to consult with. If you are interested in Costco placement, VendorCo offers one-on-one consultation sessions. Visit: https://vendorco.com/consulting-info for more information.

After compiling your lists, you may see areas that need attention or improvement, or you may see that your marketing and retail are right on track and you simply wish to expand. The point of this is to track and compare these two important business plans. If you have trouble comparing these lists, we strongly consider consulting with an expert (VendorCo offers one-on-one telephone consultations, see: https://vendorco.com/consulting-info).

Use your findings to develop short and long term goals. Consider where you want to be by the end of the year, the next 5 years, and the next 10 years – or any breakdown of your choosing. Make several goals for each time period, including both sales and retail goals in dollars and locations. If you’re feeling ambitious, step outside of the marketing/sales department and consider long/short term goals for human resources, operations, etc.

In this step, develop a list of your current marketing strategies. Similar to your retail chart, include information such as impressions, targeted demographic data, and any other pertinent information related to your marketing plan.

Once you have both charts completed, compare them next to one another. Is the data consistent? Is the demographic you are targeting in your marketing plan reflected in your retail sales? Start asking these types of questions to better prepare for step 3: making short and long term goals (see next blog).

This step is fairly straightforward. If you are not already tracking your retail stores and comparing and contrasting sales information, now is the time to start. Large companies often have staff dedicated solely to tracking this information, but for smaller companies it is often taken for granted.

Simply make a chart including your current retailers and any other information you believe is appropriate. You may consider including dollars of merchandise sold, units of merchandise sold, retail demographic, etc. etc.

Using this chart, begin to think about what areas of retail are more or less successful for your business, and consider why this might be. Ask yourself questions about the data that you are collecting and if this data is consistent with your target demographic. This information will come in handy in Step two: evaluate your marketing plan (see next blog).