As anyone who attended this past PMA can attest, the show was all about new products and services. And as anyone who is a regular reader of my column can attest, I am always preaching that change and transformation are a basic building block to your store’s success in launching these new products.
We are now two months past PMA, and a month before our peak season. I’m asking each of you to evaluate your own progress in implementing and adopting important changes for your store. To do so I thought we’ll turn this month’s column into a short progress report for all of us. This is important because success in business today requires multiple steps on many fronts. So the purpose of this article is to identify what you’re doing well and what still needs to be done.
The following are frequent comments I hear from retailers who are at various levels of preparedness and change:
“I am still trying to decide what services to offer and which equipment/software to buy.”
At this juncture you need to make a decision in time for a summer launch. The summer is crucial in order to build product awareness for the holidays.
If you’re still proactively evaluating new solutions for say, a kiosk, that’s ok, just try to wrap it up soon. But if, on the other hand, you’re just avoiding a decision, you might have a problem. This is especially true if you still doubt whether the market is even going towards new alternative products, like books.
It’s not that you have to believe any one new product represents the absolute salvation from your dwindling 4×6 volume, because that’s not the case. But you do have to accept that alternative products will become your most important source of revenue, and your biggest growth area.
Can you imagine retailers who, at the dawn of one-hour processing, were not sure minilabs would succeed? Some declined to transform their operations and failed, while most that did made fortunes. The investment level required to offer new products today is among the lowest retailers have had to make in decades, (even less than APS in cases), and represents a fraction of the cost needed to enter and maintain one-hour processing.
So don’t bulk. Although current offerings are rather primitive or “first generation,” and the financial returns still murky, new products will continue to evolve as demand grows, and you must be in this game now in order to grow and evolve with the market.
“I’ve spent money and am waiting for equipment to arrive.”
I hope you’re very busy making preparations because uncrating the new equipment and turning the power on can’t possibly be the way this new service will succeed. In traveling I’m routinely amazed at how stores fail to communicate their capabilities to customers, (and right along informing, there is also the need to inspire customers and educate them about new products). For example, one store expressed disappointment at their underperforming stretched canvas print sales. They were hoping to sell dozens but had sold none. When I pointed out there were no samples on the walls I was rebutted and shown a little sign on the counter that said “we make canvas prints.” I hope everyone knows that this is not the way anything in our industry will ever sell again.
The days when throwing money at a problem and expecting results are long over. Making preparations now, while you’re still waiting, is critical to the successful launch of the products you’ll soon be able to make.
Here are some critical steps you must take NOW before your equipment is installed:
n First and foremost, informing and exciting your staff. Your staff must take ownership of new products so they can become the evangelists for them. Hopefully they were part of the decision from the start, but if not, you can still empower them. Work with them to establish everything from where to place the units in your store, to merchandizing and showcasing new products. Ask staff to be ready to create personal samples using their own pictures. And then, address smaller but crucial details such as turn around time, pricing and workflow issues.
n Host a brain storming party for your staff to discuss these issues. Order the staff’s favorite food and let them know you’re truly listening – then truly zip it and pay attention! Not every idea your staff may have will be original, or even appropriate, but many will, and you’ll be the wiser for listening and implementing.
n This is also a critical time to create buzz and excitement among your customers. First, update your Web site to include new products. Doing this now before products are actually live is also a good idea, (think movie trailers that come out months prior to the actual movie release). If you see your future in these products, also make sure to put them front and center on your site.
n What about that newsletter campaign? This is an extremely important piece of the launch, and maybe the least costly. A newsletter I recently sent out, (it was about a new shoebox scanner from Kodak), is a good example. I just checked the stats and they are amazing, yet typical: so far, with only 12% of the list opened, already 630 people read the newsletter, and almost 70 had clicked on a link for more information. E-mail newsletters will give wings to your new products and will make them soar – get them done!
“New products and services are available in my store but honestly, demand is still disappointing.”
First, give a new service time to grow, and then make sure you’re following all the initiatives outlined above. Maybe you thought, as we all did a long time ago, that if you “build it, they will come.” But today you have to work much harder to get customers in the door; even for services and products they would ultimately love, or which they might already be getting elsewhere.
I know how difficult it is to think “marketing” for photo retailers that once only needed to focus on production. To succeed today you must be part marketer, part set designer, part event coordinator and part coach. Your lab technician breeding now counts for the smallest part. You have a lot of work to do, both on yourself and your store, but I believe the returns will be worth it…and let me know about your successes so we can share with other readers. yy
