There are two main approaches to selling
more wholesale products. One approach
is based on finding more customers
to buy your products, and the other
approach is based on selling more
products to your existing customers.
While both approaches can produce
positive results, I would like to
focus on the latter sales approach.
The reason why I would recommend
that you attempt to sell more
of your wholesale products
to your existing customers
is because they already have a
business relationship with you,
and therefore will be more
receptive to purchasing merchandise from you.
It definitely takes a lot more effort
to constantly search for new customers
than to sell more merchandise to
customers that are already buying from you.
When a new customer first discovers
your business they might not be
ready to make a purchase yet.
But a customer who is already shopping by
you, whether they are online or in your
physical location, is ready to buy.
And if a customer is already actively
buying by you they are indicating that
they are willing to transact business with you.
That is actually what the lifetime value of
a customer is referring to. It's the anticipated
value of all the purchases that the
customer will be making from you.
In other words, there is an associated
corresponding value to the purchasing
power of a satisfied customer.
And once you have a satisfied customer
you will have an easier time in
selling more of your merchandise
to him or her.
This does not mean that you should not
be looking for new customers, since it's
only natural that your existing customer
base will fluctuate based on various
factors. People might
decide to shop by your competitors,
their fashion tastes might change,
they can switch businesses, or
simply not have a need for your
products any longer.
So yes, you should always
be searching for new customers
because you need to replace
the sales that are lost due to
customer attrition.
On the upside, your existing
customers already have a
good relationship with you
and you know that they
are interested in the
merchandise that you
are retailing or wholesaling.
One of the reasons why your
current customers will be
willing to purchase more of your
products is because they are
familiar with your wholesale merchandise,
they know that they can benefit
from them, and they enjoy
doing business with you.
I would like to show you
the mathematical potential
of this strategy.
Let's say on average you have
10 regular customers that shop
at your dress boutique
in a given week.
You might also have an occasional
new customer shop by you,
which is great, but for this
example let's focus on the
revenue potential of the customers
that shop regularly by you.
On average, those customers
spend 200.00 each by you.
That's a total of 2,000.00 of
sales per week, or 104,000.00
a year.
Now look what happens
if you can sell only 40.00 more worth of
merchandise on average to each of those customers.
Your weekly sales will now average
2,400, or 124,800.00 for the year.
That's an extra 20,800.00 of sales
just by getting each customer to
spend 40.00 more!
Now imagine what would
happen if you encouraged your
customers to spend an 80.00 a week.
Your annual sales would now be
145,600.00!
I can imagine what you might
be thinking.
Okay it sounds great, but how do
you actually encourage your
customers to purchase more merchandise
from you?
There are various honest and straightforward
approaches that you can use.
Tip#1
Offer an additional price discount on any
additional items that they purchase.
So if your customer is
purchasing a dress for 100.00
you can offer her an additional dress
for 95.00. While your profit margin
will be less on the second dress
you will still have increased your
profit on the overall transaction.
Tip#2
Increase the variety of merchandise
that you carry. If you
have a high end dress boutique
you might consider also
carrying costume jewelry,
designer shoes, fashion accessories,
and brand name clothing.
This way customers can purchase
additional items when visiting your
boutique.
Tip#3
Offer product bonuses based
on a larger quantity purchase.
For example, you can give
your customers a complimentary
pair of fashionable earrings when
they purchase 3 or more dresses.
You should actually look
for closeout merchandise
which you will specifically
use as bonuses for your
customers.
If you have been to my New York
wholesale warehouse you
know that I always like to
give my customers bonus
closeout items with their
purchases.
It helps them since they
now have items
that they can enjoy a
very high margin on (since they didn't
have to pay for those items)
and it helps me develop
a long term business relationship
with my customers as well.
These tips can be implemented
for both brick and mortar and online
stores. They can also be implemented
on the wholesale level as well.