Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If your store is filled with percent-off signs this holidayseason, you might not be pricing effectively, says Tom Shay, retailspecialist and principal ofProfits Plusin St. Petersburg, Florida."Independent retailers need to know their margins to masterhigher sales volumes," he says. Tactics Shay teaches toclients include:
- Don't"BOGO.""Buy one get one free"promotions can backfire, cautions Shay. "With independents,customers know that it's the owner making pricing decisions andnot a corporate entity, so they'll argue for 50 percent off oneitem and hope you give in," he says. Instead, use longer-termloyalty programs, such as punch cards that entitle customers to abenefit after 10 purchases. These inspire greater sales volumeswhile short-circuiting requests for individual discounts.
- Benefit from lossleaders.Promote popular items that are well-priced, even ifit costs you something. "If you're selling a gallon ofmilk for a dollar more than everyone else, then people are going toassume you're more expensive on everything," says Shay."Sometimes, you need to take a loss on one item to get peoplein the door."
Continue reading this article — and all of our other premium content with Entrepreneur+
Join the internet’s leading entrepreneur community! With your subscription you’ll get:
- Unlimited access, including premium content
- No ads
- Subscription to狗万官方magazine
- Four free e-books a year
- Subscriber-only events with our experts