Run a profitable clothing store

Chapter 31 Main Pricing Strategies of Smart Stores (5)
Non-price means keep prices constant while making customers realize that for every penny they pay, they are getting more than competitors by improving product packaging, service, and marketing communications.After comparison, it is found that this strategy is often more profitable than price cuts and low-profit operations.

3. Lower prices
The reason why clothing stores adopt this strategy is that they believe that price cuts can increase sales, thereby reducing costs; the market is very sensitive to prices, and if prices are not lowered, market share will decline; after market share declines, it will be difficult to recover.It must be noted that the price reduction of clothing stores cannot be based on the reduction of product quality and service levels, but should maintain the original quality and service levels, or even better.

4. Raise prices and fight back with merchandise
Some clothing stores, instead of maintaining the original price or reducing the price, increase the price of the original clothing, and launch new brands to besiege the brands operated by competitors.

Clothing stores need to determine the best strategy for price changes on a case-by-case basis.A clothing store under attack needs to consider competitors' intentions and resources, the market's sensitivity to price, how costs vary with sales, and other factors in the clothing store.

It is impossible for a clothing store to spend much time researching the best response when a competitor has initiated a price change.Clothing stores must respond clearly and decisively in a short period of time.The only way is to anticipate possible price changes of competitors in advance and prepare appropriate countermeasures.This requires the accumulation of experience in clothing stores.

Prices fluctuate flexibly according to the market
In the case of fierce market competition, clothing stores usually adopt the method of setting prices according to the product prices of competitors in the same industry in order to preserve their strength.The pricing method that follows the market is mainly suitable for commodities in traditional industries with relatively small demand elasticity or a basic balance between supply and demand.In this case, if a clothing store sets the price high, it will lose customers; and if the price is set low, the demand and profits will not increase.Therefore, following the market is a relatively safe pricing method.It is also one of the most popular methods of competition-oriented pricing.

Clothing stores take this approach over the competition for several reasons:

(1) Avoid intensification of competition.

(2) It is difficult to calculate the cost of some clothing. The market-based pricing is the price that many clothing stores in the industry have explored for a long time. It is generally in line with the cost and market supply and demand, and it is easy to obtain a reasonable profit.

(3) If you set a different price from other competing stores in the hope of getting more profit than other competing companies, but you are not sure whether it will be successful, then rashly setting a different price may be self-defeating.

There are two specific forms of market-based pricing. One is to fluctuate at the same level as the prices of leading clothing stores in the industry; the other is to fluctuate at the same level as the average price level of products in the industry.In the case of fierce competition and complex market supply and demand, it is difficult for a single enterprise to understand the reactions of consumers and competitors to price changes. Adopting the pricing method that follows the market can save research costs for clothing stores and avoid risks caused by rash price changes; Consistent prices in various industries are also conducive to peaceful coexistence among competitors in the same industry, avoiding price wars and retaliation among competitors, and are also conducive to promoting the stable development of the entire industry in a harmonious atmosphere.

This method can either follow the market leader in pricing, or use the general price level of the market for pricing.It depends on the characteristics of our clothing and the market differences of clothing.For example, in a market similar to perfect competition, clothing stores can only sell goods at a set price, but have no ability to control prices.At this time, clothing stores mostly adopt the market-based pricing method, that is, their prices are always consistent with the market price level, and they chase market price changes through quantity adjustments, and obtain necessary profits by reducing circulation costs.

Product prices can not only reflect product value, but also reflect many social and psychological characteristics.Consumers have always been particularly sensitive to prices. In addition, some people like to compare and like to reflect their social status, cultural accomplishment and life taste through product grades. This requires shopkeepers to carefully understand the characteristics of public demand. Actively adopt different countermeasures.

There are many people in life who have the tendency of "shopaholics".But this does not become a reason for some clothing stores to price goods at will.To take root in the clothing store market, it is necessary for clothing stores to price flexibly according to various specific conditions.The price of specific clothing is closely related to personal wishes, emotions, personality, environment, etc. It is not only the value of clothing itself, but also the psychological value of society.It is impossible to mechanically understand the characteristics of consumers who are very sensitive to prices. We must know that not everyone likes to buy high-quality and cheap clothing.People with different identities have different values, which in turn determine their purchasing desires and needs.Therefore, clothing stores must deeply capture the psychological characteristics of consumers at specific locations and critical moments, and then set prices reasonably to encourage the public to buy with confidence.

In the process of market operation, pricing is a very flexible market strategy, which needs to be flexibly priced according to different consumption regions; it may also be forced by competitors to carry out some promotional activities and implement promotional pricing; it may also be to consolidate a certain market, such as high-end market, it is necessary to adopt a pricing strategy that is different from that of the low-end market, so that consumers can perceive the difference in brand grades.If the market means are constantly being refurbished, it is also necessary to price the product mix, and it can also be priced by direct discounts or gifts.In the specific pricing process, it is necessary to ensure costs, effectively cater to competition, and flexibly formulate corresponding pricing strategies in order to adapt to the long-term development of the clothing market. This is an important principle of commodity market pricing methods.

Follow the trend and promote hot products

When analyzing the performance of clothing stores, we must make a detailed analysis and comparison of best-selling products and unsalable products.Because this allows us to have a very clear understanding and grasp of inventory, and it also allows us to know the key points of sales.

But it's odd how often it happens that some best-selling clothes last forever, while other styles never seem to move.Except for the limited number of clothes that are best-selling, the others seem to be slow-moving.This will directly lead to the imbalance of goods-the best-selling clothes are often out of stock, while others are in a state of slow sales for a long time, and even accumulate more and more.This will make the shopkeeper very embarrassed.Replenishment, those slow-moving clothes are always unable to be sold, the funds cannot flow, and the inventory will increase; without replenishment, sales will not increase.

So many shopkeepers will ask shopping guides to recommend those unsalable styles to customer owners.This will make the shopping guides start to complain: it's not that their sales are not good, but that the design of those slow-moving models is not good enough, and customers really don't like it.The deep-seated reason is that the unsalable clothing style was not regarded as the main product when it was displayed, and it was not placed in the best display position, and the advertisement was not done well.They will take the following measures to remedy:
1. Find a good location for unsalable styles

They believe that no matter how good the clothing style is, if it is placed in a very inconspicuous position, it will be difficult for customers to find it.A good location usually brings more attention from customers, and customers will find its beauty and value.

2. Give more attention to slow-moving styles
They think that only by shopping for their favorite clothing can they sell it well.Therefore, the store mainly asks the shopping guides to learn more about these unsalable styles, discover their advantages and values, and even like it and fall in love with it.

3. Conduct sales simulation training for shopping guides

When the shopping guide falls in love with the slow-moving styles, the shopkeeper can organize the shopping guides to conduct simulated sales training on some slow-moving styles when they are relatively quiet in the store.This is like training soldiers before a war. Only by practicing beforehand can we achieve better results in war.

4. Incentives and punishments for shopping guides in parallel with pressure and rewards

For example, how much money will be rewarded for selling a slow-moving garment, and a small penalty will be given if it is not sold according to the regulations.Incentives and pressures are actually motivation. They believe that if they want to sell unsalable products, they must rely on these motivations to change the sales habits of shopping guides. If sales habits do not change, it will be difficult to make breakthroughs in sales.

Generally speaking, 80% of the clothing in a clothing store cannot be sold, and the clothing store earns 20% of the profits from the remaining 80% ​​of the clothing.Although the above measures will have some effect, they are only some superficial work to treat the symptoms but not the root cause.Investing a lot of advertising and promotional expenses to promote slow-moving products, investing the same amount to promote best-selling styles can get 10 times the publicity effect.From the perspective of cost analysis, we should devote all our thoughts to the purchase and sales of best-selling styles, and the unsalable styles should be discarded as soon as possible.

Create cost-effective products
Cost performance is the most important indicator considered in clothing production, marketing and customer purchase.Cost-effective clothing can meet the needs of customers to the greatest extent.There is no doubt that the performance-price ratio is the ratio of performance to price, and the larger the ratio, the higher the cost performance.In layman's terms, it is "this dress/pants is good and cheap".

The most important thing for consumers is whether the clothes they spend money on are worth or more than what they pay for.Therefore, carefully selecting cheap and high-quality clothing for customers is the first step in establishing a price image.It's a bit clichéd to emphasize buying good and cheap products in today's era of price wars, but it is the basis of the price image.Only by establishing a strict quality supervision system and implementing it in every operation link is an effective way to improve cost performance.

Nowadays, buying clothes is not as simple as buying clothes, consumers also care about the shopping experience.The experience they hope for is: shopping in this store is easy; the clothes I want are never out of stock; the shelves in this store are easy to choose and buy; Serve me kindly.

The degree to which consumers realize this expectation determines their rating of the clothing store's cost performance.Therefore, doing better in inventory and shelf management, clothing layout and display, introduction of new styles, sales staff's smiling service and cash register facilities can effectively improve the "value for money" score.The higher the disposable income of consumers, the higher the emphasis on "cost performance", and this part of consumers is the important target group of many businesses.

The cost-effectiveness has the following changes:
1. Increased cost performance

Performance rises, price falls; performance rises greatly, price rises small; performance declines small, price falls greatly.For example, electronic products and information products, with the advancement of science and technology, the performance of electronic products has increased rapidly, but due to the improvement of manufacturing level and the decline of cost, the price of the same type of products has continued to fall, resulting in an increase in cost performance.

2. Decreased cost performance

Performance declines, prices rise; performance increases small, price increases large; performance declines large, price declines small.is the opposite of the above relationship;
3. The cost performance remains the same

The range of change in performance and price is the same; indicating that the rate of change in performance and price is the same.

Maintain price integrity for clothing
Price honesty refers to whether the store is honest and credible in terms of price, and whether it attracts consumers to the clothing store with low prices, only to find that the special products have already been sold out.

The results of a survey of Chinese consumers show that the weight of three factors affecting the store's price image is as follows: cost performance 43%, price advantage 40%, and price honesty 17%.Although price honesty is not the most important factor affecting price image, it still accounts for a large percentage.

To maintain the honesty of prices, at least three things must be paid attention to: don’t let consumers worry about fake products; don’t let consumers worry about the discrepancy between the actual payment and the marked price; make it easy for consumers to return or exchange goods.Of course, the establishment of price honesty is not an easy task, it takes a long time to accumulate, and powerful public relations activities in this process can promote the deepening of consumers' impressions, and don't destroy the honesty established over a long period of time because of a trivial matter .

"Not the lowest price refund" is a good way of publicity, but before you are ready to use it, you must first think about whether you already have this strength and accept it 100% no matter what the situation.Attempts to trap "serious consumers" may eventually "trap" themselves in.

avoid price war

The consequences of blindly reducing costs can only be gradually unprofitable, and it is even more difficult to make breakthroughs in the research and development of clothing styles and quality. Over time, the quality of products will be reduced, and they will gradually be at a disadvantage in the competition. In the end, they will be rejected by customers. Abandoned, so the clothing store will fall into a confused situation.

You cannot participate in the price war unless you are forced to do so, unless you are sure of winning.In order to cope with the intensified price war, clothing stores mainly need to adopt the following defense strategies:
1. Adhere to the development of brand strategy
The global competition in the future is no longer a competition of products, but a competition of concepts and minds.A clothing store that can win in the market must have a strong brand.The stronger the positive force of the brand, the stronger the vitality of the clothing store; on the contrary, it is difficult for the clothing store to achieve sustainable growth.Only by adhering to the development of the brand line can we directly generate a huge pulling force for consumers, maintain customer loyalty in any adversity, improve our own efficiency, and achieve the goal of sustainable development.

2. Formulate a long-term price competition strategy

In order to get rid of the price war, you can formulate a long-term price competition strategy for your specific situation. In order to avoid damage to the existing brand in a timely and effective manner, you should not blindly participate in the price war.

3. Adjust the product line
Generally speaking, a drop in prices means a reduction in costs, which will reduce the profitability of clothing stores, and it will be necessary to improve the competitiveness of the value chain, causing a lot of trouble for clothing stores.But if competitors insist on forcing you to lower prices, you can adjust the series of products and reduce the quantity of products, so as to reduce the payment pressure of customers and determine a new value orientation.

4. Increase the added value of services

It is not a wise move to follow the price cuts of competitors, but to enhance their own services and improve service quality. This is a good way to deal with price wars.This will not only avoid giving consumers the illusion of quality degradation, but also better maintain the image and brand effect of the store.

5. Group attack of bundled goods
It is also a typical promotional technique to let products be sold in bundles and group attacks. It is bundled with other commodities on the basis of unchanged prices, and it is also possible to sell several pieces of clothing together at a more affordable price.Usually discounts will easily damage the brand image, but bundled sales can give a reason similar to wholesale low prices, and calmly respond to customer doubts. This is a direction that many clothing stores can consider.

I believe that everyone has a relatively comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect clothing prices and pricing strategies. The key is to apply what you have learned.Learn to use.It is important to create value, obtain profits, and run a clothing store well.

(End of this chapter)