nickshanagher

The Independent Achievers Academy, which my company promotes, unveils its Top 100 local shops list this week. Mailings are on their way to the shops that have made it through the mystery shopping stage of the Academy and the winners are encouraged to get their local media involved in telling their shoppers the good news. Telling the good news is important on a number of levels. Just as buskers have to leave a few coins in their hats so that people know it is OK to like the music and contribute, so telling your local community about your success is important as it encourages your shoppers to feel good about liking you, your staff and your shop. Hopefully they will also tell their friends and you will get more shoppers. Getting good publicity is also good for you in terms of building supplier confidence. Just as the government constantly hears from the lobbyists of big retail, so too your suppliers. The more that you can do to show the true picture, the better the outlook for your b...

Mike Southern in his weekly column for entrepreneurs says the best way to improve your guanxi is to always treat people like you would want to be treated, to help people wherever possible and to always tell the truth. Guanxi is a Chinese word that equates to well-being and true status. Money is what you have in your bank account, Mr Southern says. Wealth is what you have if your money suddenly vanishes: your knowledge, your reputation and network. For local retailers, as with all business people, these are useful ideas to benchmark what you are doing. Don't just think of it in terms of shoppers that visit your stores. Think of it also in terms of your suppliers and competitors.

While retailers spend most of their time facing shoppers, they also need to think carefully about their suppliers. You cannot take for granted that you will always be able to get what your shoppers want at a price that the shopper wants to pay. There are five things you need to do: - talk regularly to your key suppliers and build a relationship with them - find out about their financial health and who owns them; and look for stability - watch product quality and challenge changes immediately - understand who is supplying your supplier and who else your supplier is supplying. Talking to suppliers is obviously critical as this will build trust and help yout to get a good feel for what is going on.