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Take down the towels

Creating key focal points in your camp store.

Have you ever walked into a Camp Store and see pool towels hanging on the wall? Recently, when taking on a six store chain of Camp Stores, every store I walked into had colorful pool towels displayed on their walls as if they were a decorative canvas. Your eye went right to the array of towels on the wall and not to the displays of merchandise that were for sale.

When building out your camp store you should strive to create key focal points that attract a customers eye. Each of these eye catching displays should have merchandise that is properly priced. Add signage to encourage your customer to impulsively “Buy Now”. You could add a promotional table of neatly folded sweatshirts or to the latest souvenir that you can’t keep in stock . Your Camp Store should be merchandised into defined departments with colorful attractive displays catching their eye as they shop.

If you have pool towels hanging on the walls because you think it adds color to your store – TAKE DOWN THE TOWELS. Focus on the displays at the entrance and interior of the store. This is where attracting your customers eye can encourage them to add onto each sale as they move through the store to get the one item they need. Every visit to the store is an opportunity to sell more than they came in for.

For more ideas on how to setup your store to attract a customers eye, message us today.

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Four ways to make your camp store a profit center

Running a Camp Store can be a fun and at times, a frustrating venture.  It is fun to buy product, unpack it, price it and display it on shelves.  But when the bills start rolling in it can leave you scratching your head asking yourself, “Am I making any money at this?”.

Here are four ways to make your camp store a profit center:

  1. Departmentalization: It’s time to start thinking about your product differently. Departmentalization simply means to break your Camp Store layout into departments (Example:  Toys, Camping, RV, Household, Grocery, etc) .  Creating a floor plan that encourages your customer to flow through impulse sections of the store (apparel and souvenirs) to get to their essential needs creates an opportunity to build the total dollar sale. 
  2. Margin Analysis: The second factor is calculating margins that transfer to profits on your bottom line.  When buying an item some things to consider are the cost of goods and shipping or landing costs.  Margins percentages will vary throughout the different departments and a pricing policy should be established prior to season to make calculating margins as product arrives a seamless process. 
  3. Merchandising: Setting up your store with proper signage to communicate promotional buys, clearance and short term sale items encourage the customer to “buy now”.  As your customer enters your Camp Store and makes their way to the items they are shopping for there should be several places that their eye lands on marketing and display materials which encourage them to buy additional items. 
  4. Customer Service: Training your team to conversationally sell and work with the customer to find, choose and purchase their items is the final step in running a successful and profitable Camp Store.

Camp Stores can be significant profit centers when the right processes are in place. Not only will you enjoy added revenue to your bottom line but your campers will be grateful as well.

Stay safe and camp on! We are here if you have questions.

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