Brick & mortar stores need to support a business model that is designed around enticing a shopper to actually come to a location and shop. Thus the first piece of advice, DO NOT COMPETE TO THE SAME MODEL THAT ONLINE SHOPS USE!
These stores need to create a shopping experience. Of course price has to be conducive to the type of consumers you are trying to attract. Apple sells on line, probably a lot of its retail business is on line, but it also sells products through 3rd party vendors, vendors to which Apple controls much of the process but mostly its Apple stores which often are never short of foot traffic customers, why? The shopping experience that's why. Businesses that are brick & mortar which do fine or better have created an atmosphere that attracts foot traffic. They build a better experience. They hire and train better employees, they have more attentive managers, better product sku's and make the shopper feel better about the time they spend at the shop.
Brick & mortar stores which fail at doing this WILL SUFFER AND DIE! Big discounters will find their piece of the pie get smaller and thus only few will survive. But in A/V the brick & mortar shop which specializes, creates a better atmosphere, hire and train quality professionals, offer great value ( not price per se) and make the whole shopping experience better will do fine.
See what do the online shops do? Then go the other way. Obviously price is a factor but you build in value that is the secret. Too many retailers have hired on the cheap, use the floor staff as glorified shelf stockers and store security while failing at giving them the tools and training to sell not just proper products and services but better the total experience.
1: Get rid of check out clerks. All sale staff need to be proficient to write and complete the sale. No more min wagers, but commissioned sales staff who can carry the experience with the shopper from the initial greeting through the demo to the sale and the check out.
2: Warehouse staff must be charged with maintaining the flow of sku's carried, if products are large enough that the sales person cannot carry out to the car with the client the warehouse staff must be made available to help out.
3: Dump all low buck sku's. Bring products that support the value orientation of your shop.
4: Shop decor must be taken away from a sterile warehouse look to a more intimate look. Smaller spaces may be better in this regard.
5: Show only what YOU WANT TO SELL! Do not confuse customers, do not sell products you do not actively carry in stock.
6: Sales staff need to be sent to professional sales training courses. They need to be made to know on how and what to sell as well.
7: Only carry accessories that offer good value and fair mark up. No $3.00 cables if you are to be a more upscale shop. No one needs not only sell $1000+ speaker cable etc. either but the accessories need to match the main types of gear you carry.
8: Shop order and cleanliness. IT MUST BE SPOTLESS DAILY! Gear on display must be connected and able to be demonstrated properly if you want the shopper to feel the experience. If it's not hooked up and useable IT SHOULD NOT BE OPEN ON THE FLOOR!
9: Reprimands including possible dismissal should be given to staff who disrupt the connections and ultimately demonstrations of gear on the floor. In other words if a sales person must dismantle to sell a floor model product THEY MUST REPLACE TO WITHIN REASONABLE TIME FRAME THE MISSING SKU WITH ANOTHER HOOKED UP PROPERLY! If they are failing this too often it should be made clear that it is a dismissible result.
