This means it is critical that you take time to stand back from business and objectively analyse it and develop a plan for future.

1.Do a SWOT Analysis on Your Business

You need an analysis process that will work in your business. Most consultants will tell you that a SWOT analysis carried out at least once a year is critical to your businesses success. Do SWOT analysis away from business so that you are not disturbed by day to day business distractions.

Ideally, get your key team members to join you to carry out analysis. A group of 5 or 6 in a team will develop more thought than one brain.

2.Identify Your Strengths

You need to clearly identify strengths of your business as your first objectives. As a group provide answers to following:

•What do we do really well?

•What sector of our retailing adds most to bottom line?

•What are areas of our business where we outperform out competition?

•What parts of our retailing endorses how customers perceive us with positive recognition?

3.Identify Your Weaknesses

Do not start your ‘think tank’ with identifying your weaknesses. Start with positive areas as this builds moral and confidence. But, key is to identify your weaknesses.

You need objective answers to following questions:-

•What areas of your business operation provide most frequent complaints?

•In what situation are we most vulnerable as a retail operation?

•What products or processes provide most problem?

•What products or processes bring in lowest returns?

4.Analyse Your Opportunities

Once your decide on what your strengths and weaknesses are, you can than start planning your future direction. Again, start with positive and look at opportunities.

You will need objective answers to following questions:-

•What opportunities exist to improve internal running of your retail business?

•What are current marketing opportunities that you should exploit?

•What changes are taking place that are external to your business, that will allow you to operate more effectively?

5.Analyse Treats to Your Business

Your aim as a retailer is to direct your customers around your store, do not allow them to wander without clear direction, if you do, sales will drop off dramatically.

You must create a racetrack and not a runway. A racetrack goes around store and exposes customers to all product departments.

A runway goes up and down store and encourages people to speed up and walk faster.

1.Create a Store Layout that Reflects Your Image

Prior to developing your customer flow, you need to establish what image you are aiming to achieve as this will then assist you in deciding what style of layout you should develop.

My aim is not to make you a store designer, this is an area where you should seek expert advice, but you do need to appreciate various styles of retailing.

There are two extreme styles of layout. The two extremes of style are:-

2.The Grid Layout

Supermarkets are experts at this type of layout and this is a simple design to ensure 100% of customers see 100% of product.

3.Informal or Boutique Layout

This layout is common in smaller stores and leading clothing fashion retailers are very skilled at getting consumers to flow around an informal layout

There are obviously stages in design layout between these two extremes, all of which work for different styles of retailing.

4.Position your Checkouts to Direct Customer Flow

The position of checkouts is critical in establishing how customers will flow around your store. When entering a store general reaction is to walk away from checkout. If position of checkout is wrong you may find you have hidden half your products from your customers.

As a general rule in Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom, we are accustomed to keeping to left. It is therefore advisable to try and establish a clockwise customer flow, finishing with a service counter on right.

The worst scenario in many stores is to place a service counter in prime sight line, this will create a runway to counter and reduce browse shopping considerably.

5.Bounce Customers Around Your Store