St Ives Shopping Village, on Sydney's north shore, is hosting a series of seminars for its retailers to reinforce the basics of customer service and equip them with the tools to generate business through both good and bad financial times.
“We decided to outsource these seminars to help our retailers learn more about utilising the online space while reinforcing basic customer service fundamentals,” Sue McKindlay, marketing manager of St Ives Shopping Village said.
“With relatively small budgets, our retailers can access the knowledge and tools they need to stay at the top of their game at all times,” she said.
The seminars are run on site by retail strategist, Nancy Georges, whose aim is to help business owners find solutions to their problems and boost their profits through online strategy, implementation and website integration.
Topics include product, visual merchandising, procedures, customer service, staff training and staffing levels.
The seminars also aim to assist retailers to develop an understanding of social media and online marketing, which can be integrated into their overall marketing strategy.
The seminars are currently being attending by around 15 retailers at a time, which not only includes boutique retailers but chain stores.
“We have had a wonderful response and general enthusiasm from those in attendance, some of which are now looking at one on one sessions with Nancy and other marketing advisory support packages we have on offer,” McKindlay said.
Jennifer Berry of Adrienne and the Misses Bonney bsaid the seminars “simplified and demystified the whole process of creating an online presence”.
“It is very easy to blame the economy for bad profits, however, I believe niche retailing will survive and do even better business in this climate as we provide specialist expertise, unparalleled service and listen to our customers allowing us to react quickly,” Berry said.