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Using air conditioning effectively in shops and retail outlets

With temperatures already soaring in the UK, many shops and retailers will be wondering whether we are in store for another summer of 06. This renowned year saw recorded temperatures as high as 97.7oF in Wisley, Surrey and the two month period during June and July has gone down on record as the hottest summer since records began over 200 years ago.

If New York is anything of an example to the rest of the world, then retailers can benefit from periods of excessive heat, as consumers seek creative ways to escape the temperatures and resort to some retail therapy on their local high street and out of town retail parks.

And therein lies the issue. Consumers now expect to enjoy their shopping experiences in cool environments and in particular, the air curtain was designed to keep cool air in the stores and dowse the shopper in a refreshing wave as they enter a store.

However, it is estimated that the UKs high street stores waste 300million a year in energy costs to keep shoppers cool in summer and warm in winter, so how can retail bosses align this excessive waste with the demands of their consumers? Perhaps we can learn from our counterparts over the pond, given that they deal with a heat wave on an annual basis?

1. Have your existing, in-built air conditioning serviced well ahead of summer to make sure it is running efficiently. And if you are concerned about any mini-heat waves during downtime, then consider hiring portable air conditioning to cover the intervening period.

2. Have an emergency back-up plan in place if your air conditioning breaks down. Portable air conditioning companies can supply units that replicate the existing system and they will be able to act most efficiently if you put a contingency plan in place before an emergency strikes.

3. Plan ahead for busy periods within the retail outlet: if you are planning a sale, a new range or something similar you may choose to hire in portable air conditioning as extra capacity for key areas of the store, such as the changing rooms and till areas etc.

4. It is also common sense to have a contingency plan in place if temperatures spiral so high that your shop or retail outlet requires additional air conditioning.

5. When your air conditioning is in use – make sure you use it effectively by keeping doors and windows closed. It is a retail myth that propping the doors open may entice more consumers in to a shop. In fact New York has passed legislation actually banning many stores from leaving their doors open during the summer months. This not only helps reduce your carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions but will also reduce your energy bill. It has been estimated that stores that leave doors open waste around 20-25% of the air conditioning they produce.

6. Set the thermostat to a reasonable temperature. The Carbon Trust recommends that buildings do not need to dip below a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius but in the summer of 2010, some outlets were found to set their indoor temperature as much as 8 degrees less than outside, which is unnecessary.

7. Talk to employees about the most suitable temperature in your shop or retail outlet. If they are forced in to wearing their winter woollies to work during the summer months, then the air conditioning settings need a rethink.

When a heat wave hits, it can be tempting to hire the largest available air conditioning unit. However, it is always worth seeking guidance on the type and size of system for individual circumstances to both maximise the effective removal of hot air and avoid unnecessary operating costs. In particular, within a retail setting, it is necessary to consider the health and safety aspects of hiring portable air conditioning to ensure there is a suitable location away from the main areas of highest footfall.

Whilst some shoppers may momentarily appear to enjoy being engulfed in cool air, increasing numbers of consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and appreciate the need for shops to exercise restraint when temperatures start to rise.

How a Website Design Company Can Help You with a Retail Site

If you have an online store and you find that you are not generating enough sales then you should consider hiring a website design company. This is because they can help you design the best retail store, generate more customers that want to buy, and make sure your site is exactly what shoppers are looking for.

When you have an online shop your goals may be for it to appear as an online catalogue or you may want it to look like a virtual store. No matter what the goals are a web site design company is going to work with you to meet your expectations. They will build your retail store to make your products look as appealing as possible. The designer will work hard to use plenty of keywords with product descriptions, attractive product photos, and much more. Your site will look like a very professional online store that shows the visitors you really are serious.

Another thing that a website design company is going to do for your retail site is drive as many customers to your business as possible. You want as many customers as possible because you need to generate as many sales as you can. Did you know that 8% of visitors make purchases on sites. That means that the more visitors you have the more revenues you will generate to the business. A designer understands the importance of sales and they will work hard to help you bring in as many customers as possible.

Shoppers expect many things online today. When you use a professional web design company you are making a good decision because they know how to create a site that is exactly what the visitors are looking for. They know how to create interest with the visitors and how to prove to the visitors that you are the right business to purchase the product from. The designer may focus on why your products are the best or reasons why you are the best company to shop from. They will find the niche and make you stand out from the rest.

There are many things that a website design company can do for a retail store online. These things include bringing in as many customers as possible, meeting your goals, and learning what it is that the shoppers are really looking for. A design firm will make you stand out from the rest.

What To Expect From Retail Insurance, Guest House Insurance, and Public House Insurance

Consumers are what make the world go round. They buy, they haggle, they travel from place to place, they complain, they praise, depending on how pleased they are with the service or product that you are providing them with.

So, while consumers can be a hassle at times, they do serve a purpose. Without them and their willingness to spend money retailers, guest home owners, and public home owners would be out of jobs.

Consumers hold so much sway over the rise or fall of a business that it is frightening. A consumer can sue, file a claim, or cause any number of other problems for a business. When all of that is added to the types of potential problems that are already present in businesses (like employee injury, theft, natural disaster, vandalism, and etc) then it is understandable why an owner would want to get back a sense of control.

You can never truly enjoy the running or a business when you are constantly worrying about everything that could go wrong. There are so many things that could come up, it is a wonder why people would be willing to even own their own businesses at all.

For those brave individuals that do just that, these are just a couple of the different types of insurance that you may come across.

Retail Insurance – Retail businesses, service businesses, and trade contractors are eligible for retail insurance. These business owners receive protection for their personal property, the building that their business is being run out of, business liability, and also loss of income. Most places will offer you the choice of picking and choosing what sort of coverage you receive while using this type of insurance. This method is a popular one because many business owners do not want to have to pay for flood coverage if they live in a high elevated area surrounded by little to no water sources. Why would they? It would be the smarter choice to take an option like that from their policy plan and replace it with a type of coverage that they would need in the future. Retail insurance policies can be obtained by retail outlets, boutiques, takeaways and shop owners. Even the minimum coverage of retail insurance is more than the maximum coverage that some policies offer. For example, the minimum coverage for retail insurance includes:

oL 3,000 worth of damage to glass, store front, and etc.
oL 1,000 worth of damage to blinds or signs on the exterior
oL 3,000 worth of lost or damaged goods during transit
oKey theft and lock replacement
oIncome loss
oPersonal injury, assault, loss of limbs or eyes, or death
oPersonal effects or cash carrying devices suffering damage
oLoss of the contents in a freezer
oIncrease for stock during busy periods
oproperty damage during exhibitions
ometered water loss
olandscaping

There are certainly more, but for now I am sure you get the idea.

Guest House Insurance – This form of insurance can be obtained by the owners of motels, hostels, hotels, guesthouses, and so on. With guest house insurance you will be covered in a multitude of other areas. Building and Contents coverage financially protects not only your business but also everything that is in that business (machinery, stock, money) from fire, storm damage, floods, and etc. Public liability insurance is also offered. With it you are protected from any claims that resulted from injuries that the public suffered while on your property. Liability insurance for employers is also included in guest house insurance. It works the same way as public liability insurance does, except that it protects you from negligence claims filed by employees rather than the public. Finally, business interruption helps to compensate you for any income loss that your business suffered in the aftermath of a fire, flood, blackout, gas leak, or etc.

Public House Insurance – This can also be known as pub and wine bar insurance. It is very important that owners of pubs or wine bars have this form of insurance. When you are dealing with a bunch of people who are all too willing to drink as much alcohol as possible, you can always expect the worse. Public house insurance is meant to help you do just that.

As you can see, whether it is public house insurance, guest house insurance, or retail insurance, it is always a good idea to invest in at least the minimum amount of coverage. Because when you are dealing with people on a daily basis, it is always better to be safe instead of sorry.

Get The Best Interior Designers

Designing a place to make its optimum utilization is a key aspect in modern world as it is really important to have an intelligent use of the given space. This is primarily vital as the land is getting scarce and there is a need to have a creative and efficient use of available resources to make a place worthy of living by giving it a stylish appearance. This brings into focus the importance of interior designing as it is emerging as a lucrative profession in contemporary world. There is lot of scope in this field as people from all walks of life do take interest in giving their place a new touch whether its their workplace or their homes .Moreover a good design gives an ample scope to make a handsome living as many big business and corporate houses hire the professionals for their expertise.

Interior designing involves the design of the basic layout and the foundation of the given space as it comprises of the color scheme, furniture, flooring, lighting and bringing the art and creativity to the place making it more viable to multiple use and giving an authentic touch to the given place. The whole idea is to give a new vibrant and specific look to the area that is being designed. There are great opportunities for people who have creative thrust and talent in this field. This field provides platform to their talent; a platform to showcase their capabilities in this respective field even if they do not have any professional degree in this field. The criteria are simple; they must have knowledge of the requisites. Their approach towards the basic detailing and specifications make them survive in the market. There are lots of institutes coming up which provide the professional training to those people who want to build up the promising career in the interior designing.

The key point of these institutes is to lay the basic foundation and clear fundamentals of the interior designing. These institutes prepare the pupil in every aspect of designing be it basic designing skills, drawing skills, research communication skills having knowledge of past as well as the contemporary designing practices preparing them to meet the professional needs of the field bringing out the best of their talent and available technology as to sharpening their craftsmanship to the highest level. There are various types of designing which includes residential designing, commercial designing and designing for the events, parties, museums and exhibitions etc. The array of commercial designing includes designing retail stores such as shopping malls, departmental stores showrooms.

Then comes the designing for the big business and corporate houses as there are specific requirements of the business houses to have the well designed offices so as to come at par with the international standard, which enable them to maintain the particular level of reputation in the national and the international market bringing out the lucrative business and to be in pace with the current flow of the market.

The commercial designing also includes the hospitals, health care institutes, laboratories, medical offices. There comes the designing for the recreation places such as hotels, restaurants, bars, cafe area, spa, motels, health clubs and resorts. The designing for the various institutes include government offices, schools, colleges, other religious institutes also. Its really good to have the growing interest of the people in the field of interior designing. Many big and reputed showrooms that offer carter to the designing needs of the customers like divine furnishing that give customers full solution with their wide range of collections.

Moreover, many books, magazines and articles in the newspapers make it extremely easy and exciting for the people to follow the given tips and use their creativity to the excellence level to have the place of their choice an exquisite look giving it new dimensions and creating a whole new experience merging the artistic touch with the available resources and having the new look to the whole place in an innovative way. Thus, interior designing blends the creativity and the skill and the resources to have the best of the given space available.

How To Control Shrink At Your Store

Shrink is a part of the business no one likes to talk about. However, shrink plays a huge part in every retailers business. Shrink can take many forms, but here are the four most common. They are employee theft, shoplifting, vendor theft and paperwork errors.

Many small retailers only worry about shoplifting, but the other three accounts for about 2/3 of all shrink. We will discuss steps to help reduce your shrink.

Employee theft accounts for almost half of all shrink. Many business owners refuse to consider their employees could be stealing from them. Employee theft can take many forms such as taking cash/ merchandise, passing merchandise, and giving unauthorized discounts to name a few.

The key to controlling employee theft is to reduce the opportunity to steal. You should explain clearly to your employees if they are dishonest what the consequences will be. Here are a few suggestions.

1.You must keep the back door controlled. If it is unlocked, it is easy for employees to put merchandise outside. They could have friends or family pick it up. Also, the employee could hide the merchandise in the trash to recover after work.

2.You need to do regular inventories of high theft items.

3.You need to show up unannounced. This is especially true if you have many younger employees. They are much more likely to be involved with theft.

4.You should have your store be mystery shopped. This can see how your service is plus spot potential employee theft issues. It could be done by someone you know or through a company that specializes in mystery shops.

5.Make sure all employees give receipts. You could offer the customer something free such as $5, if the employee does not give a receipt. This makes it harder for an employee just to pocket the money. If your register keeps track of no sales, this could be a clue of a problem. Excessive no sales are either an education issue or a theft issue.

6.You should do unannounced cash counts. Vary the times and check the register total against what you are supposed to have. Also, see if you noticed anything unusual near the register area or inside the till. This could include employees have a paper with a bunch of numbers, coins or some other object in an unusual place, or part of the money unorganized.

7.You need to explain your policies to all employees especially new hires. You should mention that you trust all of your employees, but you have safeguards in place to protect the store assets. It would be a good suggestion to mention just a couple to let the employees know you are serious about protecting the store assets.

8.Employees bags and purses should be checked when leaving. Management should show their bags or purse to another employee.

9.You must have policies in place for ringing up of family or friends. Also, your discount policy needs to be clear to all employees. The most common theft is passing merchandise to family or friends or giving unauthorized discounts. For example, your $20 item may be sold for a $1. If you have a way employees can change the price of an item, you must have someway to at least spot check for potential problems.

10.You could have a tips hot line for employees to report potential shrink. Yes, on many occasions it would be used to report bogus claims about other employees. However, if work correctly, the valid claims could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

11.Keep an eye on customers who are just hanging around employees. Also, if certain customers only seek certain employees could be a sign also.

12.You need to track your employee purchases. Very few purchases or excessive could be potential trouble spots with employee theft. If they never buy, it could be they are just taking merchandise. If they are buying a lot, where is the money coming from?

Shoplifting

1.You should greet every customer. It is great for customer service. Also, shoplifters do not want to be noticed.
2.Put high theft items where they are easier to watch.
3.Look for customers splitting up and one trying to keep you busy.
4.Keep your store neat and organized. Shoplifters like to leave empty packages in unorganized areas.
5.If the customer is watching the employees more than shopping.
6.Shoplifters like to go to blind spots. You may want to install some mirrors to make it easier to see the entire store.
7.Have signs made that shoplifters will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If you have the reputation of being soft on shoplifting, you will always have a major problem.
8.Look for nervous shoppers.
9.If shoppers come in your store often and seldom buy anything. Most shoplifters do buy a few items and just help themselves to others.

Vendor Theft

1.Check all orders for shortages. It is best a good employee or management be responsible for this.
2.Make vendors break down boxes before leaving the store.
3.Dont hand a signed invoice to the vendor until they are done. This will help with the previous two suggestions.

Excessive shrink can cause your business to fail. Shrink cannot be eliminated, but it can be reduced. Following our suggestions is a good way to ensure that you take more money to the bank than your employees, shoppers or vendors.