J.D. Associates Retail POS Solutions Blog

Store Within a Store: Good for Business?

  

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Recently I picked up my mother-in-law, who's cute with dimples in her cheeks. She was coming to my home for dinner. With nothing that would interest her on my menu ("No" she said to tofu burgers) I decided to stop at a national grocery store chain to pick up some food.  Gerrie waited in the car, patient as usual. I was in a rush, hurried as usual. Fish in hand, I looked for one more item to place in my basket-a surprise for her: a lemon-filled donut. I followed my nose to a Dunkin' Donuts kiosk located inside the grocery store. It's a store within a store (SwaS).  I ordered the donut and pulled out a one-dollar bill.  The clerk asked me if I wanted to pay for the fish as well-at the same time-at the Dunkin' Donuts register. Shocked, I said, "Yes!" I'm still talking about the convenience offered me-being able to handily pay for the entire purchase at one register.  The SwaS concept works for these two complementary stores for lots of reasons. Convenience for the customer is only one of them.

Some retailers have a SwaS and operate very successfully. Should you decide that a SwaS model might work for your retail business, consider the following:

1. Choose a retail store that will be helpful to you-the host sight, by giving you 'critical mass' and credibility that you might not be able to do on your own. (Sephora within JCP?)
2. Don't duplicate assortment/merchandise. No competition. And understand the purchases that might be tied together between the two 'stores.'
3. Make sure the inside store pulls the same kind of customer that you want to attract to your store to increase the chances they'll be interested in your merchandise.
4. Get benchmark data from your retail POS before and after the SwaS to see how this concept is benefiting both businesses, from new sales to new customers to suggestive selling between the two 'stores.'
5. Maintain your own brand. Reinforce your brand.
6. Market the concept of a SwaS to your customers and tell them why you're doing it: to benefit them by making the shopping experience more convenient, with more variety, enhancing the customer experience and maybe increasing customer loyalty.

There are no guarantees on incremental sales for the host store due to a SwaS, but if you choose the right inside store, attract the right customers, sell the right merchandise, you increase you chances of mutually benefiting from this retail partnership.