Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store
- Thread starter Corndog
- Start date
opiate82
Bronze Squire
- 3,078
- 5
Definitely keep trying to find ways to attract new customers, but if you want to help that bottom line and you think you have a pretty well established clientele, find ways to get them to spend more money when they do come in.
Man, I hate Yelp as well. There is a local bar in my town that I love going to. This bar is great because they also happen to have really great food. Due to state law and their liquor license minors under the age of 21 aren't allowed* and that fact is clearly posted on the doors. But at least once every time I am there someone tries to come in with a minor and gets butthurt when they are told they can't be there. The worst offenders are the ones with babies because they think babies should be an exception to the rule since they can't possibly order beer.
Because this place has great food and is really popular locally the Yelp reviews reflect that so if you were looking at their Yelp page you might think it is more of a restaurant than a bar. So every single 1 star review this place has gotten has been because they don't allow minors. People either think it is a choice the bar is making on purpose or that they should have family-friendly hours during lunch and dinner. Most of them are from people who are out-of-towners (Canadians) and don't realize that state law prohibits them from allowing minors. The owner has called Yelp multiple times about this issue to no avail. So despite the fact that it is clearly posted on the doors, and despite the fact that it is a state law Yelp allows these 1 star reviews to continue to exist on this bars page.
It is pretty amusing when Yelp calls them trying to convince them to pay for advertising because the owner will get on the phone and go off on them about the issue.
*It is kind of complicated to explain but they don't have the option of changing their liquor license to a restaurant that serves alcohol due to the layout of the building.
Chickenpants
N00b
- 193
- 0
This seems like a different issue than what Corndog is facing. A half competent person should dig into the yelp reviews when they see a store has a low rating, but still feel it is a service that they want.Man, I hate Yelp as well. There is a local bar in my town that I love going to. This bar is great because they also happen to have really great food. Due to state law and their liquor license minors under the age of 21 aren't allowed* and that fact is clearly posted on the doors. But at least once every time I am there someone tries to come in with a minor and gets butthurt when they are told they can't be there. The worst offenders are the ones with babies because they think babies should be an exception to the rule since they can't possibly order beer.
Because this place has great food and is really popular locally the Yelp reviews reflect that so if you were looking at their Yelp page you might think it is more of a restaurant than a bar. So every single 1 star review this place has gotten has been because they don't allow minors. People either think it is a choice the bar is making on purpose or that they should have family-friendly hours during lunch and dinner. Most of them are from people who are out-of-towners (Canadians) and don't realize that state law prohibits them from allowing minors. The owner has called Yelp multiple times about this issue to no avail. So despite the fact that it is clearly posted on the doors, and despite the fact that it is a state law Yelp allows these 1 star reviews to continue to exist on this bars page.
It is pretty amusing when Yelp calls them trying to convince them to pay for advertising because the owner will get on the phone and go off on them about the issue.
*It is kind of complicated to explain but they don't have the option of changing their liquor license to a restaurant that serves alcohol due to the layout of the building.
Oh man, this restaurant bar looks like what I want for dinner, but only 3 stars. Why? Oh, lots of complaints they don't let in minors. I'd give it 6 stars if I could!
vs.
This fish store has 4 stars. Why? Oh man, a salesperson is rude. I don't want him to be rude to me. I won't go.
To be honest, I take Yelp reviews with a grain of salt anyway. I travel a lot for work and use it more for a "I'm in this place and I want this service (usually food)." Sometimes the ratings can sway me, but for me it's more about the menu. The reviews sometimes just make me laugh. A low review from "poor service?" Maybe someone just had a bad day or someone else had higher expectations than I care about.
I guess my point is, that if I was in the area and used yelp to find a fish store that suited my needs. I wouldn't care what the rating was because it's not like there's infinite choices of fish stores. I'd stop in and see if you have what I need. I can formulate my own opinion because I'm not a mouth breathing sheep.
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
- 24,664
- 32,045
The only time I look at yelp is for a review of places to eat if I am out of town in a place I don't know well. Honestly I look more at the number of reviews that ready the actual reviews. If a place has tons of reviews I figure it's at least worth checking out. The places that have only a handful I normally avoid. They may be OK, I dunno. I normally go to the really safe bets on the road.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
- 3,078
- 5
When I'm reading any reviews really (not just Yelp) I jump right to the negative ones because generally you can deduce whether there is any validity to them pretty quick. Bunch of people all complaining about the same thing, probably a problem. One dude talking about how he got screwed over or something, probably something he did.
Been busy as it's the busy season for me.
Missed my goal for the year of doing 300k. My first year open, which was only 8 months was 142k. This year we did 287k in sales. Which after paying myself a salary, paid out roughly 16k in profits. As most 1 time costs are over, I think the profits should be much higher this year. I did write a check for roughly 4k to get all new custom acrylic tanks for the quarantine room as keeping up demand is getting harder and harder. In January we were up about 30% in sales from the year previous. This month it looks like we'll be even with last year.
The biggest hurdle now seems improving practices and employees to handle throughput of customers.
Missed my goal for the year of doing 300k. My first year open, which was only 8 months was 142k. This year we did 287k in sales. Which after paying myself a salary, paid out roughly 16k in profits. As most 1 time costs are over, I think the profits should be much higher this year. I did write a check for roughly 4k to get all new custom acrylic tanks for the quarantine room as keeping up demand is getting harder and harder. In January we were up about 30% in sales from the year previous. This month it looks like we'll be even with last year.
The biggest hurdle now seems improving practices and employees to handle throughput of customers.
Been neglecting this thread. Was super busy buying a house. Now that I've got that out of the way. I can come back and complain about this insane weather we are having!
I've been calling it the 6 month summer! This year I brought in Pond fish in April when Pond season technically starts May 1st. Since then we've had 2 days where it rained a tiny little bit. We are in a drought, that's right Seattle the city of rain is in a drought. So that being said with awesome weather, it's not condusive to being inside and playing with aquariums.
I changed the retail hours from noon till 8pm. to 11:30am till 6pm. It's been that way for 3 weeks now seems to be going just fine. The big customers I was worried about transitioning to the new hours have done so without a problem. They used to be customers who came in at 7:50 and would keep us here till 8:30. Now they come in at like 1 pm and don't keep us late at all... It's perfect. I'm sure I've probably lost some sales from the change but I don't think it's more than what is being saved by the reduced staff wages.
Now the trick is how to make money in this good weather. In a worst case scenario it won't start raining till October. Thus far everything I've tried hasn't yielded results. I've brought in new hot products. I've run items on special, at 20% off and none sold. Tried putting fish on sale, no one came in to buy them that wasn't already. I'm starting to think there is nothing I can do that would be profitable and have enough pull to convince someone to leave the park or beach etc and come shop.
The only way to make more money I can find is to stop ordering things. People who do come into the store are looking to buy something. Whether I have 100 different options or 150 options doesn't really matter, if what they were looking for was in that extra 50 most of them will just choose something I do have.
I'm afraid that this will lose me sales to someone who does have those items. I don't want to become the store that is known to be stocked low on fish. However to remain profitable I think it's what needs to be done. For instance I've been out of rummynose tetras for about 3 weeks. Not a single person has asked for them. A fish that is just as popular. Cardinal tetras. I have roughly 200 in stock that aren't really selling. I could just as easily have 200 rummynose tying up the same cash flow and having to be taken care of. Now if it were raining outside and winter time. Those 200 would sell within the week.
I've reduced Employee hours. By cutting back store hours by roughly 1.5 hours a day. And starting this week my main employee will go to 4 days per week instead of 5. and My other part timer who will be leaving in August to college is at 1 day a week. So I'm saving roughly 3 days a week worth of employee wages.
I have a feeling that if we get a 6 month summer going. Some of my competitors will go out of business. One of them was on the ropes before the good weather started. Another one has closed an additional day. So he's open 5 days for the summer. Do I take the slow and steady wins the race mentality and ensure that I remain safe and cover costs. Or should I take more chances and try and gain market share. I feel like all my competitors are tightening the belts just to get through this.
I've been calling it the 6 month summer! This year I brought in Pond fish in April when Pond season technically starts May 1st. Since then we've had 2 days where it rained a tiny little bit. We are in a drought, that's right Seattle the city of rain is in a drought. So that being said with awesome weather, it's not condusive to being inside and playing with aquariums.
I changed the retail hours from noon till 8pm. to 11:30am till 6pm. It's been that way for 3 weeks now seems to be going just fine. The big customers I was worried about transitioning to the new hours have done so without a problem. They used to be customers who came in at 7:50 and would keep us here till 8:30. Now they come in at like 1 pm and don't keep us late at all... It's perfect. I'm sure I've probably lost some sales from the change but I don't think it's more than what is being saved by the reduced staff wages.
Now the trick is how to make money in this good weather. In a worst case scenario it won't start raining till October. Thus far everything I've tried hasn't yielded results. I've brought in new hot products. I've run items on special, at 20% off and none sold. Tried putting fish on sale, no one came in to buy them that wasn't already. I'm starting to think there is nothing I can do that would be profitable and have enough pull to convince someone to leave the park or beach etc and come shop.
The only way to make more money I can find is to stop ordering things. People who do come into the store are looking to buy something. Whether I have 100 different options or 150 options doesn't really matter, if what they were looking for was in that extra 50 most of them will just choose something I do have.
I'm afraid that this will lose me sales to someone who does have those items. I don't want to become the store that is known to be stocked low on fish. However to remain profitable I think it's what needs to be done. For instance I've been out of rummynose tetras for about 3 weeks. Not a single person has asked for them. A fish that is just as popular. Cardinal tetras. I have roughly 200 in stock that aren't really selling. I could just as easily have 200 rummynose tying up the same cash flow and having to be taken care of. Now if it were raining outside and winter time. Those 200 would sell within the week.
I've reduced Employee hours. By cutting back store hours by roughly 1.5 hours a day. And starting this week my main employee will go to 4 days per week instead of 5. and My other part timer who will be leaving in August to college is at 1 day a week. So I'm saving roughly 3 days a week worth of employee wages.
I have a feeling that if we get a 6 month summer going. Some of my competitors will go out of business. One of them was on the ropes before the good weather started. Another one has closed an additional day. So he's open 5 days for the summer. Do I take the slow and steady wins the race mentality and ensure that I remain safe and cover costs. Or should I take more chances and try and gain market share. I feel like all my competitors are tightening the belts just to get through this.
Palum
what Suineg set it to
- 23,499
- 33,847
First off, you are right in that you need to evaluateyourbusiness position and figure out how you will come out of the dry spell. Don't worry about the austerity measures the other guys are doing - the numbers (your numbers) don't lie.
Secondly, assuming you can afford to - you can really do both. What are people still shopping for? Do they buy addon items? Can you get closer to JIT inventory on some products? Can you incentivize special orders? Your situation seems to imply that the vast majority of your customers/sales right now are in maintenance items - not many people are expanding/changing/building but they are obviously going to be concerned with their existing setups. Do you have a loyalty program for consumables (food/chemicals/etc.)? Is it possible to do an outdoors expo in say a pavillion near a park and get people to view all those tropical fish?
I would run well-tuned specials on the staples on the days your competitors are closed. Get possible consumers interested in going out on the day they are closed. Depending on geographical area they might very well see you out of stock on their rare exotic fish they didn't want to buy but guess what, you can play that up. SOLD OUT! signs. When they check the competition after leaving your store - they're closed. Boom.
Secondly, assuming you can afford to - you can really do both. What are people still shopping for? Do they buy addon items? Can you get closer to JIT inventory on some products? Can you incentivize special orders? Your situation seems to imply that the vast majority of your customers/sales right now are in maintenance items - not many people are expanding/changing/building but they are obviously going to be concerned with their existing setups. Do you have a loyalty program for consumables (food/chemicals/etc.)? Is it possible to do an outdoors expo in say a pavillion near a park and get people to view all those tropical fish?
I would run well-tuned specials on the staples on the days your competitors are closed. Get possible consumers interested in going out on the day they are closed. Depending on geographical area they might very well see you out of stock on their rare exotic fish they didn't want to buy but guess what, you can play that up. SOLD OUT! signs. When they check the competition after leaving your store - they're closed. Boom.
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
- 14,454
- 2,240
Buy up all the oversized oscars and pacus and plecos and such that people put in tanks that were too small for them and have a summer barbecue special where you sell them as food along with grilling recipes. Maye you and your employees could even throw them around like they do at Pike Place Market.
Problem solved. You. Are. Welcome.
Problem solved. You. Are. Welcome.
Very interesting on running the specials on the days my competitors are closed. Typically I would run them on the week end to try and get people in. I also hadn't thought about putting sold out signs. It's an interesting concept. I'd tell people oh we just sold out of those, whether we had em or not. But the reality is. Saying I'm sold out is almost as good as having it, and they might pre-order it.
So right now, I don't have any programs for maintenance items. Because they tend to be items that people come in for. I've found things like fish food to be very proximity based. Not so much price based.
I guess I think of it like Mcdonalds. If you knew the Mcdonalds accross town had buy 5 Big Macs, get your 6th free, would you make the cross town trip 5 times to get 1 free? Now it may get some people to buy 6 packages of food that day because they get 1 free. That being said, over the coarse of the 6 months following I would have gotten those sales anyways, and without the discount. That being said, assuming they didn't move, or another store opens up closer etc. I've seen my competitor in the past sell packages of food for $2 each. When I sell them for $4.99 normal price. They limit it to 24 packages. A few people take advantage of that. Lets say 5 customers. If I was to compete and have a sale, even at $3 each. Overall I might retain those 5 customers but be giving a deal to 50 other customers.
Right now I've got reputation working for me. People driving from 30-45 minutes away. They are sometimes shocked at prices on my plants. They end up buying them anyways, because I have the best plant selection and health. The reality is when I had them at $5.99, I sold them so fast, I was out of stock alot. Raising them to $7.99 I still run out anyways, but not quite as fast. The problem is the farms I buy from can only produce so many. With live stock limited quantities can be a common problem. Dry goods however it's like any other industry.
Even still, what do you do to entice a customer who has more money than time? A lot of my clientele make very good money but are pressed for time. I can run sales all weekend and if anything I swear my big customers stay away. Then they show up during the week spending big money not caring they could have saved 30%.
The one time I seemed to get my high end customer to come in on a specific day is when I donated 25% of my sales that day to a charity. I wonder if such an event at 5% and the right cause would cause the same thing. Basically pull 1 tragedy from the news a month and put funds towards one of those charities.
The sold out sign is brilliant. The more I think about it. Any item I want to test out. Just put a Item xyz sold out. Inquire for when they are coming. If a bunch of people ask for the date. I know to bring them in...
Yeah totally. I think it'll work to gauge interest on a new type of fish I want to try out in the store.
What's the turn around time for the fish to be delivered after you've placed an order?
Palum
what Suineg set it to
- 23,499
- 33,847
What is the issue with time? Is it that they need your undivided attention/personal shopping? That they just pick a day and want whatever they want right then because they're impulsive?