A Penny for your Thoughts?

During my travels through Altadena, I've noticed that the "for lease" and/or "going out of business" signs have gone up with less frequency versus last year on our town's retail store fronts.

I don't know if that's due to a slight turn around in the area's economy, a desire to shop locally or the business saavy of local merchants who've found the right products to offer our residents.

So, I ask of all the business owners (both retail and home based), "What are you doing to retain (and/or gain new) customers?"

I recently signed up to receive daily "deals" from a popular website - much like Patch's "Patch Deals". I haven't purchased any of the deals but have been tempted. As I understand it, if you're a business offering a special deal, half of the dollars purchased from the deal go back to the promoting website. For example, the deal is $25 for $50 worth of food. 100 "deals" are purchased. The total dollar value is $2,500. The website that promoted the deal get's $1,250. While there may be slight variations to this formula, you get the idea; the promoting website receives a chunk of the total dollars...... is that the best formula for your  business? For some, it may be. For others, they may lose money if their deal is product based versus service based.

Are you advertising your business? Forget about offering deals, coupons or specials. Do people know you exist? I understand advertising costs money and the return on investment may not make sense. However, if you do advertise, where and how do you do it? Share your success stories with the rest of us.

Speaking of deals, coupons & specials, do you offer any? Again, it may not make sense to offer these all the time. Shoppers sometimes get jaded to sales. I mean, don't the big department stores offer a sale every weekend to lure us inside? Many stores I shop at have a clearance table where marked down products, discontinued, out of date or short dated (think bread that "expires" tomorrow) are located. Does your store have a clearance table? Do you have an anniversary sale? Or maybe, you do offer specials once in a while to entice shoppers. Again, share with us your success stories of any special offers you extend to your customers.

Do you offer any frequent shopper discounts? I enjoy frozen yogurt and that industry always offers a frequent buyer card. Buy 10, get 1 free. Is that something that could work for you? Even if you don't have a card system, could customers retain receipts for a 30 day period and if they hit a certain figure, say $100, you can offer them a future discount or even an in store gift card?

Maybe you're bringing in new products to keep your store/business fresh. Maybe you've re-worked your front window to have a new look to passerbys. I know many residents and businesses use social media and/or have websites. Are you keeping those up to date? Let us know.

So let's hear from Altadena's business community. What are you doing to retain and/or gain customers? The hope is to keep more residents shopping in town. If you have a success story, share it with other readers. Maybe another business picks up on your idea and it can help their business grow.

If you're a shopper, what would you like to see offered by retail and home based businesses (i.e. xx% off if I spend $100+ in a single shopping trip). There's no guarantee you'll see it but at least you have a forum to be heard.