Hi Karen;
Here are some tips. I hope they help:
1. If you are just a chocolate shop, 30% of your retail revenue is going to come from the 3 days surrounding Valentines, the three days leading up to Mother's Day, a small amount around Easter, and then the Christmas mayhem that starts November 1st and goes to December 24th at 3:00pm. The rest of the year your retail shop's sales will be dismal at best, boosted occasionally by a wedding or party, or some other singular.
2. You are spot on that your bread and butter shouldn't be exotic chocolate flavours. I've said many times over: "Find out what your customers want and then give it to them."
3. Pricing is important for your area. I sell a 92g,100% porcelana chocolate bar. Amedei sells a 53g porcelana chocolate bar (which I question is 100% porcelana, but that's a topic for another fight! haha!). Their bar retails here in Calgary for $25. All things being equal, my bar (which DOES taste better) should be $50! However Calgary isn't ready for a $50 chocolate bar yet, so I sell it for $12, and promote it as twice the value, for half the price just because I'm a redneck. You can charge more than your competitors (my chocolate is the most expensive in Calgary), but it better stand up to scrutiny and win EVERY time.
4. I have a 150 sq foot booth at a local prominent farmers Market on a trial basis, and it has just surpassed it's 12th month of operations. Gross Sales were $90,000 from that location, and while it's profitable, to me that number isa failure. Viable to me is at least 3 times that number per location. My Inglewood store is 100% retail ( I discount my product for nobody, and do not sell wholesale), and it does about $450,000 per year gross.
5. My third location is in amarquee financial building in our downtown core. I have a tiny little 150 square foot "closet" close to an entrance to another building. There is another veryestablished chocolatier 5 doors down from that location on the same floor (he tried selling me his business last summer, so I know what the numbers are).I opened it on January 21st of this year, and just on word of mouth, that tiny little space is killing him. He's not renewing his lease and willbe gone by June. That tiny little location in Bankers Hall is keeping up to my main, established store where all of the chocolate is made, and where customers have been going for 4 years. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION.
6. FIND OUT WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WANT - and this doesn't mean just chocolates and candies. We sell a TON of baked goods at our Bankers Hall location. Why? Office meetings, luncheons, a quick snack in the afternoon - things to boost sales in slow times. People eat brownies ever day?Yup. Abox of chocolates? Nope. All of these little things that are not "chocolates" increase sales, keep customers coming back, and keep reminding them we're here so that they remember us in the big margin times of the year.
7.Sit in a restaurant/coffee shop across the street from your store, at least once a week for the first while and watch people. If there's no coffee shop, then sit in your car. Where are they coming from? Where are they going? How many people are walking by? What do they have in their hands? Do they have coffee? What times of day are the busiest? What can you do to pull them off the street? Sit, and watch, and count. By doing this for my Bankers Hall location, I quickly learned that I need to offer coffee, so I'm currently working on a chocolate infused coffee. I'm tired of watching lines and lines ofwhite collar cattletrundle by every morning at 10am on their way to Starbucks for a fix. If we can cull some of those cattle, all the better for us.
8. If you get a store, stop doing farmers markets and trade shows. They aren't profitable, and I don't care how you slice it. Every event and market will only poach people that could go to your store and purchase. One of the reasons my Farmers Market location does poorly is because it's 5 minutes from my main store. Sales in my main store have suffered also as a result, but will return once the market location is closed. Train your customers to go to your store, and not a booth that you have to pay for at a market.
9. I am the King of classes. In the past 4 years I have personally hosted over 340 chocolate/wineevents in my Inglewood store, and have been hired to talk about chocolate all over Western Canada. 2500 people have paid $40 per person to hear me speak in my shop. At least that same amount have heard me talk at various seminars. The most lucrative events are the "truffle making" evenings. I charge $100 per person to, over two evenings, learn to make their own truffles. Each person makes their own centers, dips them, rolls them, and wraps them. Each person leaves with 60 truffles and a big smile. The profit is insane. I could easily sell 3 per month. As it is we host an average of 6 wine/chocolate events per month (Make about $300 profit per event) and are usually sold out a month in advance. Drop the tradeshows and do events! People PAY to become your customers and if they have fun will be your biggest advocate!!!
That should be a good start.
