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Retailers communication with its customers is not always the mass media as the voice on the radio, with the words and images such as in magazines and newspapers, or with media such as voice and image on television. Communication can occur through visual images, layout and product display in-store.

Visual communication is a retail company or store communication with its customers through a physical form, such as the identity store, lay out and displays and in-store communication.

By applying the full visual communications, will improve or add to a better store image in the eyes of consumers. Here are some of the elements of the image of the store, namely:

• Product - Merchandise such as price, quality, diversity categories, the availability of the item (color, size, type).

• Convenient location, safe, and be in a shopping center or close to other retail stores.

• Prioritize services to certain segments corresponding to the demographic characteristics of potential buyers, such as adolescents and young adults, families or housewives certain circles.

• Services, such as the choice of payment method, delivery service, as well as a catalog that is sent to the home.

• Clerk / staff / cashier, such behavior in the service (friendly, courteous, alert), product knowledge, and an adequate number of personnel.

• image of corporate personality or store, such as full / store and advanced.

• Facilities, such as the food court, parking, restrooms.

• Store ambiance / atmosphere, such as exterior decoration is modern and elegant, attractive interior decoration, which makes the situation at home (full color, music, lighting), in a store that allows the circulation moving, layout or arrangement of products, attractive display.

• Promotion, such as regularly doing promotional gifts, provide discounts, special events, coupons program, lottery program.

After knowing the definition and Retail Management can then be formulated retail management is the overall setting factors that influential in retail trade, the trade of goods and services directly to consumers. Factors that affect the retail business are place, price, product, and promotion known as the 4Ps.

Almost all online store owners starts business as a retailer. They take products from suppliers for resale in his/her online store. Although doing business this way is profitable, it does not mean online sellers should be satisfied with this reselling system. As the owner of an online shop, prepare long-term target for your online store as a supplier for other online shop is a good idea.

Venturing into online business as a retailer is a reasonable thing to do. However, developing an online store so that you can be a supplier to another online store is a business decision that needs to be taken. There are some "signs" that you can make a benchmark to assess your readiness to be a supplier to other online stores. If the online store has shown the following characteristics, then you would expand your business network as a supplier.

• a significant profit. The purpose why people want to buy in bulk is because he/she could get a rebate from the supplier. In fact, there are wholesale buyers who want a discount of 50 % of the selling price. If you want to be a supplier, you must be prepared to face this kind of reseller. Being a supplier means you have to sell the product slightly cheaper than the market price or the price that you would tag normally. You may get small profit from sales per unit, but you get consumers in large numbers in a single transaction with the retailer.

When the percentage of profit that you can get is great, It is the sign that your online store has reached a stable financial condition. In other words, selling at wholesale prices will not be a big problem for you.

• Difficulty in managing consumer demand. Another "Signs" which online store ready to become a supplier is when you face adversity of set order. Numbers in high demand indicates that the products are liked by consumers in large numbers. Being a supplier means that you do business with resellers. Doing this way can be described as "open branch". If the stock item in your online store is empty, you can refer a reseller that takes the product from you. By doing so, customers will not be disappointed and still get the products they want.

• Trying to do business with one reseller, then "success". Being a supplier does not mean you should do business with a lot of resellers at the same time. When the idea to develop an online store appears as a supplier, you'll want to experiment to do business with one reseller first. If this business relationship is succesfull, meaning that your online store is ready to become a supplier. Success doing business with reseller can be measured by the number of request/demand. If in a short time the reseller is able to sell a number of products taken from your online store, it means you are doing business with a reseller that has a good market share. The higher the consumer demand for the reseller, the more often it will ask products from your online store .

When you has been successful with one reseller, the you can develop by adding the number of resellers. It is not impossible that one day you might be a major supplier for many resellers, without the need to sell at a retail price to the customers anymore.

The mission statement is a statement that became the basis of all the major decisions for your store. Comprehensively, the mission statement will usually consist of several elements of the following:

1. The concept of your store.

2. The nature of your business (in this case is the retail business).

3. The reasons for the existence of our stores.

4. Principles and values into the handle when the store is run.

For example, you run the specialty store for men's clothing named "Store A". The following mission statement you may be able to consider:

"Store's A mission is to meet the expectations of the adult mens for medium community with high quality dress, with following trends and fashion at an affordable price. For that we have a commitment to:

- Choosing the location of the shop only at places that match our target market.

- Selecting and establishing relationships with suppliers with brand has been recognized by our target market.

- Creating a shopping atmosphere to satisfy our customers with an entertaining store concept and attitude of employees who serve.

- See the development of fashion trend in order to always be able to anticipate the market needs."

With a mission statement above, then at least there are some benefits that we will get in managing the store, namely:

- Establish and maintain consistency and clarity of the overall goal of establishing a store / outlet.

- The terms of reference for all major decisions to be taken.

- Gaining understanding and support of the people involved in the operation of the store, either directly (as employees) or indirectly (local communities and government).

If necessary, you make the documentation of the mission statement has been made, so that you and all your employees can continue remember the mission when doing any activity.

Many businesses, both in the Internet business and offline business, whether successful that later business can thrive;-and instead they ended up bankrupt, never made a business mistake. Those who are successful are successful then learn from his mistakes. Instead they are bankrupt, did not have time to immediately correct the mistakes that they have created.

So, in this post summarized business lessons from the mistakes made.

1. Far from consumers. Sometimes when a person has begun to be successful, they are getting away from the consumer. Yet when it started happening, fall means the business started. Because you do not know what the needs and desires of consumers is growing. And it's like letting "your business is digging her own grave".

2. Lack of focus. Many businesses who then lay the loss of focus. They do not focus on its core business. So then it is not the core business of developing and it is so screwed up that designed the original business concept.

3. Mistakes on recruitment. Other businesses are errors in HR recruitment. When you do not get the right people for the kind of work that should be addressed. This will obviously affect the performance of the company you build.

4. Obsessed. One mistake that many business people are too obsessed done to make the business was growing very fast and great. As a result, there is little that then there desperate to borrow loans to expand the branch up here everywhere. Though new business for the rest of corn.

In my opinion, the initial goal is to build a business that generates profits, so someday become a big business. Because of these advantages, the business can thrive and be great.

5. Financial mistakes. Poor financial management can be the cause of a roll mat business. Financial uncontrolled causing joints crippled business one by one.

6. Do not have the vision and strategy. When a business owner does not have the vision and strategy of how to grow the business, that means it's time the business will be going nowhere, stuck, and not going anywhere.

When you start to build a business, would you want a successful business. Therefore businesses learn from mistakes ever made is important. So that you do not need to go through the mistakes others have made, and you do not need to make the business ruins.

Think quick. In 10 seconds, can you list the 5 key benefits you offer your customers?

I bet you said "Yes". But are you sure you listed benefits? If you'll bear with me for another 10 seconds, I'd like to test out a theory on you.

Recap your answers – maybe even write them down. Now list the 5 main things your business does. In other words, what are your 5 core services? What are the 5 core features of your product?

If your first list looks anything like your second, chances are you're mistaking features for benefits. As a result, it's likely that your marketing materials aren't engaging your customer. Customers don't want to know what you can do. They want to know what you can do FOR THEM.

Don't talk features – talk benefits.

Don't be alarmed. You're not alone. Most business owners and marketing managers are so close to their product or service that they have a lot of trouble distinguishing benefits from the features of their offering. Ask a web host "what are the benefits of your service?", and you'll likely hear something along the lines of, "we offer load-balanced server clusters." But that's not a benefit… that's what they do. The benefit is superior uptime and performance.

In fact, so many people think features instead of benefits that it can work in your favour – to dramatic effect. If you can accurately identify your benefits, and convey those benefits to your market, you'll be light-years ahead of most of your competition. You'll be converting leads into sales while they're still bogged down trying to promote features.

So if you've ever sat down to write a sales letter and wondered how you're going to grab your reader's attention, or you've ever gone 'round in circles writing draft after draft of web copy without ever hitting the mark, now you know where you were going wrong.

The only question remaining is, how do you do it right? Advertising copywriters and website copywriters do it all the time – and most of the time, they do it with benefits. Benefits are the copywriter's holy grail. But if you're not a seasoned copywriter, how do you identify the benefits you offer your customers?

There are any number of ways to identify the benefits you offer. This article discusses just three:

1) Customer Research

2) Speak to Your Sales Team

3) Make it Easy for Your Customer to Get Buy-In

The method you choose depends on your time constraints, budget, and level of customer interaction.

1) Customer Research

The most obvious way to identify benefits is to ask your existing customers. They're spending a lot of money on your offering, so you can be sure they know what benefit they're getting from it. (In many cases, it can be handy to ask them what benefits they'd like to be getting from you too!) Unfortunately, like everyone else, your customers are busy people. In most cases, you won't get useful feedback by simply sending an email enquiry. You have to make it easy for them to respond, and you have to make it worth their while. Think about questionnaires and surveys for quantitative data, and interviews and focus groups for qualitative data. These are the simplest techniques, but you still have to make sure you interpret the results appropriately. And always remember that they're self-report methods. People will sometimes tell you what they think you want to hear. (That's also why you have to word your questions very carefully – try not to ask leading questions.) Of course, there are plenty of other research techniques around. Do a bit of homework and find the methods which best suit your business requirements. But don't get carried away by the possibilities. All the research data in the world is pointless if you're not talking the language of your customer.< 2) Speak to Your Sales Team

Sadly, not every business can afford to invest in market research. If your budget doesn't stretch far enough, try talking to your sales people. They're out in the field every day, talking to customers. And because their livelihood depends on their success in engaging customers, chances are they'll be able to tell you what your customers want to know. (A word of warning, though… Be careful not to make lofty promises. Unlike your sales team, written collateral doesn't generate a rapport with your customers. Customers won't make as many allowances, so you can only stretch the truth so far in writing before your credibility suffers. What's more, if you do push the boundaries, you're more likely to be held to your word!)

3) Make it Easy for Your Customer to Get Buy-In

If you don't have the budget for in-depth customer research, and you don't have a sales team, a good tip is to imagine how your customer gets buy-in from their boss. Quite often, the decision maker is someone higher up the food chain than your direct audience. Your audience will probably be the key stakeholder – they'll be the user of your product, or the recipient of your service. But when they find an offering they like, there's a good chance they'll have to sell it to someone further up the line. If you can make this sale easier, you'll have a foot in the door. Don't just appeal to the sensibilities of the direct audience. You also need to ask yourself what they need to know to convince the decision maker. If the decision maker is a CFO, think Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). If the decision maker is a CIO or MIS, think performance, technological sustainability, availability, manageability, and ease of integration. If the decision maker is a CEO, think liability, risk management, and ROI. And only use jargon to prove you know your stuff. Remember… tag line will probably have the ultimate decision maker scratching their head, not reaching for their cheque book.

There are many many more ways to identify benefits. This is just a very superficial snapshot of some techniques you might like to try. At the very least they'll get you thinking benefits.

In the end, the message is simple. Forget all the fancy talk about complicated revolutionary marketing principles. Forget new-age hard-sell advertising quick-fixes. Forget looking to so-called "experts" for solutions. Just think benefits. And if you can accurately do that, the rest is just mechanics. Once you know what you want to write about, you just need to put pen to paper. And that's a whole another story!

Each employee must provide services by placing himself as a consultant to all customer that comes into the store. The attitude of an employee is a reflection of the company's attitude towards its customers. If the employee is bad in terms of customer service, then the corporate image is also bad in the eyes of customers. So, it is important to communicate to the employees about the good service to customers.

In general, the basic attitude of good service to the customer are:

1. relax

This means :

- Use non-formal language, according to the character of the customer being served.

- Show a confident attitude

- Able to create a fun and friendly atmosphere

2. Prioritize services to customers than other activities.

3. Do not obtrude.

4. Required to provide information on:

- self-identity

- product advantage

- ongoing promotion

5. Always show an attitude ready to serve any time.

Things that are considered not show a service attitude is:

- Receive or play Telephone / Mobile in the store floor

- Indifference

- Joking and huddle with fellow employees

- Relying on the product display,door, display window, etc

- Stand idly Attitudes

When you open the store for the first time, maybe you have a few of the quantity and diversity of products. You do not have a lot of quantity and product variety was limited to best seller category. This closely related to your business financial.

But over time, your business is sure to grow. The manufacturers began eying your business and hope to become your supplier. Similarly, customers demand on your product is rapidly increase. Of course you will compensate it by increasing the quantity of products and increase the variety of products that you sell in your store. Now you need a warehouse to store your merchandise products. It is time you should build a warehouse and even expand your store area. If necessary, you should have your own store building, and no longer hiring.

The robustness of a building determines operational stores processes that you run; so purchasing building materials such as steel frame building should be an important consideration and maybe the first list to consider. For building materials, one recommendation is FLGB. FLGB material is very strong and durable so that you are not too much bothered with the building repairing cost at a later date.

When we went shopping for food, clothes or a car, we will be given many choices, and too much choice. Are we going to choose a brand familiar to us, or we take the challenge to try a new brand?

With so many choices faced by consumers, then they will be very easy to become overwhelmed, and they tend to give in to the decision making process by buying products that are already known rather than try something new! But even if we wanted to try a new product, customers do not even know where to start. Too many POP materials and communications issued by the maker of brands talk about the features of their products and completely forgot to talk to the benefits - in a product. Benefit-driven communication is the best way to talk to customers. Is the brand more efficiently? Providing time-saving or cost-effective?

At the store, merchandising and point-of-sale (POS) is a very important thing to make a connection with the customer to encourage impulse sales. To catch the eye of consumers, brand owners and retailers need to constantly create innovative Point Of Purchase (POP) in the store to attract attention. Without attracting attention and communication, many consumers often overlook new products or specials and consequently buy products that are familiar and already trusted.

Business retailers want to ensure that their brand is in stores and available to consumers. Here are the things to watch out for doing that:

Packaging: This is the most important brand POP. This is the part that will continue to work everywhere: on the shelf, in a store, in the kitchen, at home, anywhere. It's all about originality! A brand needs to have a unique character and personality and more importantly talk about the benefits.

POP: Using a unique visual elements and colors that describe a brand in order to attract customers. Creating effective POP on shelves, cell phones, coupons, or digital media are some tactics that can be used.

Check Out Displays: Using Check Out Displays in the store is an effective tactic to make the brand stand out. While consumers wait in line, strategy shelf "one brand" can create astonishing effects. And certainly will increase impulse buying customers.

Floor Graphics, Floor Stand, Floor or display: Usually placed in front of the store. It is an effective and creative way to direct consumers to a product! Reforming certain artistic products coupled with attractive graphic images will provide a significant effect on sales.

Effective POP can make consumers out of their routine, and this can affect the behavior of their shopping and their purchase decision. All retail businesses should be sure to do it right. However, so many cost spent for advertising, if consumers do not find them on the shelves, there will be no sale.