Sunday opening key to success: expert

Marketing expert Samantha Reece has called for all retail businesses in the region who want to have sustainable success to open on Sundays.

Ms Reece visited the region last week to give Bunbury businesses an insight into how best to market to today's shopper, basing her advice on her experiences in the USA late last year.

The director of the Catalyst 2 Success business advisory service said often shop owners blamed the economy and other factors for a lack of customers, but frequently their lack of success was due to their own business practices.

Ms Reece said the first problem she had with country businesses was they did not want to open seven days a week.

"They need to open Sundays," she said.

"You need to open when a customer wants to shop.

"You have to make that effort."

Ms Reece, who has worked with more than 100 businesses Australia-wide including Leading Edge Chain, Retravision and Fuji Film, said employees should make sure they worked as "salespeople".

"When you are working in retail you are a salesperson, so you have to sell," she said.

"You need to start a dialogue and then you can go further with the sale.

"Also if I am trying something on you need to close the sale. Otherwise all you are doing is standing there and keeping watch."

Ms Reece also believed businesses had to take ideas used in the USA and implement them in their day-to-day operations.

"When we are working in a retail or hospitality business day in and day out we can become complacent or blase about our service levels," she said.

"I saw some highly effective marketing ideas in the USA which cost nothing, but yet engaged shoppers to stay longer in the outlet and hence spend more."