How to increase the average check: effective ways and methods, tips and tricks

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The problem of how to increase the average check is puzzled by almost all entrepreneurs working in various industries. After all, the final income of a businessman, the success of his enterprise directly depends on this. In this article, we will provide general tips to help you do this, as well as some industry-specific examples.

Own niche

Solve the question of how to increase the average check, you are guaranteed to succeed if you find your niche. Ideally, find "your" customers, who, firstly, will desperately need your product or service, and secondly, they will not be able to find it anywhere else.

It's not enough to know who your target audience is. It is necessary to carry out the so-called nicheting. How to determine the most profitable niches, and how to increase the average check? Several effective tools will help with this:

• SWOT-analysis (method of strategic planning, withwhich identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the company, the likely opportunities and threats).
• ABC XYZ-analysis (this tool allows you to explore the range of products, distributing them according to the necessary criteria).
• Work of experts in the focus group.
• Test run of trial marketing campaigns targeting various niches.

It will help solve the problem of how to increase the average check, and an attempt to establish your own share in the total purchases. To do this, a customer survey will help. It is important to find out from them how much they buy a similar product and what they like or dislike about your competitors.

Based on the results of such research, it will be easier for you to develop motivations for salespeople, improve their skills, and establish more successful interaction with customers.

Working with employees

How to increase the average check in the store? It is also important to introduce effective management tools. To do this, it is necessary to plan sales volumes according to the most clear and understandable scheme, set up a regular reporting system for sellers, and also introduce a system of indicators for the average value of a single shipment. The last point deserves a special mention. Motivate sellers to sell exactly expensive accessories and goods, then everything will work out. Here's how to increase the average check in the store.

The fact is that in most retail outlets, the main bonuses are paid to sellers for the sale and resale of highly profitable goods. You can also stimulate them using the principle of "quick money", thenis, by selling something expensive and completing the indicated plan, motivating payout, they can receive a reward from the cash register on the same day.

Intangible motivations can also be useful in solving the problem of how to increase the amount of the average check: contests, corporate parties, awards at general events.

Loyal customers

Customer loy alty is extremely important in this matter. It will grow as much as you can give it attention. If you want to learn how to increase the average check amount, you should use several effective methods:

1. Conduct customer surveys, use the recommendations received if they satisfy the needs of a significant part of the buyers. This way you can track your loy alty index.
2. Participate in the leisure activities of customers. This is where online marketing or event marketing can help. Actively arrange webinars, master classes, contests - everything that will fit the theme of your business.
3. Work on creating custom loy alty programs based on the demographics, social and other characteristics of your audience. There are many ways on the market to do this. For example, additional services, cumulative discounts, gifts and bonuses.
4. Improve the quality of the product or service itself. Moreover, this must be done in accordance with the results of surveys and measuring loy alty indices.
5. Whenever possible, tell the buyer how you managed to become better. Use SMM, PR services, event marketing for this.
6. Keep in touch with the points of contact. It should be pleasant and convenient for customers to interact with your company. To do this, study in what ways customers get to you.
7. Have detailed information about regular customers at hand to regularly congratulate them on their birthday, pay special attention to their children, achievements in some areas that are especially important to them.
8. Optimize options for "free" care. If a person is having difficulty with a completed product, they should always be able to interact with you.
9. Don't forget about such obvious things as responsibility and honesty. Know how to admit your own mistakes, quickly correcting them.
10. Instill corporate values in employees so that any of them, when meeting with a client, can reach the desired level of contact with him.

Grocery store

Now, here are some ways to increase the average check in specific industries. For example, in a grocery store. In this case, the most effective method is to increase the price with maximum advertising activity. True, this method requires a developed communication with your regular customers. But it will immediately be possible to solve the problem of how to increase the average check in the grocery store.

There are several possibilities that will allow in combination to lead to a fairly quick positive result:

1. Give up the smallpackages and forms, replacing running positions.
2. Develop special "hot deals". They must necessarily be of a limited duration, due to this it will be possible to create an artificial hype. For example, it helps to solve the problem of how to increase the average check in a grocery store, such options as "product of the week", "product of the day". These positions should be clearly visible on the shelves, immediately conspicuous.
3. Provide customers with a check of a certain amount with some kind of incentive. For example, for a check of $1,000 or more, offer a $100 coupon on your next purchase.
4. Divide the outlet into zones. How to increase the average check in the grocery store in this case? You can place goods related to impulsive purchases near the checkout (travel stuff, cheap sweets, chewing gum, toys, inexpensive toys, consumables).
5. Organize pre-packing, in which the average weight of a serving of goods will exceed the standard values by 20-25%.
6. Special promotions, the so-called windings, when the client is offered to purchase two goods at the price of one and a half.

It is worth noting that one of the most important steps to increase the average check in the grocery store is working with staff. Employees must be properly motivated, primarily financially, that is, their bonus should be calculated not from the total revenue, but from the amount of the average check. Also, employees need to be constantly trained, to improve their level of professional knowledge. They mustknow the assortment perfectly, have sales skills, be able to replace commodity items, tell and invent and organize promotions yourself.

It is important to offer customers their help in time and not intrusively, tell them about "hot" offers and promotions that take place in the store. These are all the most effective ways to boost and drive sales.

Restaurant

There are also several effective methods on how to increase the average check in a canteen or restaurant. The main thing is to teach the staff sales techniques so that the client orders some items from the menu in addition to his main order or chooses more expensive dishes instead of cheap ones. First of all, waiters and administrators must be motivated for this so that their offers look sincere and enticing. The easiest way to achieve this is to set an additional income for the staff, which will depend on the monthly or daily revenue. This will be especially effective in establishments where it is not customary to leave a tip. This is how you solve the problems of how to increase the average check in a cafe, pizzeria or fast food.

There are several basic methods to increase the amount of the average check. Upselling is when a guest orders a more expensive item from the menu instead of an alternative one. For example, if a client chooses beer, then he can be advised not to drink the average price category, which is ordered from you most often, but a craft novelty that will cost an order of magnitude more expensive. If guests want to order two servings of rolls, the waiter mustoffer to order a set instead, which will cost more, but they will be able to try more varieties.

Tell you how to increase the average bill in a restaurant, cross-selling. This is the sale of additional items from the menu. The bottom line is that the waiter is not intrusive, but persistently offers additional dishes, drinks and ingredients that visitors did not originally plan to order. For example, sauces for hot dishes, snacks for beer, topping for ice cream and much more.

This method is often underestimated for fear of frightening off the client. But there are several recommendations that are guaranteed to help avoid this. For example, offer guests an aperitif immediately after the menu is served. One extra drink increases your average check by 10%.

It is important to consider when guests need to be asked to make an additional order. If the waiter offers to bring more beer when the guests' glasses are almost empty, they will most likely agree, and if they do it earlier, they will probably be rejected.

To help increase the profitability of the restaurant business can also sell dishes to go. For example, at the end of the evening, you can offer original pastries or desserts, ask them what they liked the most and advise them to take it with them.

Pharmacy

The pharmacy business has recently received great development. Now pharmacies can be found at almost every step, so the competition in this area is very high. How to increase the average check in a pharmacy, many owners of thisbusiness.

There are some simple yet effective tips that can help you get there. It is important that your pharmacy has professional pharmacists who can take their own initiative, communicate openly and kindly with customers, helping them make the right choice.

Employees need to be trained in sales techniques, they must master them professionally. In the pharmacy itself, it would not hurt to install software that would tell them which products may be useful to the buyer, what needs to be recommended.

It is important, as in any other industry, to motivate pharmacists. Their wages should directly depend on the size of the average check, their diligence.

A good example of how to increase the average check in a pharmacy can be just the installation of software that will help the pharmacist. After all, one of the main features of this business lies precisely in the fact that the range of goods is so wide and specific that it is not always easy to figure it out even for an experienced professional.

Pharmacist assistant

True, even in those pharmacies where such an assistant is introduced, it is not always possible to immediately trace its effectiveness. As a rule, this is due to several reasons. First, management often puts too much faith in the altruism of its employees, based on the assumption that the established program will be implemented immediately. In reality, this does not always happen. It is necessary to develop a technology that will force the pharmacist to introducethis module. Only then will everything work out and work.

Secondly, employees themselves often face the inconvenience of these upsell modules. The fact is that for almost all pharmacy automation programs, these modules do not agree with real economic indicators. Because of this, there is a deceptive feeling that the module is developed only by programmers and exclusively for programmers.

Motivation of pharmacists should be mentioned separately. The payment system for such an employee should help increase the profitability of each purchase. In fact, in many pharmacy chains one can encounter two opposite forms of remuneration. In some, they are too simple (the seller receives a percentage of the total turnover), in others they are too detailed (there are too many indicators). For an ordinary pharmacist, a clear and simple system consisting of no more than three indicators will be the most optimal. At the same time, it must necessarily be tied to personal gross profit with a fairly high share of the bonus part (but not more than 45%). Of course, over time, the system of remuneration can be complicated and improved. But we must always remember that even the most attractive system will interest no more than 30% of employees as a result. This is human psychology.

Makeup shop

Tricks to increase the average check in a cosmetics store are very similar to those used in a grocery store or most other outlets.

At the same time, the mostit becomes attractive to sell more products at a reduced price, which always attracts the maximum number of visitors. It can be a stock of three goods for the price of two or "2 + 1=4".

An example that is suitable for a cosmetics store. When buying two pieces of handmade soap, the third customer gets free. Or a ready-made set of men's cosmetics can be purchased for 15% cheaper than collecting it yourself from the store.

Such promotions work best in these outlets.

Clothing store

The competition between clothing stores is very high at present. Therefore, it is extremely important for the owners of such outlets to know how they can count on a significant increase in revenue.

If you follow these recommendations, you can quickly figure out how to increase the average check in a clothing store. As in many other areas, it is important to sell more expensive goods. As soon as the buyer has chosen a T-shirt or jeans, immediately offer him a similar model, which will be 30-40% more expensive. You just need to tell in detail why the choice should be made in favor of a more expensive option (popular brand, guaranteed quality).

Sell more items. It is necessary that consultants suggest to a client who, for example, tries on jeans, try them together with a new shirt or T-shirt. The main thing is not to do it intrusively, but simply to show and offer.

Additional or related products and services. Forclothing store, their greatest variety is belts, jewelry, socks, scarves, watches. Inexpensive goods, which at the same time can significantly increase the average check and overall revenue. As a rule, these products are in the assortment of any store, but they are not always correctly located. You need to understand that these are things that your client will ultimately buy anyway, if not from you, then from a competitor. Therefore, they are often located at the checkout or offer to buy several pairs of socks up to a certain amount, after which you can count on a discount or a bonus card.

Calling "sleeping" clients. This is an extremely effective method if you own the contacts of your customers. Having made a sample, evaluate which of them have not bought anything lately. It would be useful to call them and remind them of their existence, only this will require a weighty justification. For example, the arrival of a new product, profitable promotions or sales. At the same time, note that you haven’t seen a client in your store for a long time, try to find out the reason for this. Perhaps the whole point is that they forgot about your store or simply moved to a new location. In this case, reminding yourself will be useful for everyone.

Many shops use discount cards. It must be remembered that there are both positive and negative sides. Of course, the seller loses profit by providing a permanent discount. But, on the other hand, you motivate the buyer to come to your store, because he has a discount card, which means he can count on better offers.

Come up with bonuses thatwill be applied when a certain purchase volume is reached. Having determined the amount of the average check in your store, add 40 percent to it. Let the sellers and cashiers offer the buyer to buy something for a certain amount in order to receive a gift.

Arrange promotions. This is something that is guaranteed to work, no matter how you treat them. For T-shirts, socks and underwear, classic options are good, for example, three items for the price of four. But in order to sell jackets and jeans, you need to come up with something more original. For example, when buying three of any different things, the buyer can get the fourth one for free. It can also be absolutely anything.

Such promotions are needed to increase sales and get rid of the old collection. In addition, this method diverges well according to the "word of mouth" principle. So people will go to the action even without attracting additional money for advertising.

Ask for contacts of your buyers. This is an important part of working with clients. Remember that it will be several times easier to sell a product to a client who has bought something from you at least once than to a complete stranger from the street. In addition, you will not have to invest in advertising, the effect of which is not at all obvious.

The customer must be taken to the store 4 times. Believe me, this figure is not taken from the ceiling, but calculated experimentally. Experts have found that if a person makes a purchase four times in your store, then he develops the habit of leaving money here. So the client becomes your permanentthe buyer, you can no longer worry that he will come back to you again and again. You can encourage customers to come to the store four times using gift certificates, discount coupons for the next purchase, bonus promotions.

Be sure to call the customer a few days after purchase. This is a way to form a positive opinion about the seller. Find out if the item fits, if everything is in order. In this case, the buyer will want not only to return to you, but also to tell their friends about such a caring store.

Online store

There are many techniques that will help you figure out how to increase the average check in an online store:

1. Constantly offer the user products that are bought along with the product that he chose.
2. Cross-selling, whereby the customer sees what else can be bought in your store, in addition to the product for which he came here.
3. Packages are popular among retailers when they need to get rid of stale products as quickly as possible.
4. Offer free shipping or discounts over a certain amount.