Camp Store Profit Pushers & Prohibitors

Are you looking for some easy tips to quickly increase your profit at your camp store? These profit pushers and prohibitors are a great place to start. Use them as a checklist to make sure you’re paying attention to the merchandise, pricing, and maintenance in your store — and turning more foot traffic into revenue.

Profit Pushers

Small moves that reliably lift sales:

• Pile it high & watch it fly. If you don’t have enough stock during peak season, you’ll miss out on sales.
• Always carry a few items at a high price point. This makes your middle-priced items look like a great value and your lowest price points look like a bargain.
• Tantalize all the senses — sound, smell, taste, touch, visual. Make coffee, offer free candy, play music, put your squishies at a kid-friendly level, and make your displays eye-popping.
• Use your product as part of your visual merchandising. Camping products can be FUN! Theme something with them — a s’mores table, a fishing set-up in a kiddie pool, or a pool-accessory display.
• Don’t be afraid to take markdowns. If it isn’t selling, it’s making you ZERO money sitting on your shelf at full price.
• “Stealing” from Target is OK. Pay attention wherever you shop and borrow ideas. Note the grocery displays. What colors do Target or Walmart put up front?
• Invest in professional fixtures that can move. Rotate fixtures and product to add variety and excitement for repeat and seasonal campers.
• If you have time to lean, you have time to clean! Employees should be dusting, straightening, and folding during slow times.
• Paint can perk things up. An inexpensive can of paint on your fixtures and walls keeps things looking fresh.
• Fabric and paper are two easy display helpers. Use them under or behind a display as a backdrop, or to add color and interest. Choose colors and textures that complement your store design and merchandise.
• Keep things consistent. Hangers, fixtures, and signage should all be similar and professional. These can be found inexpensively but make a big impact.
• Pretend you are the customer. Walk in like it’s your first time and note the details. Is everything organized and clean? Was there fun stuff to look at while waiting in line? Did your cashier suggest additional items?
• Ask the right questions of your campers. Staying in a cabin — forgot to pack cups? In a tent — do you need ice?
• Give something away & make more in return. Give kids a free coloring page, pencil, or sticker at check-in. Parents will remember — and so will the kids when they come back for souvenirs, toys, or candy.

Profit Prohibitors

Common mistakes that quietly cost you sales:

• “You break it, you buy it” signs. Aren’t we providing a relaxed environment? Put ceramics and other breakables in a safe place.
• Employees who are clerking, not working your customers. Remind them their main priority is helping a customer — not just ringing them up or stocking shelves.
• A limited apparel selection. All white shirts, only men’s sizes, only short-sleeve tees. Provide VARIETY!
• Handwritten signs. Made worse with misspelled words.
• Completely clutter-free counters. Put some impulse items on there!
• Souvenirs on grocery-store shelving. Fine for a $1 can of soup — not for a $45 sweatshirt.
• Dusty, dirty items or a dusty store. One dusty cup or a cobwebbed corner can turn people off from everything else in the store.
• Unknowledgeable sales help. If you don’t know whether this flashlight needs batteries, how will the customer? TRAIN your staff — and put the batteries near the register!
• Poor lighting. If they can’t SEE it, they can’t BUY it.
• Crammed & cramped stores. When everything blends together, customers can’t focus on any one item — and they get frustrated trying to choose.

By Sheila Isaac, Campground Consulting Group. Want help turning your camp store into a real profit center? Reach out for a complimentary consultation.