Hälsa Footwear President Tony Adams has written a new free e-book that maps out 250 strategies to help retailers drive traffic, build loyalty, and improve sales. To create Step Up Your Store: The Independent Shoe Retailer’s Growth Playbook, Adams drew from his own extensive industry experience, which spans managing shoe stores, owning a shoe store, traveling widely as a footwear sales representative, and co-founding Hälsa Footwear.
He points out that while independent shoe retailers face increasing competition from many different forces, they still have numerous advantages over larger companies, from fitting expertise to personalized local relationships that make customers feel valued. His goal in writing the e-book is to help independents build on those strengths, he says.
At a concise 56 pages filled with visuals and numbered lists, the playbook makes it easy to quickly find ideas that aren’t expensive or complicated to implement. Adams encourages readers to cherry pick three or four strategies that make sense, given a retailer’s core customers, staff, budget, and local market—and give them a try. “The goal is to help stores take focused action instead of feeling they must try everything at once,” he explains. As the playbook puts it: “Do fewer ideas better.”
Readers will also find handy checklists, like Ten Moves to Complete in the Next Seven Days. Don’t “wait for perfect,” he writes. “A simple idea completed this week is more valuable than a perfect campaign that never leaves the planning stage.”
He opted for the free e-book format because it’s easy to distribute and gives users instant access to information. “A store owner can download the e-book immediately, read a chapter, share it with employees, and begin using the ideas,” says Adams, who has authored six other e-books for retailers. “Retailers can mark ideas, discuss them with their team, select a few priorities, and return to the book whenever they need help with traffic, events, merchandising, customer loyalty, service, or marketing.
“The book also includes ready-to-use tools such as partnership outreach messages, review requests, event invitations, vendor-support requests, event-planning worksheets, and scorecards,” he adds. All are designed to help retailers move from having an idea to actually putting it into practice.
Adams believes his resume gives him an unusually broad perspective on what it takes to succeed in retail, and he has channeled that firsthand experience into practical ideas he knows can be implemented in a store environment because he has seen them work.
“As a store manager and owner, I experienced the daily challenges of attracting customers, managing inventory, training employees, merchandising products, and building repeat business. As a sales representative, I worked with many independent retailers and had the opportunity to observe both their successes and their failures,” he says. “Over the years, I learned that successful shoe stores often share the same strengths: knowledgeable service, proper fitting, strong customer relationships, community involvement, and consistent follow-up. I also saw the common mistakes that can hold stores back.”
“What would make me happiest would be to hear a retailer say, ‘We tried one of the ideas, it brought new customers into the store, and we turned it into something we now do regularly,’” says Adams. “I would also be pleased to hear that the book helped employees become more involved, improved customer follow-up, created a new community partnership, or helped a store protect its margins without constantly discounting.
“Ultimately, I want retailers to finish the book feeling encouraged. Independent shoe stores have real competitive advantages. Sometimes they simply need a practical plan and a few fresh ideas to put those advantages to work.”
Retailers can request a free, downloadable copy of the e-book by emailing Adams at tadams@halsafootwear.com.
Other e-books by Adams include:
How to Get Started with Social Media
50 Ways to Increase Sales and Protect Margins
Turning First-Time Shoppers into Lifetime Customers
Comfort That Sells
The Shoe Store Display Guide
How to Compete with Amazon and Big-Box Stores
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