Leading fish food brand Tetra has come up with a dozen tips to help pet retailers stay ahead of the opposition and increase sales during difficult economic times.

1. Create satisfied customers
Research reveals that the main reasons for leaving fishkeeping are:
• fish getting ill or dying
• the time involved in cleaning and looking after the fish
• unsightly tanks or ponds

If you bear this in mind you’ll have some strong clues as to how to please your customers. Good quality products that will make their life easier are the key to their hearts! Today’s lifestyle is hectic so people look to hobbies that will give them pleasure and help them relax. You have the opportunity to sell them the products that will help make fishkeeping easier.

2. Sell products that do what they claim
First and foremost customers want products that do the job they claim to do. But there are many products available that fall short of their claims. Every retailer should understand the products they are selling and be sure they work. Learn about the manufacturers before you buy from them. It is those that invest in research and development, invest in food trials and can provide the evidence to support their claims that will satisfy your customers.

3. Provide the right information and advice
The introduction of the Animal Welfare Act means that retailers must ensure everyone purchasing animals has the relevant information to ensure they can adequately care for them. A number of manufacturers produce literature that will help this process so ask your sales representatives. OATA also offer training courses for a more in-depth understanding of fishkeeping and retailing. Tetra offers a whole range of materials in a variety of formats, for all levels of expertise.

4. Offer brand reassurance
Research shows time and again that customers want, and expect to see, the well-established brands. These brands give them the reassurance of good quality and reliable results, which is particularly important when you’re keeping pets such as fish. Your customers are looking for products from manufacturers they know and feel they can trust to safely feed or treat their fish.

5. Offer the right range
The ‘right range’ will be slightly different for every store. However, many customers are very loyal to a particular brand. So understanding what these key brands are and keeping a good stock is key to encouraging repeat purchases and developing and maintaining a strong customer base. It is more important to stock the main brands than to try and stock as many brands as possible as the well-known brands will be the ones that produce the majority of your sales and therefore profit.

6. Give value for money
Once the customer can see the brand they want, they are then looking for value for money. If you increase your prices above that recommended by the manufacturer the perception by customers of value for money will be lowered and can affect the level of individual purchases.

7. Allow appropriate shelf space
Displaying two or three facings of a bestseller in your display has proven benefits. More than that is likely to take up valuable space and won’t offer you many more sales opportunities. In fact, it could lose you sales from other products you could be stocking. Space is always a premium so use it wisely.

8. Balance price and volume for profit
First, distinguish between the percentage of margin you are offered from a manufacturer compared to what that means in actual cash. For example, if you were to receive a 50% margin on a product to be sold at £1, your profit would be 50p. Compare this to being offered a 30% margin on a product that you can sell at £2. The percentage margin may not initially look as attractive but in terms of cash it is better – your profit is 60p.

Second, consider the volume of sales on any particular product. For example, if you are likely to sell 100 items per week of a product with a cash margin of 50p, then you will have £50 in the till. However, another item may only sell 10 items in a week that may mean that however good the margin is you won’t make up the difference in cash profit.

9. Clear displays and tidy stores
Once you have the right range, making a clear display will help customers see the products they want. If the display is jumbled and confusing customers will be put off buying, or just won’t be able to find what they want. This means having a logical system throughout the display and across manufacturer’s products. It also means showing beautifully decorated tanks to engage and inspire the customer. This can make a significant difference to the buying decision.

10. Cross merchandise
Cross merchandising can improve sales significantly. For example, site a water treatment alongside a food product. It can prompt customers to buy an additional product they had not originally planned for.

11. Benefit from promotions and offers
Displaying promotions clearly will help move products and using the display material on offer will help attract interest. Promotions offer you a great opportunity to pass benefits onto customers, so make the most of them. Remember that all promotions have a limited life so make the most of it while it’s active and then remove all materials once the offer has finished.

12. Be sensitive to seasonal changes
And finally, take the opportunity to promote certain products at different times of year. For example, holiday food is likely to sell best during the summer holidays, Christmas and Easter. Put yourself in the minds of your customers and make the most of the opportunities throughout the year. Make the most of point of sale to encourage and inform choice. In-store feeding programmes are a great way of recommending products to clients without a sales assistant having to be present.