- Multinationals -

Guam & K-Mart

In Reply to: Can a local economy survive a Wal-Mart? posted by Darya on August 06, 1999 at 11:52:57:

Well in the case here in Guam. We where introduced with K-Mart. Depending on your demagraphics and the type of store you have you can survive the WalMart attack. Initially the first month or so is bad. This is the time when everyone has a, "look new big store" mentallity. Then things will seattle down. Of course you will loss a certian percentage of your business but you can over come the big store hyp. Offer convienance through location (walking distance). This is one of the biggest factors. Customers will rather go for convienance for their day to day, " I forgot to get" or the "Friends are over lets get snacks", shopping. Once they are in your store speed of service is essential in the convienance package. Then customer service gets them coming back. TIPS: 1) Give change in their hand ( this is being personal with the customer a sign of caring about them. note: keep some acohol handy to wash hand if customer looks sick). 2) Try to remember names of repeat customers (I know it's hard but try anyway it builds a customer relation which they can spread to get you more customers). Pay attention to your customers features and compliment them when they change it, even if you feel like laughing out load about how silly it looks. Be straight forward with your prices ( if a customer ask you why it's more expensive that WalMart tell them the truth {they buy bulk which makes them cheaper but we offer convienance for you so that you don't have to be in big lines and have to go all the way to ________ and we offer service with a smile NOTE: smile humor them.}) 3) Reestablish your inventory to reflect the needs of your convienance shoppers. 4) Remember! You will always have customers with bad attitudes (small percentage) don't let it effect your relations with your good customers (Keep that smiling and positive attitude with all the customers and then at the end of the night, let it out when no customers around note: I know it's bad but sometimes I catch myself letting it out on my wholesalers. I'm not an expert at this stuff but my business and I survived a K-Mart attack in Guam. 5) Don't try to compete with what they have but what they don't have.

Lastly, Look into tax encentives for small businesses and get your small business community to try to get your reps. to sponsor tax encentive for small business to help compete with bigger businesses. (We have a $50,000 tax exemption for those who make less than $500,000). Remember: a small business is a drop in the bucket but when combined, it's a water fall. If your reps. are smart they will make sure that, as a whole small businesses can survive.

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