All posts in Retail

Interior and exterior commercial retail lighting play an important role in every stores success. Exterior lights help people locate the store at night and assist in branding the establishment.

Interior lights provide general lighting and also bring out the color in merchandise which helps prompt a buying decision. When carefully chosen and properly installed, interior ambient and accent lighting increase the marketability and sales of products.

Because profit margins on all but the most expensive products are often marginal, overhead is the retailers biggest challenge. Always try to combine energy efficiency with superior luminance and lifespan when choosing lights for your retail clients.

Taking the time to comprehensively develop a multi-layered lighting system will both differentiate your clients and your work from that of lesser, competing lighting design firms.

Exterior

Aesthetics plays a critical role in commercial exterior retail lighting. Clients often judge the type of experience they will have inside a store by the appearance of the exterior and landscape.

Quality sign, walls or above entrances lighting is a must for any retail establishment. Goosenecks are excellent fixtures for this effect.

If the store is a standalone, it will need both building lights and canopy lights to properly illuminate its form and entranceways. Fluorescents are usually the fixtures to use for exterior retail lighting due to longer lamp life and high energy efficiency ratings.

Your clients will pay less per month for their use and experience very infrequent maintenance and replacement costs. Parking lot lights can be either general or decorative, depending on the nature of the establishment.

Make certain you meet mandatory foot candle requirements, pay close attention to the contrast of light and shadow that your lighting system establishes. This is a critical factor to safety than foot candle levels, and a very good reason to invest in a professional lighting photometric analysis.

Ambient Interior Lighting

Ambient light is another term for general light. The level of ambient lighting in a store is determined by two things.

First, the physical size will of course play a big role in the overall luminance the overhead lights will be able to shine throughout the building. Extremely large wholesale and grocery stores with high ceilings will need either high bay or low bay lights.

The newer pulse start metal halide lights offer superior energy ratings and make for very good retail lights in these environments. For retailers on a budget, or for ceilings under 25 feet in height, fluorescent low bay lights can be used instead.

Department stores, clothing stores, and smaller food stores can also be lit very effectively with parabolic troffer fluorescent lights. Retail discounts stores can use a series of parabolic fluorescents for general overhead lighting, and then selectively employ accent lights to draw attention to items on sale or special interest.

Accent Interior Lighting

Accent lighting sets a special product or group of products apart from the rest of the merchandise. Because of this, accent retail lighting plays an important role in the success of almost every retail establishment, regardless of size or product type.

Of course, its most important role is in high end retail lighting. Accent lighting helps differentiate unique qualities of products on display that require special attention and a sense of being set apart from the surrounding environment.

The lower the ambient lighting is, the brighter the accent lighting becomes, and the more removed an object appears from general reality. Jewelers and designer clothing retailers use this form of extreme contrasts between ambient and accent lighting to give a surreal appearance to merchandise.

A wide variety of recessed lights are often utilized for retail accent lighting. Adjustable fixtures are better because they allow managers to periodically change displays and readjust the lights to compliment the new setting.

Pendants are also very good retail lights to use over any display that is fixed in a central position within a store.

Designer Interior Lighting

Special display lights are often required in custom shelving and display cases. Linear strip lights for retail lighting are superb for jewelry, accessories, and specialty item displays. They can be mounted to the interiors of specialty display cases, or they can be mounted to the undersurfaces of shelves.

You’ve probably noticed in the news that real-estate markets across the nation are starting to see a little increase in activity and sales prices. That’s fantastic news for the typical seller, but for sellers having distressed property sale prices and surely days-on-market figures may not be looking up much. The truth is it is tough to sell an underutilized or distressed property in any market as traditional purchasers view it as a high risk investment given its condition and the amount of capital that will be necessary to get it into good running condition. So what’s an owner of distressed commercial, industrial or retail property to do? Think about a real estate bargain sale!

What IS a Real Estate Bargain Sale?

A bargain sale real estate transaction is an alternate to traditional selling techniques that allows the seller to pocket cash at closing while getting a substantial tax deductible donation that usually saves them from paying more in taxes on their regular income than they’d receive cash at closing. These kinds of sales are cash, meaning no contingencies to meet and a fast, comparatively painless closing. In a real estate bargain sale transaction the seller is given a bit of cash at closing to cover their assessment and closing costs, additionally they get a non-profit donation deduction which could be used on a quarterly return if they’ve sufficient income, or it could be applied to their tax returns for around 6 years. Real estate bargain sales often bring a higher sales price for the property than traditional buyers would offer due the IRS Rules regarding assessing bargain sale real estate in Publication 561 . So between the fast cash, charitable donation and higher sales price these sales really are a fantastic option for sellers of distressed properties!

IRS Publication 561

As everyone knows in this day and age if it sounds too good to be true it generally is. Sellers pursuing real estate bargain sales do not need to panic about a scam. The Bargain Sale Exchange was created by the government in Section 170 of the IRS Code and predates the 1031 Exchange, making it a long running safe and proven technique of selling distressed or underutilized business, industrial and retail properties. How does the bargain sale offer a greater profit for sellers than a traditional sale in the real estate market? These sales are bound by the IRS Code Section 170 and are more explained in Publication 561 requirements for real estate appraisals. This kind of appraisal allows the appraiser to assess the value by a combination of three methods of valuation: the Replacement Cost Strategy, the Market or Sales Approach as well as the Income Approach. They then take a weighted average from those techniques and may also think about the highest and greatest utilisation of the property when determining its value even if that use differs from its current use. According to IRS Publication 561:

‘Fair market value (FMV) is the price which property would sell for on the open market. It is the price that might be agreed on between a willing purchaser and a willing seller, with neither having to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.’

Valuing a property in this manner removes the factors of time constraints and carrying costs on the seller’s part. Therefore the property can be appraised for a higher value than it might be in more traditional sales which use only the Market or Sale Approach or the quick bank .

Bargain sales of real estate offer an excellent alternative to more traditional selling methods for owners of underutilized or distressed property. As real estate bargain sales are cash transactions, closing is fast and simple. Under the terms set by the government the seller is entitled to a charitable donation deduction due to the sale and also pays minimum capital gains taxes on the cash obtained at closing. Thus all that cash saved by not paying as much in income taxes from gifting real estate via a bargain sale to charity can be reinvested in your business!

For more details visit http://mercyrealestate.com and http://mercyfoundation.org

Holidays bring great cheer to the lives of many individuals and even the retail managers are cheering very loudly. Halloween is one of the best days of the year for a retail establishment to show great sales figures. Some managers are truly delighted when Halloween time rolls around because they truly enjoy stocking shelves with costumes and masks that are positively hideous.

Customers seem to like these kind of adornments during the Halloween season. The children might spend a lot of time looking through the costumes that were hung on a certain aisle of the store. No costume will be missed as the children converse their feelings about the selections they see and the retailer knows that the children will not leave the store until they have a full costume.

Retailers love the sales totals during Halloween time for many reasons. They know that parents need to buy a costume for every child they lives at home. The store manager will usually be very friendly to families with six or more children in the party because that family is going to make the sales totals of the store really skyrocket. Most managers might even offer these families a room where the costumes can be examined while worn.

The variety of face paints alone that are centered on Halloween will make Halloween sales start to climb. Many face paints are water-soluble though so the parents will feel more inclined to buy them and go on to finding costumes or anything else the child wants for this special night on the town. Some costumes come with face painting kits included and parents like this option because they can get their Halloween shopping finished much faster than usual.

The retailer took notice of which costumes were selling out first because they wanted to make sure these moneymakers were restocked as soon as possible. The retail sales for Halloween evolve from parents buying costumes, facial decorations and an abundant assortment of candies and novelties that do not cost too much. These Halloween items will be continually monitored by the manager to make sure that they are available when people come to buy them.

The sales total will be extremely high during Halloween if the retailer makes sure that customers know what hours the store will be open. Some parents need to replenish candies that they have run short on and while they are at the store, they will most likely want to select a few items to drink. All of these items focus on Halloween and the retailer simply loves retail sales total during this holiday.

For tips on cooking tilapia and cooking turnips, visit the Healthy Cooking Tips website.

Vatika Group, a leading real estate developer, has launched a commercial project, Vatika Mindscapes at Mathura road, Faridabad. Vatika Mindscapes, Faridabad is providing both Office and Retail spaces. Office spaces of various sizes with floor to floor height of 5 mtrs on ground floors and 3.85 mtrs. on other floors is available. Designed by Singapore-based architects, WarnerwongVatika MindscapesFaridabad provides great business environment with best facilities possible in India. The complex has provision for all facilities and features that are indispensible in the modern corporate world. Innovative floor plan of this complex, optimizes space utilization. There are two towers, Tower-A and Tower-B with heights G+13 and G+11 respectively, present in the complex. Ground floor has been designed to accommodate corporate and retail spaces and eateries while office blocks vary in heights from G+13 to G+11 with varying floor plate sizes.
Location of Vatika Mindscapes project in Faridabad is on the main Mathura Road (NH2 Expressway) and is just 5 Minutes drive from the adjoining commercial hubs of Mohan Cooperative Industrial estate and Jasola. Badarpur metro station is at a walking distance from the complex. This will make travelling convenient for people working in the complex. Besides metro link the site is well connected to all parts of Delhi, Noida and Faridabad through road. Retail joints, 4 star hotel, Restaurants, Food-courts, ATMs, Cafeteria and Health club will provide a 360-degree experience to the approximately 12,000 professionals working at Vatika Mindscapes. In return these business establishments will get sound business on account of professionals working in the complex. Because of its close vicinity to many residential colonies and commercial hub of Mohan Cooperative Industrial estate, retail joints, Restaurants, Food-courts, Cafeteria etc., in the complex will receive great business.
The complex boasts of amenities like Passenger elevators, Separate lift for movement of goods and materials, provision for surface parking, multilevel basement parking, power supply from the DHVBNL with 100% power backup through DG sets, Telephone, Voice and Data connectivity through multiple service providers and proper HVAC system. The complex will have security at Main entrance, Main Lift Lobby, Basement Lift Lobbies and Staircases.
Vatika Mindscapes, Mathura road, Faridabad will interest not only those, who want to run their own businesses from there, but also those who want to buy property for rent or lease purpose. It is also bound to interest investors who plan to sell their properties at a premium. Withcommercial propertyprices appreciating at a healthy rate in Faridabad, buying space in a well located office cum retail hub, purely for investment purpose is not a bad idea.
Vatika Mindscapes, Mathura road, Faridabad is being developed by Vatika Group, a leading real estate developer of India, developing both residential and commercial projects.

How your online store design could determine the number of visitors who ultimately buy from you.

You may think that merchandising an online store is pointless right? I mean, its a website, upload some photos and add some description and you’re all set. Well, not exactly. How your online store design will determine the number of visitors who ultimately buy from you.

Here I’ll go over some proven steps to turning your virtual business into a selling machine.

Merchandising a brick and mortar retail store is key to pulling in passerby’ s as well as getting them to buy. But how do you “merchandise” an online store? The answer is simple. The same way you would set up your physical store. When an online visitor reaches your website the first thing they’ll notice is your home page (think of this as a front door of a brick and mortar). First impressions mean everything. We’ve all been taken back by a store (online or off) that is poorly merchandised and cluttered from one end to the other. Too many racks, merchandise on the floor and the whole place looking like it was hit by a tornado. Your online store could also be poorly merchandised and turning away potential sales.

Here are some key steps to cleaning up your retail internet business to help boost revenue and return customers.

1. Remove all the clutter from all web pages that only take away from your own products. This could be from having too many links (and broken links), too many affiliate ads and banners and finally – remove the multitude of photos that have nothing to do with your site.

2.If you are running a business- look like one. Don’t use backgrounds that are only really meant for social site profiles. The blinking stars background is not how you want to represent your business. Use a solid color background along with your business logo on top. Of course you’ll want to make it look great – but lets keep the social site backgrounds where they belong – on social sites.

3.Make sure your price points are clearly visible and are reflected correctly through-out your entire site.

4.Never use your home page as your entire “About Us” platform if you are a retailer. There should be another page dedicated for this. Simply inserting a paragraph about how you started the business and using the largest font possible on then placing that on your main page will only turn potential buyers away.

5.Use flash effects/animation sparingly – there is no need to use every flash animation you have come across and placing it all over your website. Its distracting – you want your potential customers to focus on your merchandise.

6.Organize your site and make it easy to navigate. Make it easy for visitors to find your contact information, shipping/returns and privacy policies, email newsletter sign-up and so forth.

7. View your store from a customers perspective, and step into their shoes and shop your own store.

8. Offer discounts in your virtual store, and make sure they are visible to the shopper.

9. Customers make an additional purchase when they are inspire to buy cross merchandise items.

10. Be seasonal and integrate current holidays such as Valentine graphics to sell merchandise for February 14th, etc.

By following these easy to apply merchandising tips to your virtual retail business, you will start converting more visits into actual sales.