Museum Retailing: A Handbook of Strategies for Success

This 400-page Handbook distils the exceptional experience of one of the world’s leading museum store consultants, Andrew Andoniadis, who has advised on over 300 separate museum store projects. Designed either to be read from cover to cover, or to act as a reference on specific issues, this comprehensive new publication spans both the art and the science of museum retailing. The art includes topics such as product selection, merchandising, display, customer service, layout and design. The science includes the numbers and key ratios needed for effective record-keeping, pricing and inventory/stock management. Throughout, the emphasis is on achieving better real-world results and on simple, effective implementation. 

Among the key topics covered in the book’s highly practical, advice-packed 60 chapters are:

  1. Recognize and Deal with Ten Big Retail Sins.
  2. Use Proven Ratios to Plan your Future Sales.
  3. Test How Low and How High Your Pricing Can Go.
  4. Earn the Right To Maximise Your Margins.
  5. Control Your Costs, Especially Your Inventory.
  6. Let the Customer Drive Your Store Expansion.
  7. Tracking Critical Data in Critical Times.
  8. Retail Selling is a Tactile Experience.
  9. Valuing and Managing Volunteers.
  10. How to Sell What Your Visitors Want to Buy.

Administration
How Do I Measure Success?
The Art and Science of Retailing
Recognize and Deal with Ten Big Retail Sins
Use Proven Ratios to Plan your Future Sales
Learn How to Project the Inventory You Need to Open a New Store
Use Competition To Enhance Your Product Range
Balance the Benefits of Buying Stock on Consignment 

Customer Service and Selling
Building Customer Relationships
Is Your Store Somewhere Customers Want to Be?
Learn Handselling Skills and Sell More Books
Involve and Train Your Volunteers
Connect Well with Your Foreign Language Customers

Finance
Understanding and Using Your Income Statement
The Formulas that Demonstrate Store Performance
Tracking Critical Data in Critical Times
Take a Commonsense Approach to Budgeting
Test How Low and How High Your Pricing Can Go
Earn the Right To Maximise Your Margins
Control Your Costs, Especially Your Inventory
Let the Customer Drive Your Store Expansion
Deploy Sound Arguments To Renovate Your Store

Merchandising and Display
Learn the Secrets of Effective Displays
Use Signage to Attract, Engage and Inform
Using Informative Labels Adds Value to your Products
Set Up an Efficient, Profit-Boosting Cash-Wrap Space
Your Checkout Counts
Consider Enhancing your Store’s Ambience with Music

Marketing
Remind your Customers That you Exist
Create and Work your Customer List
Use Email Campaigns to Boost your Sales
There are No Pluses in Keeping Slow-Selling Merchandise

Operations
Use a Product Selection Matrix to Brainstorm Specialized Products
Eliminate Poor-Performing Products
Managing Your Shipping Costs
Measuring Your Turns
Planning and Setting Up your Store
How To Combat Shrinkage
Managing Children Well Makes Good Business Sense
How to Report on Your Store’s Performance
Retail Selling is a Tactile Experience
Seeking Competitive Bids
Don’t be a Storage Space Hog
Is Using an Outside Inventory Service Beneficial?
Why You Probably Shouldn’t Open a Satellite Store

Personnel
Best Practices for Staffing Structures
Implement a Dress Code
Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills
Valuing and Managing Volunteers

Product Selection
How to Sell What Your Visitors Want to Buy
Make Jewelry Your Must-Have Product
Attend Trade Shows to Build a Distinctive Product Range
Making Sure Your Revenue Will be What You Expect
There are Two Transactions for Every Gift Certificate You Sell
Make Green Part of Your Mission
Believe There is a Male Market
Stock Seasonal Products but Stay True to Your Mission
Blend Your Store’s Mission with Contemporary Trends

Appendix
Useful Forms

Andrew Andoniadis specializes in enhancing the profits of museum stores through his consulting services and programs. He has consulted with museums of all types and sizes, and has been a featured seminar presenter throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Andrew’s recent clients include: Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Denver Art Museum, International Civil Rights Center and Museum and Washington State Heritage Center. He is a regular contributor to Museum Store magazine and a winner of the Museum Store Association’s Service Award.

Anyone in the museum retailing community can benefit greatly from Andrew’s insights. He presents his knowledge in an organized and concise manner. Andrew’s advice will motivate and inspire you to make your museum store all it can be.
Kelly Sullivan, Store Manager and Financial Analyst, University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History

Enlightening, enriching and completely relevant.
Dorian Lange, Development Officer, Seminole Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Florida

Andrew is the dean of museum retailing and has helped innumerable museums sort out the issues of handling an internal business that is quite unlike their main occupation.
Dr James C. McNutt, President & CEO, National Museum of Wildlife Art

Andrew’s book will be a wonderful resource to many.
Allyson Gamble, Utah State Capitol

Useful and very detailed articles on increasing profitability through robust financial management which includes sections on spend per visitor, no of transactions, capture rate, visitor numbers, as well as display and merchandising. The book is easy to read and [is] an extremely useful publication as it can be used as a training manual for new or inexperienced staff. For more seasoned retailers, the ideas, advice and pragmatic common-sense approach act as a useful aide-mémoire and potential benchmarking tool. Its detailed approach could also be applied across retail outlets in wider tourist and visitor attractions. 
Alison Gilbody, Instill Media

Title: Museum Retailing: A Handbook of Strategies for Success
Author: Andrew Andoniadis
Pages: 400
Illustrations: 44
Size: 216 x 140mm
Date: 2010
Editions: £44.95 [paperback] | £34.95 [eBook]
ISBN: 978-1-907697-00-5 [paperback]

Problem ordering online? Please email orders@museumsetc.com

Question? Email us: hello@museumsetc.com

Guarantee: We offer all our readers an unconditional guarantee: if, at any time, you decide this book’s not for you, simply return it to us for a full and prompt refund. 



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