The International Trade Centre has held the second of three seminars on increasing sales efficiency, aimed at Moldovan SMEs in the apparel sector, organised in the framework of the EU-funded project ‘Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade – an EU4Business initiative’.
The second seminar in the series was held on October 25-26 on the topic of ‘Retail stores in modern market conditions (rational consumer behaviour)’, and was led by Natalia Chinenova from the Fashion Consulting Group in Russia. The training sessions helped the participants from a pilot pool of apparel companies to learn about:
- Global trends that are changing consumer behaviour (demographic pluralism, digital technology, global security threats; new groups and new consumer behaviour patterns: the digital generation, the golden generation, the silent generation and the LOHAS generation; who are the generation Z consumers?)
- 12 service and sales personalization trends (Omni channel; RETAILTAINMENT - integration of retail sales with business services or entertainment; store and sales technological effectiveness, etc.)
- Key offline and online sales features (distinctive aspects; the presence of each sales point on social media and why it is needed; how to build the social media influence of a specific store; internet promotion campaigns and events for a store…)
- Retail store economics and cost efficiency (retail store opening strategy; sales and costs planning; effective use of rental payments; staff - how to use store employees effectively; international shop maintenance costs practice; trade marketing - discounts or sales stimulation; how to control season budgeting; how to calculate the leftovers ratio at the end of the season).
- How do the leftovers appear? (activities that need to be implemented before the season buying starts; how to promote products within the season and not fall into discounts; how to manage inventory during the season; how to plan sales stimulation campaigns; retail store sales promotion activities and campaign variety; how to transfer leftovers from liability to asset)
The third seminar will take place on November 22-23 on the topic of ‘The basis of the assortment matrix and the principals of assortment management in a fashion company’.
The trainings have been developed following stakeholder consultations and a baseline assessment, and are organised with the Centre of Excellence and Acceleration in Design and Technologies “ZIPhouse”.
Eastern Partnership: Ready to Trade - an EU4Business initiative helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access new markets with a focus on the EU, helping SMEs identify and comply with quality and standards to meet international requirements, linking them with buyers along the value chain, and providing cluster support.
