Retail is Rewired for 2022

Published in Member Communities on February 28, 2022

By Rob Baumhover, Director, VGM Retail

If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it has likely been how to be adaptable to change. All successful businesses need to be fluid. As market forces shift and technology advances, all businesses need to continually evolve, change, and diversify. HME businesses are no different.

A simple and inexpensive solution to help your business evolve is to rewire your business to include “cash-and-carry” retail products and ensure your business thrives for years to come. Bringing more cash-and-carry or retail items into your business doesn’t need to be complicated. Small changes can make a BIG difference to your bottom line.

VGM Retail is poised to help businesses reimagine what a retail offering looks like in an HME business, whether you’re providing mobility equipment, women’s health products, standard DME, respiratory equipment, orthotics, or prosthetics. Your retail offering is much more than stocking certain products. Successful companies should consider the products, the marketing, and also the experience with your company when creating a retail strategy. All components – marketing, experience, and product – work in conjunction with one another. If all pieces work simultaneously together and are implemented properly, expect to see strong financial returns.

This year, VGM Retail is resurrecting our wildly successful program, Brick-by-Brick. Brick-by-Brick Workshop: The Foundation to Operating a Profitable Business will be offered at Medtrade West on April 4, Focus Conference on May 2, 2022, Heartland Conference on June 13, and Medtrade East. Additional locations may be added in the future.

This workshop will dig into the three pillars of a successful business, which are marketing, experience, and product. Attendees will participate in small group discussions, small group activities, and a large group wrap-up discussion. The goal is for attendees to share and learn from each other and discover some tried and true examples and best practices with each of the pillars so they can go home and implement them right away in their businesses. There’s not another offering like this in our industry where people can come together, participate and work with their peers, talk, learn, and share about things that are going to really help your businesses, and most importantly, increase their bottom line.

VGM Retail also offers business development consultations, showroom design and visual merchandising consultations, and hiring and training analysis.

As pandemic precautions begin to lift, traffic in your stores may also increase. Customers will also still expect to receive some of the services they have relied upon to stay safe, like delivery, curbside pickup, or eCommerce options. Now is a great time to enhance your brick-and-mortar store as well as your online presence.

TAGS

1. education
2. heartland
3. retail