Retail Sales Goals Examples and How to Achieve Them

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As a retail business owner, you already know setting sales goals and objectives is crucial to the success of your company. Without creating targets to measure your sales performance against, it’s difficult to continually scale your brand.

Whether you’re struggling to meet your current retail sales targets, are achieving your goals and looking for ways to surpass them, or you have no idea where to start with setting your sales goals, this article will help you outline specific and measurable actions you and your associates can take to reach your goals.

Table of contents

What are sales goals?

定义销售目标不仅仅是你t a number and hoping you reach it. It’s important to hone in on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and sales metrics that will help you reach your business goals. You’ll also want to make sure your goals align with historical sales data and the resources available to you.

For example, your leading sales goal might be toincrease annual salesrevenue by 30% year over year (YOY). One way to achieve this may be aiming to raise youraverage order value (AOV)by 50% in 2023.

But you need more than one main goal to succeed. By making and achieving small goals quickly, you and your team will feelmore motivatedand confident to build up to your larger, overarching sales goal.

Why do you need sales goals?

Without a clear set of sales goals examples and an action plan, you and your employees won’t know what target to work toward. If you don’t know where you’re heading, you’ll likely never get there.

Having clear sales goals contributes to overall business success and will help you:

  • Measure sales performance
  • Ensure salesassociatesfeel accountable
  • Create sales targets that you and your staff can visualize
  • Motivate yourself and your team to reach sales goals

Types of sales goals

  1. Annual goals
  2. Quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals
  3. Individual goals
  4. Team goals
  5. Activity goals
  6. Stretch goals
  7. Waterfall goals
  8. Sequence goals

There are many types of sales goals that you can set depending on your business model and resources. Here are a few sales goals examples to consider:

Annual goals

年度销售目标设置与r的意图eaching them within the next year. These goals specify the overall sales revenue target for your retail business within one fiscal year. This way you and your employees can align on objectives and priorities to collaborate on, setting shorter term goals such as quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily sales goals to help you work up to reaching your annual goals.

An example of an annual sales goal is to make $500,000 in sales revenue by the end of this fiscal year.

Quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily sales goals

Annual goals inform your overarching sales strategy, but setting quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals helps break them down into more achievable steps that you can measure along the way. These sales goals examples are easier to reach, which will keep you and your staff motivated throughout the year.

An example of a quarterly sales goal could be to make $100,000 in sales revenue during Q2. A monthly sales goal could be to increase monthly sales revenue by 10% month over month during Q3 and Q4. Weekly, you could aim to sell $5,000 worth of product, and on a daily basis you may choose to set individual sales goals for each associate to support your weekly and monthly goals.

When setting quarterly goals, keep in mind sales peaks and dips may be seasonal. You likely shouldn’t set the same quarterly sales goals for Q4 (holiday season) as you would for Q1.

GET STARTED:Setting goals helps motivate staff and keep your store on target, but using historical data to inform your sales goals is important to ensure they’re attainable. To see your store’s sales data for any time period, go to your Shopify admin and selectRetail sales reports.

Individual goals

Setting specific goals for yourself or each of your sales associates provides a sense of ownership and accountability. These goals can be set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Shorter term objectives generally work better for individual goals, as you can measure them faster. You’ll want to aim to exceed performance metrics from the period before and also look at sales history to set realistic goals.

For example, your sales goal for week one of December might be $5,000, and your goal for week two will be to increase that number by 10% to reach a weekly sales target of $5,500.

Team goals

Involving your entire team in setting sales goals can boost employee engagement and provide insights into what your sales staff can realistically manage. This will help increase the likelihood of achieving them. You can do this by holding quarterly, monthly, and weekly meetings and encouraging all employees to participate in providing feedback and setting goals. This will also promote teamwork and a healthy level of competition.

For example, you could decide as a team that next month you’ll set a $150,000gross salestarget and, if there’s five of you, you’ll each aim to sell $30,000 worth of merchandise that month in the hopes of reaching your team goal.

GET STARTED:View your staff sales reports to ensure everyone is helping your store get closer to its goals. To see the total sales made by each of your retail staff for any time period—including their average AOV and units per transaction (UPT)—go to your Shopify admin and selectRetail sales by staff at register.

Activity goals

Actions you or your sales associates can take during the sales process, disregarding factors shoppers contribute to the equation, are activity goals. They help provide a level of control over improving performance.

Activity sales goals may include the number of:

For example, you could set an activity goal to start at least five virtual shopping conversations a week next month.

Stretch goals

Pushing yourself and your team to exceed initial sales goals are what we call stretch goals. Usually these types of goals involve incentives or rewards to motivate employees to surpass their quotas. Stretch goals should be challenging but attainable.

For example, if your sales goal for Q4 is $200,000, you could stretch it to $220,000, and when the team succeeds, reward them with dinner at a local restaurant.

If you’re creating stretch goals for yourself, it might be something like surpassing your weekly sales goal of $6,000 by 5% week over week and then treating yourself to a massage at the end of the month.

Waterfall goals

Waterfall goals allow you to build upon goals over time. Rather than setting much larger new goals, you can raise them gradually week over week or month over month.

For example, if your goal is to increase virtual clienteling chats week over week, don’t try to go from five to 20 in one week. You could start by raising your goal to 10 next week, 15 the following, and then 20.

If you set goals too high and miss them it can demotivate you and your team. The waterfall goal setting strategy also ensures quality isn’t compromised as output is increased, and prevents burnout.

Sequence goals

C列阿特accordi序列目标优先目标ng to which ones add the highest value when they’re attained. You can make sure you’re first hitting the goals that affect your bottom line the most. This way, even if you or your associates don’t meet every goal on the list, you’ll achieve the ones that make an immediate impact on your sales revenue.

For example, you could prioritize your goals in this order:

  1. Make $3,000 in sales this month
  2. Send five email campaigns this month
  3. Dedicate one hour each day to engaging with Instagram followers

Tips for setting sales goals

看你前几年的零售组织ry and crunching numbers to determine a growth rate that will help you scale your business to get started. Taking an annual target and dividing it by 12 to set monthly sales goals may seem like a simple solution, but there are many other factors that go intosetting SMART sales goalsthat are challenging but realistic.

That’s why, before you set monthly, quarterly, and annual sales goals, it’s crucial to consider all variables including:

  • Everything you need to reach your sales goals (i.e., staff, software, money)
  • Historical sales data
  • Sales channels, new products, and seasonal shopping peaks and dips
  • Consumer and market trends that may influence sales
  • Sales promotionsand events throughout the year
  • Input from your employees

    Doing this will help you set the right retail sales targets for your business and break your sales goals down into smaller objectives to ensure success.

    Then you can use the following strategies:

    1. Set SMART sales goals

    SMART sales goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Whether you’re hoping to increase monthly sales revenue, units per transaction, or start more virtual clienteling chats, the SMART goal framework will help you outline, track, and hit your goals.

    Let’s say your overall revenue goal for the year is to hit $500,000 in sales. Here’s an example of how you can break this down quarterly into a SMART goal:

    • Specific.Increase online sales revenue in Q4 when compared to Q3 of the same year.
    • Measurable.Q3 sales revenue was $100,000 and the target is a 15% increase ($115,000).
    • Attainable.Increasing sales revenue by 15% in Q4 (holiday shopping season) is achievable.
    • Relevant.This goal aligns with your overall sales goals.
    • Time-bound.The deadline is set for the end of Q4 to ensure you stay motivated and on track.

    2. Analyze your sales cycle

    How long does it usually take to convert a lead into paying customers? This is your sales cycle. If you sell online and in-person, review this data for each channel. Then you can set goals to lower the amount of time it takes to move a lead through the buying journey to speed up the sales cycle and generate revenue faster.

    3.确定一个collective goal

    Setting goals as a team encourages associates to work together to achieve them. It also improves motivation and gives your staff a sense of ownership. You can create an incentive that’s only offered when everyone on the team meets the sales goal.

    例如,所有团队成员必须至少卖出美元1,000 worth of merchandise this week. And if you’re working on implementing virtual selling strategies, a goal could be for each person to start at least three virtual clienteling chats this week.

    If the goals are met collectively, the reward could be a team dinner, happy hour, or fitness class, depending on what your sales associates prefer.

    4. Use data to set your goals

    Jotting down numbers in a spreadsheet with the hope that you’ll achieve them likely won’t lead you to the success you’re hoping for. But using historical data to predict future business performance ensures the goals you set are both accurate and achievable. The most effective way to do this is to view your store’s sales performance for a period of time.

    Next, organize yoursales databy store location, year, quarter, and month. Once this is done, calculate your monthly and yearly growth rate. This will give you a clear picture of how your sales fluctuate throughout the year, as well as whether or not your sales are growing from one year to the next.

    PRO TIP:To calculate your growth rate from one time period to the next, subtract the previous time period’s value from the current time period’s value. Next, divide the sum by the previous time period’s value. Finally, multiply that sum by 100 to get your growth rate.

    Equipped with that historical information, you can create annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily sales goals. Share those goals with store managers and have them set daily, weekly, and monthly goals for store associates to ensure your store’s performance trends in the right direction.

    5. Calculate your break-even point

    Your business’s break even point is the point at which you’re selling enough to cover your fixed and variable costs. You’re not profiting and you’re not losing money. Knowing how tocalculate your break even pointwill help you identify how much you need to sell before your business starts profiting. This is key when setting sales goals.

    6. Avoid confusing sales goals and objectives with metrics—they’re not the same thing

    Sales goals and objectives are long-term overarching goals that drive your overall retail business growth. But analyzing shorter-term sales performance metrics is vital to make sure you’re on track to reach your annual goals.

    Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) ortarget metricsthat you’ll measure performance against will help you define steps and strategies to accomplish your sales goals.

    11 real-life sales goals examples

    With any business, the main objective is to increase sales revenue and run a profitable, sustainable business. In retail, there are many strategies and metrics you can target to work toward your annual sales goals. And breaking them down quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily will help you measure your progress and inspire you to reach the next milestone.

    Let’s take a look at various examples you can put into action today to help you achieve your long-term sales goals:

    1. Increase your monthly, quarterly, or annual sales revenue

    Growing your sales revenue is the heart of your retail business. That’s why it’s important to make revenue targets the foundation of setting your sales goals. These long-term objectives will inform all the other short-term strategies you work on to increase your sales.

    Start with your annual revenue goal and then break it down into smaller time frames to help you feel a sense of achievement along the way. Having a big goal to look forward to at the end of the year is a great way to keep your employees on track.

    SMART goal example

    Increase YOY sales revenue by 15% by creating strategies to boost and measure performance on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.

    Building a profitable company that continues to grow requires an overarching sales goal based on revenue and it will connect with all the other KPIs you define. Your sales revenue goal should always be at the top of the list and then you can use the various strategies we’ve listed below to achieve it.

    2. Increase AOV

    Increasing your average order value involves strategies such asproduct bundling,upselling, and usingcross merchandisingto sell similar or complementary products. The main objective is to increase the average amount each customer spends at your business. Doing this will ultimately lead to higher overall sales volume.

    To calculate your store’s AOV, divide your total sales revenue from a given period by the total number of purchases in the same period.

    For example, if you sold $4,000 worth of products last month and there were 150 purchases, your AOV is roughly $26.

    PRO TIP:If you’re using Shopify POS, you can see your store’s average order value in just a few clicks—no manual calculations required. To get started, selectAnalyticsfrom the POS app’s main menu. From here, you can see your store’s net sales, average order value, and items per order for any period of time.

    In-store, you can usevisual merchandisingstrategies to leverage store layout and amerchandise marketing calendarto regularly refresh your in-store product assortment. This can help improve new product discovery and lead shoppers to spend more during each visit to your retail store.

    Online, you can use post-purchase notifications to upsell similar or complementary products, add a section to the cart page that suggests additional items they may like to add to their shopping basket, or implement a high shipping threshold to encourage customers to spend a certain amount to enjoy free shipping.

    SMART goal example

    Increase your ecommerce AOV in Q3 by 10% by adding an upselling feature to the shopping cart page of your website. Evaluate performance at the beginning of Q4 and make adjustments to improve the customer experience, if necessary.

    3.Increase customer lifetime value

    Customer lifetime value (CLTV)是一个人花在零售总额business over the whole period of their relationship with your brand.

    You can use this formula to measure CLTV:

    Customer revenue per year x length of relationship in years - total cost to acquire the customer = CLTV

    使用这个例子让我们做数学。如果一个人对mer spends $5,000 at your business per year over a length of three years and the initial cost to acquire that customer was $45, their CLTV is $14,955.

    5000美元(每年)x 3(年)- 45美元(CAC) = 14美元,955 (CLTV)

    PRO TIP:Shopify POS客户档案帮你看看这里h each of your customers spend at your store. To get started, selectCustomersfrom the POS app’s main menu. From here, you can select a customer profile and see their purchase history. You can also bulk import customer profiles into other loyalty apps, or export them into a CSV file if you prefer working in spreadsheets.

    But what strategies can you use to increase CLTV?

    First, decide if you want to target a percentage or amount increase in the lifetime value for existing customers. Then you can usecustomer retention strategiessuch as loyalty programs, personalized email campaigns, and SMS marketing to continue engaging with customers post-purchase. The ultimate goal is to encourage them to make repeat purchases. Similar to increasing your AOV, upselling and cross-selling are also great strategies to boost your CLTV.

    Free Download: Retention Audit Checklist

    Struggling with customer retention? This free checklist will help you build a retention mindset throughout your company by auditing retention strategies at every level of your business.

    Raise your CLTV at yourbrick and mortar storeusing retail merchandising and strategies to improve thecheckout experience.

    SMART goal example

    Increase CLTV by 15% next year by sending automatedpost-purchase upsellingemails showing related products to online and in-store customers, encouraging them to make repeat purchases. Set up this email flow by the end of this year and review performance on a monthly basis to make improvements.

    Another SMART goal could be to increase CLTV by 10% next year through a customer loyalty program. Implement the program by the end of January and aim to have at least 10 customers join the program each month.

    4. Decrease customer churn

    With increasing CLTV also comes decreasingcustomer churn. Customer churn happens when your customers stop buying products, stop visiting your store or website, and switch to buying from one of your competitors because of a lower price or better experience.

    Managing customer churn is vital in retail, as this metric tells you if customers like your products, are satisfied with your customer service, and if your pricing is competitive. High customer churn can also result in shoppers sharing their negative experience with friends and family, and this can lead to a poor image of your retail business.

    One way to decrease customer churn is to ask customers for feedback throughsurveysor conversations when they visit your store. This way, you’ll know which areas need improvement to ensure your existing customers stay loyal. Essentially, anything you can do to strengthen relationships with customers will help you keep them.

    To calculate your customer churn rate, divide the total number of churned customers over a given period of time by the number of customers you had on the first day of the same period.

    For example, let’s say on September 1 you have 5,000 customers and throughout the month you lose 250 customers.

    Here’s the math:

    (250 / 5,000) x 100 = 5% churn rate

    When looking at your churn rate month over month, it’s important to keep in mind that while you may lose some customers each month, you will also gain customers. So your total churn is made up of existing customers you lose as well as new customers you gain and lose in the same month. Then add up existing customers from the beginning of the month plus new customers to determine your total number of customers at the beginning of the next month.

    Here’s an example:

    Sales calculation chart
    Source

    Now you can also calculate your churn rate for the next month (October, in the example above).

    • Existing customers = 6,700
    • Existing churn + new churn = 300
    • (300 / 6,700) x 100 = 4.48% churn rate

    The recommendedcustomer churn rate in retail is 5% to 7%. Aiming for less than 5% is a good goal, but if your churn rate exceeds 10%, it’s time to reevaluate. If you’re losing a larger number of customers than you’re gaining, it will be difficult to grow and sustain your business.

    SMART goal example

    Let’s say your current customer churn rate is 7.5%. You can set a goal to decrease customer churn by .05%, month over month, until it’s down to 5% per month. Then aim to maintain a 5% customer churn rate. Do this by surveying customers to understand how you can improve your products and customer experience, and do everything possible to resolve their issues quickly.

    5. Reduce customer acquisition costs

    Customer acquisition cost (CAC)is the amount you spend on sales and marketing to acquire a new customer. You can calculate it by taking the cost of sales and marketing divided by the total number of new customers acquired.

    For example, if you host apop-up shopand spend $2,000 on the space, sales staff, and marketing efforts and acquire 100 new customers during the event, your CAC is $20.

    Sales and marketing costs for the pop-up ($2,000) / new customers gained at the event (100) = $20 CAC per customer

    Lowering your CAC can directly impact your profitability and help you meet other sales goals too, such as decreasing sales cycle times. And it’s key to make sure your CLTV outperforms your CAC to run a profitable business.

    You can reduce your CAC by analyzing your sales funnel and the customer journey to see where you’re spending money and where you can cut costs. Creating detailedcustomer profilesand buyer personas will also help you get a better understanding of your target customers and how you can reach them. Plus, you’ll be about to weed out prospects who are less likely to convert or be loyal customers. Then you can tweak your approach to bring in more new customers at a lower cost who are likely to make repeat purchases.

    Another way to lower your CAC is tocreate a referral programencouraging your existing customers to share your retail business with their friends and family. Providing incentives to promote word-of-mouth marketing can help you gain more customers at a lower cost than what you’d spend on events or advertising.

    SMART goal example

    Decrease your average CAC by 5% next quarter by using historical customer data to target the right audience via social media ads.

    6. Reduce sales cycle time

    Sales cycle time is the amount of time it takes for you to convert a lead into a paying customer. The customer journey from discovery to consideration to eventually buying varies depending on the industry as well as each individual business and customer. It’s a complicated process with many touchpoints.

    Create a list of touchpoints where potential customers might engage with your business. Then see how you can speed up the process by reducing the number of steps or providing more information at certain points to make the buying decision easier.

    This list can include touchpoints before, during, and after the sale. For example:

    Before the sale

    • Social media
    • Customer reviews
    • Advertising

    During the sale

    • Retail store, pop-up shop, or website
    • Virtual clienteling
    • Point-of-sale

    After the sale

    • Post-purchase notifications
    • Thank you messages/cards
    • Follow up to ask for product reviews

    SMART goal example

    Reduce the sales cycle time by 5% next month by being available via Instagram direct message to answer customer questions. Do this by scheduling specific times each day that you check and respond to messages.

    7. Boost conversion rate

    Conversion ratescan be broken down into different types based on your goals. Online or in-person sales, adding products to cart, capturing email addresses, and social media shares are all examples of conversions, depending on your objectives.

    Putting strategies into action to increase these conversions can boost your bottom line.

    To calculate your retail conversion rate, divide the total number of sales in a given period by the total number of visitors in the same period.

    Let’s say last weekend you had 250 store visitors and 40 of them made a purchase. Here’s how you can calculate your store’s conversion rate:

    (40 / 250) x 100 = 16%

    Theaverage conversion ratefor Shopify stores is 1.4%, depending on the products you sell. You can use this as a benchmark to set realistic goals for your business.

    There are various tactics you can use to increase your conversion rate in-store and online including:

    • Optimizing your product pages with high-quality images and detailed descriptions (online)
    • Running limited-time discounts (online and in-store)
    • Offering free shipping (online)
    • Pricing productscompetitively (online and in-store)
    • Implementing cart abandonment email flows (online)
    • Innovating the payment experienceto make it as frictionless as possible (online and in-store)
    • Accepting more payment methods (online and in-store)
    • Adding a live chat feature to your website (online)
    • Testing your checkout process regularly and improving it (online)
    • Offering more order fulfillment options such asbuy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS)
    • Training and motivating sales staff (in-store and virtual selling)
    • Retail merchandising (in-store)

    SMART goal example

    Boost your in-store conversion rate by 5% in Q3 by running a limited-time discount on bestselling products.

    An online SMART sales goal could be to increase your ecommerce conversion rate from 1% to 2% in Q3 by adding a live chat feature to your website. This way, customers can get immediate feedback on questions and complete their order faster.

    8. Increase lead generation

    Generating more online leads through email subscribe forms lets you keep in touch with prospective customers who don’t convert after their first engagement with your business.

    By keeping in touch, you can educate shoppers about your products, share customer reviews, and provide incentives to hopefully convert leads into paying customers. For example, it’s common to see an offer for 10% off your first online purchase in exchange for providing your email address.

    SMART goal example

    Collect 50 new email addresses month over month (MoM) by adding a newsletter pop-up form to your website and incentivize website visitors to subscribe by offering 10% off their first online order.

    9. Improve gross profit margins

    Calculating your gross margin helps you analyze how much money your retail business is making after spending money to make or buy the products you sell.

    It’s shown as a percentage, and this is the formula:

    Gross margin = (total sales revenue -cost of goods sold) / total sales revenue

    The goal is to increase your gross profit margin to ensure you’re keeping more money on each sale you make. With higher margins it will be easier to run a profitable business.

    In retail,profit marginsgenerally range from 5% to 20%. And in ecommerce, a good profit margin target is around 45%. You can useShopify’s profit margin calculatorto help you find a profitable retail price for a single product. Plug in numbers to figure out the right selling prices to make sure you’re profiting on each product sold. Then use this data to inform other ways to improve profitability for your business.

    Here are a few tips to help you increase your gross profit margins:

    SMART goal example

    Increase gross profit margins by 5% in Q4 by reducing the number of promotions you run from four to two in Q4.

    10. Increase sales per channel (and test new channels)

    If you run anomnichannelretail business, setting sales goals to increase sales per channel is a great way to increase your overall revenue. Let’s say you have an ecommerce store and two brick-and-mortar locations. Sales are steadily increasing online and at one of your retail locations but have been slow at your second retail location.

    You can put short-term goals in place with the objective of increasing sales at yoursecond location. What works for one store might not work for another, so it’s important to test different strategies for each location.

    At the same time, you’ll want to make sure to maintain and continue increasing sales via the channels that are working well. For your online store, this could mean adding a “You may also like” section to product pages as a cross-selling strategy to encourage shoppers to increase their AOV. Or you could create an automated email flow to win back online shoppers who abandon their carts.

    And if you haven’t already tried your hand atsocial commerce, virtual clienteling,pop-up shops, andlocal SEO, experimenting with new channels and marketing strategies can also increase revenue and help reach annual sales goals.

    SMART goal example

    Increase sales revenue at your second retail store MoM by 10% by running a bi-weekly promotion on new arrivals to encourage local shoppers to visit more often and increase their AOV. Share this promotion via social media, email campaigns, and in-store signage.

    For your online sales channels, a SMART goal could be to recover 15% of abandoned shopping carts in Q4 by creating compelling email automations, including a 10% discount to encourage customers to complete their purchase.

    11. Reduce abandoned cart rate

    Using abandoned cart emails torecover lost salesis a great customer retention tactic that will help you reach your sales goals. Abandoned cart emails remind customers who haven’t completed checkout to revisit their shopping cart and finish the online ordering process. Customizing the emails with product images, special offers, and a prominent call-to-action (CTA) button is a surefire way to bring shoppers back to the checkout page and increase your ecommerce sales.

    The average abandonedonline shopping cartrate isjust over 70%. Here are a few of the most common reasons for lost sales:

    • 48% of shoppers abandon their cart due to extra costs being too high (shipping, taxes, fees).
    • 24% leave because the site required them to create an account.
    • 22% say the delivery time is too slow.
    • 18% say the checkout experience is too long or complicated.

    Strategies such asfree shipping, guest checkout, and offering additional order fulfillment options like buy online, pickup in-store can help reduce your abandoned cart rate. But you can also set goals to earn back a certain percentage of lost sales during a given period.

    SMART goal example

    Step one could be to reduce the abandoned cart rate next month by 5%. You could do this by streamlining the checkout flow so it takes three steps instead of five, for example.

    Then you can also look at how to increase the amount of lost sales you win back through abandoned cart emails. Let’s say you’re currently earning 2% of lost sales using recovery emails. You could set a goal to increase this number to 5% by the end of next quarter by improving the design and personalization of your abandoned cart email flows. More enticing emails could result in more shoppers coming back to complete their purchase.

    Tips for achieving your sales goals

    After setting your SMART goals, you and your team will have to work hard to achieve them.

    Here are a few ways to make sure everyone is on the same page and stays motivated throughout the year:

    Communicate with sales associates

    Make sure your team is aware of your sales goals to ensure they’re aligned and do their part to help you achieve them. It can also boost employee motivation and productivity.

    Have your store managers communicate sales goals inpre-shift huddlesto motivate store associates for the task at hand and keep them focused on reaching their daily targets.

    Offer mentorship and support

    Monthly or weekly one-on-one meetings with your sales staff is a great way to provide regular training and support. You can review associates’ sales results for the week prior and talk about how they can improve the following week. It’s key to give both positive and constructive feedback, and to not only look at the numbers, but their overall performance.

    Provide the highest of level of customer service possible

    Having products that your target market is looking for is, of course, a big piece of the puzzle. But boosting customer satisfaction by leveling up your customer service will help you succeed at reaching your retail sales goals.

    A few components ofgood customer serviceare responding quickly to questions or concerns, offering self-service options to make the buying process easier, and going the extra mile to provide a positive experience.

    You can achieve this by adding a personal touch to the shopping experience in a way large retailers can’t, by being transparent about your business and how the products are made and being available to help customers across many channels, including social media, email, phone, in-store, and virtual shopping apps.

    Ensure your staff are knowledgeable about the products you sell

    Trying to buy a product from a salesperson who can’t even explain the features and benefits of it is probably one of the biggest frustrations you can experience while shopping. That’s why it’s important to make sure you and your sales staff know your products intimately and can articulate the advantages of buying them.

    Use the FAB formula to explain the features, advantages, and benefits of the merchandise you sell and to help educate your sales staff about product details.

    FAB stands for:

    • Featuresof the products
    • Advantagesof the product features
    • Benefitsthe products and features provide to the customer

    Use gamification and rewards to motivate sales staff

    Building an employee rewards program will help motivate associates to reach their individual and team sales goals. You can gamify the process by running contests and awarding winners on a weekly or monthly basis.

    For example, if you set a goal for each associate to sell $1,000 worth of merchandise over the next week, you can reward the winner with a $50 gift card. Or you can create a team reward, such as a lunch outing, if everyone hits their monthly sales goal.

    Creating a healthy level of competition can boost your bottom line, but make sure you don’t go overboard to the point where your sales team starts working against each other rather than together to reach your sales goals.

    Leverage consumer psychology

    Understanding how consumers behavewill help you set realistic sales goals and build strategies to reach them. You can ask yourself questions like:

    • What would motivate shoppers to buy the products you sell?
    • How can you market to your ideal customers?
    • What variables would influence their purchasing decisions?

    Creating a sense of urgency, building social proof, and creating a great customer experience are a few more ways to incorporateconsumer psychologyinto your sales and marketing strategy.

    For example, encouraging customer reviews can help build social proof and increase your brand credibility and trust. In turn, more people may be motivated to buy from your business.

    Regularly track and analyze sales goals

    Last but not least, an essential part of achieving your retail sales goals is regularly monitoring performance. After creating your SMART goals, you can use Shopify’s analytics and reports to measure progress on a short-term and long-term basis.

      Put your SMART sales goals into action

      Now that you understand how to create an action plan and outline SMART sales goals for your retail business, it’s time to put them to work. Start small by testing only one to two strategies at a time and then, based on what works, you can build from there. Ultimately, your sales goals should lead to one main goal—working together as a team to reach milestones and build a profitable and viable business.

      Set, track, and hit your sales goals with Shopify POS

      Only Shopify lets you analyze your online and store sales from the same back office. Unify your sales channels, use reports to inform the decisions you make, and grow your business everywhere you sell.

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      Retail sales goals FAQ

      What are good goals for retail?

      • Increasing sales
      • Improving customer satisfaction
      • Reducing costs
      • Expanding to new markets

      What are some sales goals?

      • Increase sales by a certain percentage
      • Increase the number of new customers
      • Increase the number of sales made to existing customers
      • Increase the amount of money spent by each customer

      How do you meet sales goals in retail?

      There are a few ways to meet sales goals in retail. One way is to increase the number of sales per day. Another way is to increase the average order size.

      What are the top 5 sales goals in order of priority?

      1. Increase sales revenue
      2. Increase sales volume
      3. Increase market share
      4. Increase customer satisfaction
      5. Increase brand awareness
      Topics:
      Profitability