Your Clear Path to Retail Success
Your Path to Retail Success Starts Here
Owning a small business is a constant balancing act. Our goal at The Retail Toolkit is to provide you with the support and expertise needed to manage the day-to-day demands of your business while building a clear path to lasting financial success.
We understand the challenges you face, we’ve been there ourselves, and we're here to help you get your business from where it is today to where you want it to be.
We achieve this through our personalised, one-on-one coaching, consultancy, and mentoring programs, which are available remotely to all areas or in person for those in Perth and the beautiful South West of Western Australia. Our hands-on approach is designed to give you the clarity and confidence you need to make smart decisions for your business's future.
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“A small business owner has to know everything and be everywhere! I know, I’ve been there too. That’s why I’ve created The Retail Toolkit. I want to help retail business owners get their businesses from where it is now to where they want it to be. ”
We provide the tools that Small Business Owners need for Profitability, Efficiency & Success.
OUR OFFERINGS:
Leadership & Team Management
Develop your own leadership skills so that you can inspire,guide and motivate your team. Improve communication and delegation to increase efficiency and reduce the reliance on you being on call or instore, and make sure you have the right people in the right roles doing the right tasks with effective recruitment & onboarding. Learn to train your team to sell, not just serve.
Financial Health
You should know more than your bookkeeper about your business’s financials. Master the art of budgeting & forecasting, learn to interpret key financial reports. Know your break-even. Improve pricing strategies to boost profitability. Manage your roster to minimise unnecessary wages. Use financial data to make smarter, more profitable decisions. Be data-driven.
Marketing & Sales
Your presence in the community is only as strong as marketing strategy. Learn how to develop campaigns & initiatives to increase sales, customer loyalty and foot traffic as well as bring in new customers is the key to growth. At the same time, build your existing customer database so that you can communicate offers, sales, and events whenever you want to drive repeat business.
Operational Excellence
Profit is often lost by inefficient systems in the daily operations of a small business. Establish effective procedures that reduce waste and lost labour hours. Get a handle on HR, establish clear policies but also invest in your team to ensure high productivity and low turnover. Create a strategic plan to help your business compete, or to prepare for change and future growth.
The Customer Journey
Your store should be a silent seller. Create an engaging and memorable shopping experience using strategic product placement & effective visual merchandising. Find out how to optimise the store layout to guide the customer journey. But also, your team bring the personality but they need to be equipped with sales skills that actively increase customer spend and maximise sales.
Supply Chain & Inventory Management
Poor inventory management can lead to either costly overstocking or lost sales due to stockouts. But, get it right and customers will keep on buying and your cash flow will be secure. Leverage your existing sales data to make informed decisions. Streamline your supply chain to ensure that you have the right products at the right time, at the best possible cost.
I’m Kath Stonehouse, the founder, consultant and lead writer for The Retail Toolkit, a small business consultancy company dedicated to providing owners and managers with the resources and tools they need for profitability and sustainable growth.
We specialise in small business because it’s a world apart from all other types of business. A small business owner, particularly one in retail, will one minute be placing orders and preparing rosters and the next scheduling posts on social media and planning marketing campaigns, all while on the shop floor serving customers.
They have to know everything and be everywhere . I know, I’ve been there too. It’s exhilarating, daunting, relentless but empowering.
I've spent my career building and scaling my own small businesses, both retail and wholesale, as well as working with and heading up national retail franchises supporting small retail businesses. This has given me a deep understanding of the retail industry, and how challenging it is to be an owner. I know what it takes to succeed and I want to help others navigate their own business challenges so that they can love it as much as I do.
Welcome!
Innovation
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Business Strategy
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Operational Efficiency
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Work-Life Balance
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Coaching & Mentoring
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Marketing & Customer Acquisition
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Team Management
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Products & Procurement
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Innovation | Business Strategy | Operational Efficiency | Work-Life Balance | Coaching & Mentoring | Marketing & Customer Acquisition | Team Management | Products & Procurement |
OUR SERVICES:
RETAIL GROWTH PROGRAM (WA)
A strategic retail coaching program specifically for WA businesses. Make the most of the SBDC grant!
Running a retail business is a constant balancing act. You're managing sales, staff, stock — all while trying to grow. While you know your products and your customers, it can be hard to step back and see what will take your store to the next stage.
That’s where the Retail Growth Program exclusive to WA businesses comes in. We’ll work with you to define your goals, create a clear path to achieve them, and guide you step-by-step. Sessions can be held remotely, or face-to-face when we’re in your area.
Every program begins with a FREE Strategic Mystery Shop (valued at $1,500), giving you fresh insights into your store and team before coaching even begins.
💡 Right now, WA retailers may be eligible for a Small Business Growth Grant, which covers half the program cost.
STRATEGY PLANNING SESSION
A structured plan to define your clear path forward.
A Strategy Planning Session is a collaborative working meeting designed to help you define, or refine, the direction that you want to take your business.
It’s a fast way to figure out the path to getting from where you are now, to where you want to be.
Our role is to guide you through a structured process to clarify your vision, identify your unique market position, and develop a practical, actionable plan for the future.
These are remote, one-off meetings or a short series depending on your needs. By the end of the process, you will have a clear set of goals and the strategies so that you’re ready to get stuck in to achieve your objectives.
This would be your Strategic Action Plan (SAP) that tells you how to get to where you want to be.
STRATEGIC MYSTERY SHOP
This goes beyond the standard mystery shop.
You know what traditional mystery shopping is, but this is different. Our retail specialist visits your store undercover and conducts a detailed evaluation of both your team and your store itself, observing every aspect through your customer’s eyes.
This is more than a simple checklist, it's a professional analysis that uncovers how your store's layout, merchandising and signage (the 'silent sellers') work in tandem with your team's ability to not just serve but to sell.
By providing fresh eyes and expert insight, this service gives you the actionable insights needed to make meaningful improvements and elevate the entire customer experience.
💡 Right now, WA retailers may be eligible for a Small Business Growth Grant, which covers half the program cost.
* Exclusive to Perth & south-west WA (incl. Busselton, Bunbury, Margaret River, Mandurah).
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