subject: The 12 Days of Holiday Retail Sales [print this page] The 12 Days of Holiday Retail Sales The 12 Days of Holiday Retail Sales
You've spent months preparing for it; you started planning and ordering merchandise before school was out for the summer; you even hired on additional help to keep the store looking good and the customers satisfied. It's the biggest time of the year for retail the holiday shopping season and it's a race to the finish line for retailers everywhere as they hope for a better 2010 Christmas season than what 2009 delivered.
While the economy is still lagging, and consumers are holding onto their wallets like never before, there are signs that the proverbial ice may finally be melting a little for retailers. Retailers are already reporting that traffic is up in their stores compared to the same time last year and aggressive promotions are paying off. Customers are starting to come back into the stores instead of just walking briskly by.
So now that you have customers coming into the store how can you make sure they purchase instead of just browse? To answer that question Randy Pickard, a retail insider of 20+ years and founder of Shopping Baskets Plus (www.shoppingbasketsplus.com), has put together 12 tips to help grow your business this holiday season.
Tip #1 Customer Service matters. The last thing you want to do is have a customer, wallet open and ready to buy, leave the store because of a bad customer service experience. Make sure you have plenty of staff on hand not only to check people out, but also to walk around and answers questions. During slow periods have them straighten up displays, clear aisles of obstructions and spot check pricing to make sure items are priced right.
Tip #2 Bake some cookies. Want to know the secret to selling a house? The smell of fresh baked cookies! Realtors have used this trick for years and you can too! Cookies are a cheap, effective way to get customers to browse around more. Have employees bake them up fresh in a small cookie oven in the back of the store or near promotional merchandise. You'll be surprised how many customers follow their nose!
Tip #3 Change your hours. The holidays are hectic, and people often are trying to balance working during the day and taking care of family issues in the evenings. Consider extending your store hours until later in the evening and opening up earlier on the weekends. You will be surprised how many customers may show up in the morning hours on a Sunday before heading off to church!
Tip #4 Don't just sell it, demonstrate it! This is the perfect time of year to have employees demonstrating how items work. Don't let items sit on the shelf gathering dust, encourage employees to open things up and show them to the customer. Studies have shown that once a customer gets an item in their hand they are much more likely to buy it than just looking at the packaging!
Tip #5 Suggest add-on items. Place the chocolates near the greeting cards. Make sure the peanut butter cookie mix is near the Hershey's Kisses. Setup a display of extension cords near the Christmas lights. Too often things that go together are on opposite sides of the store out of sight, out of mind. Boost your sales by making sure you promote and display complimentary items.
Tip #6 Encourage goodwill. It's not only good for the community, but good for business. Contact local Food Banks or Needy Family organizations and offer to be a drop off point for collected merchandise. This not only reflects well on your business, but also helps drive people in the door they come to drop off a few items and then decide to stay and browse, and hopefully buy!
Tip #7 Setup a holiday display. Remember when you were a kid how you loved to go with mom to see the window displays during the holidays the trains, the village scenes, etc.? Today, this tradition is all but forgotten. Why not bring it back by setting up a festive holiday display near the front of the store? It's a small investment that can be reused year after year and can draw in curious shoppers!
Tip #8 Offer layaway. It's not too late to consider adding layaway to your retail arsenal. This method of payment that was so popular for decades fell out of favor for many years but has enjoyed a strong resurgence because of the economy and changing habits of consumers. Just take a look at Kmart their layaway program has been identified as one of the #1 reasons they have been enjoying a strong comeback the past few years.
Tip #9 Offer them a basket with that cookie. Studies show that people will buy more if they have someplace to put it. Have an employee hand out shopping baskets with every fresh cookie as customers come in the door Make it as easy as possible for customers to make a purchase!
Tip #10 Offer coupons. Consumers are looking for bargains, and putting out coupons in local papers is a great way to get shoppers in the door plus it's very cost effective. Offer various promotions on varying days of the week to get them coming back in again and again.
Tip #11 Send them somewhere else. That's right, you heard me, send them down the road to the other store if you don't carry something. In fact, go one step further and call down to the other retailer to make sure they have it in. Customers remember outstanding customer service like this and this was once standard practice at retailers everywhere and will likely visit you again for other purchases.
Tip #12 Get social. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare. Get your store connected to your customers and use these social networks as a way to promote your business and listen to what your customers are saying. Today almost everyone is connected 24x7 via cell phones and other devices. Make it easy for them to stay in touch.
