Q: This is my first Christmas as a retailer. How should I prepare?
Oct 31 2011
Answered by: Ed Percival Ask a question
The great thing about Christmas is that the season provides many retailers with the best trading period of the year. It is also reliable on the calendar.
I am going to make the assumption that the reader has a shop that offers goods that will be suitable for presents, and we know it's year one.
Think of the season as a campaign. Most retail spending occurs just after people get paid – if many of your clients are monthly paid, get ready to gear up after payday in November. December present buying will be amplified by payday, plus a willingness to buy gifts with credit cards.
So stock up for the last week of November and through December. Don’t be too optimistic this year with stock – most people are still short of cash and you don’t want a surplus of stock going into January.
Consider too getting people into the shop before they go Christmas shopping – then they experience your friendly staff and helpful service before they make a larger decision for a loved one. It’s a good idea to find a product that you can put on offer that will get people coming into the store during early November. It needs to be a super deal – people are looking for great value at this stage of the economy.
There are some interesting statistics on loyalty, so use these to your advantage. If a customer buys one product from you, they are 50 per cent likely to return for another. When they have bought two different products on two occasions, they are 70 per cent likely to return.
So if you have a deliberate strategy to get people coming back to become loyal clients, you’ll build revenues faster and more reliably than if you’re going out to win a new client every time.
Engaging retail shoppers by reminding them of Christmas memories is also a good idea. Lots of shops use cheesy Christmas pop songs which become annoying and are therefore counter-productive.
If music is available to you, go in the opposite direction by playing baroque largos – soothing, rhythmic music that is structured at 60 beats per minute, the speed of the relaxed human heart. That will have your shop show up as different and relaxing.
Another sense to stimulate is smell – there are now aromas available that evoke memories of Christmas.
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