Christmas Tips For Retailers

Christmas Day Quiz

This one is to keep the family occupied over Christmas.  It is Rick Turner’s annual Christmas Quiz.  You will find the answers at www.thebigsheep.com after Boxing Day.  Good luck!

 

Download Big Sheep Xmas Quiz 09

When a customer comes in to the store with children

Uh oh! Here comes another pram. Yikes - and a toddler too! It's yet another parent battling to do their Christmas shopping with kids in tow, writes Michelle Baraclough of www.childfriendly.com.au.

Do your staff know how to deal with an incoming mother and her tired kids? She wants to spend. She needs to spend.

So how do you and your staff ensure she spends her Christmas budget in your store, rather than walking out in frustration and going up the road to your competitor?

When a customer comes in to the store with children, it is often difficult to engage them in the sales process because they are distracted by their kids. Because some sales staff believe they won’t get a sale from a customer with kids in tow, parents can sometimes feel ignored or unwelcome.

 

Click here to read more from this Inside Retailing article: http://www.insideretailing.com.au/Latest/tabid/53/ID/7244/Take-customers-from-your-competitors-this-Christmas.aspx

Just One More!

Get everyone in your stores to commit to showing "just one more" item to every customer they talk to.  Whether it's an accessory, impulse item or promotional product, have them point it out to everyone they interact with.  They don't need to 'push' the customer to buy it; they only need to point it out. 

  
Your Daily "Top 5"

Start every shift by sharing with or getting from your staff the Top 5 things they can do today to sell more and provide better service.  Look, there's no shortage of ideas so getting five new ideas each day won't be a challenge.  Your intent is to get your staff focused on what they can actually do today to drive revenue.  

 

I think these tips were from www.retaildoctor.com.au.  If I’ve got that wrong please let me know.

Silly behaviour is no excuse

My old mate Brian Finlayson from the New Zealand Retailers Association gives a timely reminder for this critical crowded time of the year:

 

“As we know, the silly season can bring out silly behaviour in shoppers who become stressed, tired and grumpy – but don’t let their behaviour be an excuse for sub-standard customer service.... Customers don’t need us, we need them!”

 

Brian has a regular column in the excellent ‘New Zealand Retail’ magazine.  Whatever part of the world you are in, I thoroughly recommend a subscription to this monthly print magazine.  I haven’t come across a retailer print magazine anywhere else in the world that beats it for excellent articles, interesting case studies and practical ideas complimented with great visuals. Get subscription details at www.retail.org.nz

Sell What’s Available Today

Don’t accept any excuses or complaints. Whatever your store does not have available to sell on any given day…it simply cannot sell and it serves no purpose whatsoever to complain about this. This cannot be used as a reason or excuse for lack of productivity. Having said that, however, DMSRetail always advocates excellence in customer service which generally means that you must sell the right product to your customer based on their needs and wants. But, it is very often possible to find an alternative for your customer; one that will be of value to them and will suit their needs very well. And they will likely appreciate your efforts as it will save them time looking elsewhere. 

 

Your Sales Associates should be knowledgeable enough to interest customers in a solid alternative that you do have in stock. And, quite apart from the benefit to the customer, remember one important thing – you have inventory in your store that the company owns; probably many thousands of dollars worth of inventory, and it must be sold at some point. The fact that you may not have enough of the merchandise that is easy to sell is unfortunate but, again, you do have inventory to sell. And provided that you are giving your customer value with a good alternative, it’s your job to do just that – sell your inventory.

 

Source: www.dmsretail.com in Canada.

Look after floor staff

Appoint someone to organise a lunch for some of your busiest days. This accomplishes two things:

 

1. It promotes a sense of camaraderie among regular and temporary employees and
2. It saves them from having to fight the line ups at the food courts; giving them more time off of their feet.

 

This is a great reminder from www.dmsretail.com in Canada.

Gift Cards are the solution for stressed shoppers

Kevin Graff says that if you don’t have electronic gift cards you are losing sales.  They are the easy option for time poor shoppers and are the solution for those hard to buy for friends and relatives.

 

And it’s wonderful from the retailers perspective.  Less returns after Christmas and based on last year’s figures about 12% of the value of these gift cards won’t be redeemed PLUS people given a $50 or $25 gift card invariably spend more.

 

Debra Templar author of Jingle Bells Christmas Sells says that gift cards used to be something that was too impersonal but the trend to more attractive cards has really helped make them the gift of choice.

Christmas Tips Slides

I’ve loaded the slides from my ‘How to make this Christmas your best ever’ presentation onto Slideshare so that they are available free for retailers to view, download and use in team meetings and training sessions. 

Christmas Retail 2009

View more presentations from Jurek Leon.

Is your average sale up $6.50?

According to research from the University of Missouri a few years ago US shoppers spend an additional $6.50 per day in the 32 days prior to Christmas.  Compare your average sale per customer over this period with October and November.  Is it up by $6.50 per customer?

Source: John Stanley’s Christmas webinar.

Motivate Your Customers – Gift Ideas Competition

Here’s an idea I included last year that proved popular with my retail clients.  I’m sure it can work in your stores too:

 

Create some simple, fun competitions for your customers.  For example, get them to list 5 gifts from your store, one for themselves and 4 for other people they have to buy for.  Click here to download a sample form which you can adapt for your store.

 

It can be a daily or weekly draw.  Winner gets all 5 gifts (up to a certain value if you have high ticket items).  This encourages customers to think of the gift purchasing opportunities in your store while they are getting other things.

 

Your team can also use the ideas to help other customers with suggestions for their hard to buy for friends and relatives.