More and more is being demanded of retailers: where once it was enough for them to sell, now they must also entertain. We have used the retail promotions series to illustrate how retailers can win and retain customers by becoming event managers. With our overview of the key messages from the series and initial ideas for the new year, retailers have plenty of material for their 2020 promotions and activities.
Create a special shopping experience for your customers. An appealing store design and perfectly presented products are your stage. You write the script, picking up on current trends with retail promotions and offering the right workshops. These give prospective customers a unique opportunity to try out products. And not only that: you become a personal source of inspiration for your customers and increase their willingness to buy.
Consider how and with what you might best reach your customer base. You want to surprise people, create reasons to buy and ultimately boost sales. How can you achieve this? With your own event calendar. This is the foundation on which to build your entire annual plan. There are events all year round. In addition to the usual celebrations, such as Carnival, Easter and Christmas, and the back-to-school season, you can also run campaigns at other times and stand out from the crowd in doing so. These reasons to buy will give you a unique selling point and guarantee that you keep surprising your customers on every visit.
Link your event calendar with interesting workshops and talks. Your goal should be to motivate young and old to take part. Hands-on activities are an experience that increases the likelihood of a return visit. Pull another rabbit out of your hat by offering concepts designed to solve specific needs. This shows that you understand your customers’ problems and have valuable tips and tricks to offer them. After all, if you know your customers’ issues and are also able to solve them, you can create a long-term relationship and, ideally, win new regular customers.
The date is set and the moderator has been booked. Now you need to make sure that potential participants hear about your workshop. Actively approach your customers and inform them of your plans. Distribute flyers and leave these at the cash desks. Increase your reach and raise awareness of your events via your company website and social media. Providing different information about an event offline and online is considered the best communication approach nowadays and ensures that you maximise synergy effects for your events and click rates.
The success of a retail promotion lies in its implementation. But what matters most is first of all to try new things and simply begin. After all, you have to be willing to explore new horizons and continuously develop in order to learn and grow. It is very important to bear in mind that a retail promotion is not primarily about participant numbers, but word-of-mouth advertising. You create content and get people talking about you simply by announcing and holding a retail promotion.
The new year is here and with it come numerous themes that retailers can use in 2020 to inspire their customers.
There are numerous occasions to celebrate in the year ahead, from Euro 2020 and traditional holiday periods through to special dates of interest relating to paper, office supplies and stationery. Drawing Day, for example, is the perfect day on which to hold a drawing competition in your own store. And the sustainability and school strike for the climate movements are just some of the ideal themes that can be used to create reasons to buy. In keeping with these, you might like to offer talks or life hacks on the subject of ‘sustainability in my satchel’ or specifically highlight green products, such as the Sprout pencil (a plantable pencil), in your store. This allows you to show that you are not only a trend-conscious retailer, but are also addressing key social issues.
It’s time to start planning for an eventful and successful new year in 2020!
Sales promotion measures need their own project planning. The following four articles are a guide and toolbox for retailers looking to successfully plan, promote, implement and follow up on activities at the point of sale.
Step 1: How to plan activities at the point of sale
Step 2: How to create successful point-of-sale campaigns
Step 3: How to advertise promotions and activities at the point of sale
Step 4: How to follow up on point-of-sale campaigns
Retail promotions series 1: From retailer to event manager
Retail promotions series 2: How to create purchasing incentives by offering workshops
Retail Promotion Series 3: 31 days and 31 drawings turn October into Inktober
Retail Promotion Series 4: Bullet Journal – selling life hacks
Retail promotion series 5: Choosing greeting cards, committing customers
Retail promotions series 6: best practice – SchreibBar Berlin
Retail promotions series 7: Bringing some colour into the office
