By Jane and Larry McGrath
Every few months you can find a business feature on a small retailer who has increased sales with a great promotion. If you've ever wondered, "Why didn't I think of that?" the problem may be in the type of calendar you use. You need to work from a retail calendar instead of a monthly calendar.
The reason: a retail calendar prompts you to think about Christmas in July and Father's Day in February. It gives you the three to five months of lead time you need to plan holiday promotions that grab attention and increase profits.
The holidays on your retail calendar depend on your customer and target market profiles. For example, it might include traditionals like Memorial Day and 4th of July or your own creations like "National Spark Plug Week," "Sprint Week," or "Bobby's (fill-in the name of your customers' favorite racer) Birthday Sale."
Your retail calendar must be unique to your market because, whether you offer one sale at Christmas or stage promotions throughout the year, each event needs to bring in new dollars rather than just shift your customers' spending patterns.
Designing promotions as part of your yearly marketing plan is the best way to assure success. However, if a promotion would further your sales goals this year and you have a few unallocated marketing dollars, you still have time to plan a winning event.
In talking with retailers it seems that only two things limit the holiday promotions they offer: creativity and money. But you can overcome these issues.
Across retail categories this year's most popular holiday campaigns are price promotions, themed seasonal merchandise sales, and buy-one/get-one-free offers. In addition, gift cards continue to be popular with retail buyers.
Direct-mail coupons, rub-off discount cards, and tent and sidewalk sales are also predicted to produce good revenue boosts. Consider, for example, a Fall Tent Sale. If you want to target your core customers, stock the tent with a mixture of one-of-a-kind leftovers, over-stocks, samples and demos, quantity-buy discounts, and hot buys.
Or, if you want to expand your customer base, create a carnival atmosphere. Offer hot dogs and popcorn, add a couple of display cars and balloons for the kids, and increase your merchandise stock. Give everyone a reason to come out, have fun, and see what you have to offer. When you match the event to the market, you'll increase sales.
Another way to reel in customers is to run cross-promotions with suppliers, racing associations or race tracks. For example, if you want to get fans in to see your new line of fanwear, work with the track and offer an "Opening Day" gift pack with two pit-pass tickets, a tank top, and a T-shirt.
Or, if you want to increase your street customers, run a late summer promotion with a local non-race related business such as a restaurant, gas station, or movie theater. For example, you could give a store-logo key chain to customers showing a movie ticket stub and the theater could give free popcorn to customers wearing one of your logo T-shirts.
For most any promotion to be successful you'll need to offer an incentive to lure people to the event. But what kind of hook you use depends on the crowd you want to attract. For example, if you're trying to draw a young street crowd, having racers available to pose for photos and sign autographs may be all you need. On the other hand, if you want to attract experienced drivers, you may need to offer a price break, a hard-to-get part or some other professional incentive.
Offering "something extra" works any time of year, but seems to have a special appeal in the fall and winter. For example, one retailer decided to use the money he would have spent on newspaper advertising and "give" it to customers. He sold one crisp $10 bill for $5 to anyone showing a track identification card. In essence, he paid qualified customers $5 to take a look at his store.
A promotion that paid off for a Midwestern retailer offered frequent-flyer type incentives. With purchases totaling $4000 or more, the customer got a weekend trip for two to Indy. Purchases totaling between $3000 and $3999 got the customer a weekend at the regional finals, and customers who spent between $1999 to $2999 received dinner for four at the best steakhouse in town.
The chance to win a prize is an effective draw for some customers. For example, one retailer gave out a key with every purchase. The customers with keys that would unlock "the mystery box" won a prize.
Even little incentives such as free gift wrapping or free photos with Santa can be successful.
Deciding what to order for a holiday that's three to six months away is a challenge. You want a sufficient quantity and variety of product in stock to please customers. But, you really don't want to wind up with an overstock situation. "Doorbusters" or "special pricing" items should be the result of planning, not anxiety.
For ideas about what to stock, talk with your suppliers about seasonal promotions or services they're offering such as bundled items. In addition, they usually have good information about items–especially hats and clothing–that are gaining momentum.
Dig out literature you've collected at PRI Trade Shows and find specials that are still available. Keep up with trade and consumer magazines. Talk with other retailers, racers, and track officials about product trends.
Investigate the profit possibilities in gift items like videos, books, and magazine special issues. And, since research shows that men are likely to spend 68 percent more on gifts for December holidays than at other times of the year, look for merchandise you can stock for children and women.
For example, consider featuring licensed items, such as T-shirts, hats, jackets, die cast cars, pins, earrings, cooler cups, and beanie cars and drivers.
When picking your media, decide which will best communicate your message while giving the best value. For example, if you decide to go with a print ad in a track or race association publication, consider running a photo of a popular racer with stacks of various products. Under the photo say, "For holiday gift ideas, no one stacks up to ABC Parts (the name of your store)," or "ABC has winning gifts for winning racers."
Many retailers rely on direct mailings for holiday promotions. If you don't have a customer list or if you also want to reach potential customers, consider using track and racing association lists. Even if they won't sell you their lists, they may be willing to include a "holiday specials" flyer or a "Santa saver" coupon in one of their regular mailings.
One effective form to reach your customers is to gather their email addresses. When ringing up a sale, counter people can simply ask, "Would you be interested in receiving our store's newsletter or information about our store's promotions throughout the year?" If so, they can quickly gather customers' email addresses at the end of each sale.
You could send or email "thank you" gift certificates to customers who bought big-ticket items during the year. Or, send "BOGO" (buy one, get one) certificates to all your regular customers.
Many holiday promotional events can get you free publicity if you send press releases to appropriate local editors. Include your name and phone number and follow-up with a phone call. Always be courteous and professional. Editors often receive numerous press releases, so make yours stand out from those of other businesses.
Just remember, whether you do one holiday promotion a year or one every couple of months, make sure you are spending money where you have the highest likelihood of producing new sales.
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