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CHRISTMAS BLOG IDEAS
Christmas Is Coming - The Shoppers Fill The Mall
... Are you prepared for your Christmas customer?
Keep in mind that your Christmas customer is different from your day-to-day customer. Your regular customer is likely to be someone who knows, understands, enjoys and uses what you sell. Your Christmas customer is a "gift giver" rather than the consumer.
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What's Different for This Year's Holiday Shopping?
According to the National Retail Federation, shopping trends for this year’s holiday season are encouraging for retailers. Although shoppers aren’t ready to declare an end to the recession, sales are expected to exceed last year’s numbers by a small amount, up from an average of $681.83 to $688.87 per person.
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When Are You Open?
This year more large retailers are starting their sales at 12:00AM on Friday the 25th. And while I'm not suggesting you do that, maybe it is time to look at your store hours over the holiday season.
Are you open hours that are convenient for your customers?
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Flash Robs - Group Theft Attacks!
Social media has changed our way of life. "Flash Mobs" - the impromtu gatherings of participants, from dances in shopping malls to uprisings in the Middle East have become a way of life. Now law enforcement officials are warning of a new trend: "Flash Robs".
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CustomerConnect Leverage for Holiday Season
Good news! Retailing Today reports a recent prediction from the National Retail Federation, forecasting an expected increase in overall holiday sales of 2.8% to $485.6 billion. Although lower than the 5.2% increase experienced last year, it is a higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 2.6%.
... Combining strong promotions with lean inventory levels will allow retailers to successfully address possible consumer caution this year.
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Planning For Holiday Markdowns
With the current state of the economy, many experts are recommending that all retailers should be planning for some sort of seasonal markdowns or permanent markdowns. Failing to plan this properly could possibly
have a negative impact on both your season and your bottom line.
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The 12 Tips of Christmas From CCS Retail |
 | We have some Great Ideas to share with you. We hope to help by sparking more traffic and sales for you.
Gift Cards
One of the top holiday purchases and growing. Creates new, and secondary traffic. more ...
Shopper Suggestion Lists
Many people are not shoppers. Have a “list” of suggestions for them based on gender, age, hobbies, interests.
Customer Connect
Complete marketing at low entry cost. Keep your customers informed. Easy and quick. more ...
Groupon
An ideal combination of your products and a very successful coupon promotion program. Quick responses are typical.
12 Days of Christmas
Do a special starting Dec 1. Offer a special each day. Send out Customer Connect email the day before.
Display and Signage
Make it easy to find their gift. Group items together, make holiday categories like stuffers.
Free Gift Wrapping
Hire high school kids and/or seniors that want to make some Christmas money.
Special Activities
Offer workshops, or have a charity day and donate a % of profit to that charity.
Item Placement
Keep specials and Best Sellers close to the registers.
Create Group Packages
Grab bags of specials and packages of things that customers usually buy together.
Generous Return Policy
They are more apt to buy something with a good return policy.
Extended Hours
Notify customers with emails, flyers stuffed in bags, large signs in the store, and on customer displays.
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The #1 Retail Marketing Mistake to Avoid |
 | As an independent retail store owner, you must wear a lot of hats - including Chief Marketing Officer. Do you know what the #1 Marketing Mistake is? If yes and you're avoiding it, Congratulations! If not, then read on.
#1 - Your Marketing is "All About Me"
If you had to pick the most common - and most deadly - retail marketing mistake, this would be it.
Everyone thinks that their products, their services, their promotions, and their store are far more fascinating than they really are. It's only natural. You have approached these areas with what appeals to YOU. I hate to break it to you, but your customers really don't care that much about you, your store or your products. What they care about is themselves.
The trick for you is to stop thinking about what you offer and start thinking about what your customers want. It's the only way to build the kind of customer relationships that inspire strong loyalty and repeat business.
Your outbound communications should be about what's interesting, useful, beneficial or entertaining for your customers. Think about what the customers want. Attend trade shows. Study trends. What are people buying? What were your best sellers during the past holiday season. (Hopefully you're using Point of Sale software that makes it easy to gather this information). Thought and preparation are your best tools for bringing your customers back again and again.
For all of your efforts, you may still ignore the obvious. ASK. Ask your customers if they found what they were looking for. If not, what was missing. You may not get it right every time, but with practice and always looking through your customers' eyes, you'll be right more times than not.
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Great Products and Services From CCS Retail
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