Tips for Retailers This Holiday Season

It’s the season we’ve all been waiting for! The Holidays.  Everyone has or is in the process of shifting gears and preparing for a successful retail holiday.  Although the numbers are looking postive, unemployment and the recession is still causing nervousness among retailers going into the busiest shopping season.

So how can retailers make sure this holiday is merry and bright? These tips might help.

• Customer service. Customer service. Customer service. – need I say more? We all know a positive or negative customer experience can be detrimental to the success of retailers. Customer service plays a HUGE role in that experience. During shopping season, even more so than any other time, customers will thank you for exceptional service. Maybe you do not offer the cheapest discounts and your competitors beat you in price (this is especially true of smaller retailers competing with large giants). In this case, the customer service level you offer can set you leaps and bounds ahead and is very crucial.

• Add Value When Discounting is not an Option - Simply lowering prices and offering steep discounts sounds simple enough, but is impossible for many people. Instead of offering 50% try adding value in different ways. For example, a hardware store is advertising power tools for women to purchase for the men in their life. Store A is offering the tool at X amount and Store B is offering the tool at a slightly higher cost, but they are giving each customer a piece of wood so their husbands can try it out right away. They are offering free wrapping and will even hold onto the tool until Christmas so that the wife can hide it from her husband.  One may be less expensive, but the other is definitely a higher value.  Try thinking about what makes people’s shopping experience more convenient and time saving, while keeping your costs down. These added details make big differences.

• Show Love to your Current Customers. If you are participating in a customer relationship strategy (which is a must if you aren’t already!) Now is the time to get them extra excited and enticed by what you are offering. People forget easily. They may have had a great experience with you, but because of lack of communication they will forget. Customers are like other relationships: you must communicate! Make your current customers feel special. Reward them for their business. Offer “exclusive promotions” and get them engaged. Gaining repeat business from someone who already trusts and knows your products is much easier than acquiring brand new customers.

Any other tips? I would love to hear them! Happy Shopping!