Now Halloween and Bonfire Night are out of the way, shoppers’ thoughts are firmly set on the festive period as they hit the high street in droves for what has to be the most important time of year for retailers.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a small independent retailer or a major brand, making the most of your holiday merchandising is a sure-fire way to give your sales a seasonal boost. Here are some of our top seasonal merchandising tips to inspire you when putting together your Christmas store plans.
Visual promotion
The festive period is probably one of the best times to have the most fun with your visual merchandising – the key is to show some restraint though and have a clear plan of how the store is going to look. It is important to keep your brand, and customers, at the forefront of everything you do.
If you plan on making the most of every spare inch available to get your stock onto the shop floor, you need to ensure it is displayed in the right way. Visual displays like free-standing units, dump bins, and strategic signs can help you sell more while maintaining the appearance of your store.
Boost impulse buys
During the festive period, people are more likely to part with their cash but are also more likely to forget about the Christmas essentials. Take advantage of this to boost sales by strategically placing products near the till. By doing this and placing products in enticing displays and dump bins you can increase impulse buys dramatically.
Don’t forget to group similar products together as well – if someone is purchasing wrapping paper they will also likely need bows, gifts tags, sticky tape, and scissors. Grouping items together keep customers in your store for longer.
Highlight smaller ticket items
It isn’t just the big-ticket items that sell well at Christmas. There is a huge market for stocking fillers, so you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t give your smaller ticket items pride of place. By placing the smaller gifts next to your big-ticket items, near the till or near the changing rooms your ability to upsell will increase.
Decorations
Christmas is exciting but you need to fight the urge to go over the top and turn your store into a faux winter wonderland. With your seasonal merchandising efforts, the aim is to enhance your store and sales, not act as a disturbance to your customers. Your customers should be able to navigate your store with minimal effort and not have to overcome tinsel-tousled mess to find the items they need.
