5 1/2 holiday retail tips

5 1/2 holiday retail tips

Come to the customers. Are you ready?

If you are working in a retail store, you have less than one month to make a great success in this holiday season.

I'm sure you know how to run your store but I'd like to give you some tips to contribute to your success.

1. few stores have enough staff and running the floor. Schedule staff more than you need to work with records and stock floor. It's stupid to work with adequate staff just to ring up sales. The aim is not to get customers out the door as quickly as possible. Shoppers at this time of year I have no idea what they want and are too fearful. Should you schedule enough staff to keep the lines short at cash registers and sales people in the store propose elements for clients. The aim to sell as much as possible. If everyone was ringing up sales, is selling anybody. Add personnel to work with clients will produce more sales. Retail assistance are cheap. Can someone call at least $100 per hour. Don't be cheap, be smart.

2. train your people. Retailers make the mistake of considering the time busy holiday season. It's not just a busy time. Rules of engagement are quite different in November and December than sat busy in August. First of all, people who do not buy for themselves at this time of year as during most of the year. This changes the whole dynamic shopping because people know what they like for themselves but find it much harder to choose something for someone else. Customers need more safeguards. They want to know that these selections are good.

Teaching staff to help people shop for other people. Never ask, "can I help you?" try this, "Hello, may I ask who you are shopping for? I might be able to suggest something great. "Do you want to hit your customers with great service. Ask them "there is anything I can do to make your shopping easier?"

Another big difference this time of year is going shopping for men in stores or departments they don't normally shop. Assisting them. Men looking for a way to buy its way out of this season. There's an old expression in retail that says women's review for a pair of shorts and chasing men a pair of pants.

Finally, no budgets mean nothing in December. People who planned to spend $50 to $100 will spend mom for mom, I checked out their menu.

3. keep the merchandise on the sales floor, not in the back room. Store shelves must be complete. When the quantity of goods on the shelves of selected looks thin,the selection available. This is another reason to keep a lot of employees. Small shops tend to stock, and organize when things slow down. This is the way Sears to do these things. You want to store as a beautiful and complete as possible when most people shop at your store. As obvious as that sounds, you rarely see that in practice. Once things slow down, around 9:00 pm, everyone folding sweaters and bringing out the goods. Do not bring strollers on the floor during a busy time. But you can bring out goods at a steady flow of small squares. When you bring the boxout, watching a herd the crowd.

4. shock customers with service. Display bags to their cars. Display separate receipts for each item. Certainly, this pain for you but great service for the customer. Envelopes provide useful receipts in envelopes. You can turn off some nice labels for envelopes says something like, "Mandy boutique gift receipts."

Get a stack of $5 cards or food court near the Café. You could probably get a significant discount of your food court vendors. If a customer spends a certain amount, giving them the card and tell them to take a break on you. Not to advertise it. Just do it. Build goodwill by serving a lot cheaper than mark everything down for three weeks before Christmas. Make it so fun to shop at your store customers will tell their friends about you. Sell everything and won't have to take mark downs.

5. gifts before the client access to the register. Show them a particular item in the box. You sell the rest. See your customers wonderful staff do half the project to wrap their purchases. This is much better than asking customers if they want some time check boxes and then just put cardboard flat in their bags.

If you do not have gifts, go get it, dummy! Will be selling anything in a box as youapproach the end of the season. View the many items in the boxes. Men will appreciate especially seeing things boxed. The picture is complete. They see a pending suit and thinking, "maybe they'll like that." They see the robe in the box and thinking, "I'm done shopping.

You don't need to box everything in the store. You can sample box for display. Beside the robes hanging, put one in the box. You can switch your staff for color and the correct size for the client. This service, research and development