Would you like to offer a promotion to your retail customers, but don’t know where to start? How about a seasonal promotion focused on a holiday or time of year? Seasonal marketing gives you a theme to work with and a way to stay competitive with big retailers. Use the information in this guide to get started on a business-boosting seasonal promotion.
Popular Types of Seasonal Promotions in Retail
The retail industry recognizes a wide range of holidays and times of year. They run seasonal promotions to get their customers excited about saving money on products related to the occasion. Popular times for retail promotions include:- The winter holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s)
- Valentine’s Day
- Summer/back to school
- Local festivals and events
- Independence Day (4th of July)
How to Make the Most out of Seasonal Promotions
Now that you know where you want to start, you can plan your marketing. Try the following strategies to get the best return on investment:- Check out your competitors: See what small businesses like yours do for the same kind of seasonal promotion. In doing so, you’ll get to find out what works for customers and discover creative new ideas.
- Get creative with the resources you have: You want to get as much as possible out of your resources to increase your bottom line. Create reusable marketing materials for this year and next. Before you buy anything new for marketing, check your storage for supplies that can be re-purposed.
- Partner with other community businesses: Strength in numbers can help you fight back against retail chains. Find another small store to work with, and you’ll both see better results.
- Schedule enough employees for busy times: The end of the year encourages many people to buy from retail locations. The holidays are also a popular time for employees to seek vacation days. If you run a promotion at this time, schedule enough shifts to cover your business.
- Schedule Promotions in advance: Use your Point of Sale device to plan & schedule upcoming promotional offers.
- Get help with your digital marketing: Advertising online increases the number of people who learn about your promotion. If you don’t consider yourself tech-savvy, get help from someone you know. Social media events can get the word out to a new audience.
Using a POS for Critical Business Insights
While you manage the strategy for your promotion, you can count on a point-of-sale (POS) system to handle the numbers. POS+ from National Retail Solutions, Inc. will track your sales for you. You can:- Learn what items sell during your promotion
- Create discounts that apply when you ring something up
- Keep track of the inventories for your most popular products
- Manage orders from seasonal vendors
- And more!
