By Josh Strutt
Associate Director – Deployment, Retail Doctor Group
This Christmas-New Year period promises to “shake the tree” for many retailers and we have started planning for the biggest period of the trading year – we call it ‘The Grand Final’ of retail.
It is forecast for that Australians will spend approximately $60 billion in the 6 weeks leading to Christmas, but how do we maximise our opportunity to capitalise on this rush in spending?
So much is counting on a strong Christmas trading period for so many retailers. Months of planning has gone into bringing in the right stock and staff and a great deal will be invested in marketing to drive traffic into stores, amongst many other things. So, what is happening when all this hard work delivers the all-important customer and how do we know we are maximising our sales opportunities?
Instore Fitness Tips
What are some of the key things that maximise a retailers opportunity in store in peak trading months?
- Key staff rostered on for high traffic trading times of the week – rosters need to change in the Christmas trading period to correctly reflect the shift in trading hours and customers buying patterns. This is a big one! If your key people are not on when the traffic is at its highest, you will not maximise your potential.
- Stock up before and after store trading hours – you want the team to be 100% focused on selling, not tasking. Have a ‘no cartons rule’ during trading times which keeps the store clean and team focused on customers.
- Organise your store room – make it as easy as possible for the shop floor to be restocked and know what to re order before it runs out. If you don’t have an IT system to handle in store inventory, a simple exercise book listing stock in storage with quantities adjusted when stock is removed can do the trick.
- Have a feature add on sale product around the register – make it as easy as possible for your team to add on sell. Pick a product that complements the majority of your product range, keep it at a lower price point and make sure you have plenty in stock.
- Gift pack products – beautifully packaged multiple products are an easy way to raise your average sale price and make Christmas shopping a little easier for the customer. Have a few different price points for broader appeal.
- Call poor performance – it only takes one team member to bring down the morale of a team. Don’t accept mediocrity and only keep champion service providers.
- Be first to open and last to close –Imagine if you opened at 8.30am when all your competitors opened at 9.00am. Be there when the customers are there and adjust your rosters accordingly. There is nothing worse than a roller shutter being pulled down on a customer.
- Be on sale even when the store is closed – if you are in a strip site leave the store sparkling and faced up to sell even when you’re not there.
- Have fun – Keep the shopping experience fun and keep them coming back. Find a way to bring your store to life in a way that other retailers can’t or aren’t.
- Support office need to be on board too. For a multi-site retailer, the support office must be available throughout the Christmas trading period to support those serving the customers. This is not the time for HO to take leave.
- Keep the checklist in place
A good tool, especially but not only through the Christmas trade, is to put some quick and easy guidelines in place for every store team to follow on a daily basis. This can be as simple as a daily ‘set up’ checklist which covers the most important focus for the type and location of the business.
The types of actions around promotional product could include:
- Is the latest promotional material positioned in agreed place?
- Are the promoted product lines in a prominent and agreed position?
- Are all products in stock, faced up and well presented?
- Have all rostered team members been briefed on promoted lines and product benefits?
- Do we have enough stock to exceed sales targets?
Happy Fit Retailing
Our Deployment team can help you maximise the efficiency of your window displays to drive sales and conversions. For more on Retail Doctor Group’s retail consultant services driven by our “fit for business fitness™” programs, email businessfitness@retaildoctor.com.au or phone 02 9460 2882.