Is your store ready for Christmas?
Inspire customers to do their gift shopping, by embracing the festive season.
What’s your theme?
Spruce up your customers’ shopping adventures with a great theme. There’s no right or wrong way to do festive décor, as long as your merchandising is consistent. You might want to do a snowy winter aesthetic. Or celebrate summer holidays with beach, BBQs and camping vibes. With attention to your customers’ desires, take the time to make your business a great omnichannel experience.
Store layout
Plan your store layout, increasing your volume on the shop floor, and updating displays. These merchandising standards will vary significantly by location, product lines, and branding. Merchandising for the holiday season is not a “done once” job, but must be continuously updated.
If you have the flexibility to play around with store layout, the holidays are a good time to get innovative and try new things. Also, remember to place top sellers prominently. Show off your popular high-volume products. Make the most of your front windows and high traffic areas. This will attract more attention. Additionally, try creating easy gifting combinations for your customers. Encourage add-on purchasing by cross-merchandising. Be agile and proactive with remerchandising. If products prominent spots are not selling, replace them with products that are performing well.
Whether your store is a bricks and mortar shop, a pureplay e-commerce operation, or an omnichannel business, our suppliers offer everything from shop fitting and merchandising to signage and e-commerce. Take a look at our Suppliers’ Directory to learn more.
Retail safety
When you make any merchandising alterations for the holiday season, ensure that you’re not making changes that would increase risk of retail crime. There tends to be an increase in retail crime during this time of year, so ensure your staff members are conscious of customers entering their store and serving them. No matter how you merchandise your store, never forget that customer service will be a huge factor in hitting sales targets during the busy holiday season!
Further advice on managing Retail Crime can be found here, including our Guide to Managing Retail Crime.
In essence, prepare your retail business for the Christmas rush well ahead of time. Order stock from September or earlier. Organise employee rostering to meet employee holiday needs. Also sorting staff numbers prepares you for increased customer demands. If you need to employ fixed-term or casual employees, allow time for advertising and interviews. Also, every employee must have a written contract, and you need to meet minimum employment standards.
