Completely happy (nearly) Valentine’s Day, retailers! Because the day of hearts is upon us, we thought it’s excessive time to remind retailers concerning the issues they’ll do to unfold the love. You don’t should be within the flowers or items trade to indicate your V-Day spirit.
As you’ll see beneath, there are lots of issues you are able to do round February 14 (or any day, for that matter) to indicate your prospects and employees how a lot you like them. From Valentine’s Day promotion concepts to easy-to-implement campaigns, listed here are some techniques to strive on and earlier than the 14th.
Have a look at information from final yr
Refill on Valentine’s Day-themed merchandise
Get a head begin in your Valentine’s Day emails
Don’t overlook about SMS advertising and marketing
Submit about your gives on social media
Add a devoted part in your web site and retailer
Create Valentine’s Day present guides
Assure delivery and supply by Valentine’s Day
Supply free present wrapping
Associate with a neighborhood influencer
Put together for peak days and hours
Schedule your finest workers
Cater to your high prospects
Add a last-minute sale
Discover Valentine’s Day gross sales and partnership alternatives
Place your merchandise as a novel, non-typical Valentine’s Day present
Encourage prospects to deal with themselves
Don’t overlook about individuals’s pets
Maintain an occasion
Learn your prospects earlier than approaching them
Curate present baskets and packing containers
Develop your retail enterprise.
Streamline stock, suppliers, groups and shops with Lightspeed’s all-in-one platform. From intuitive POS and inventory administration options to highly effective reporting, Lightspeed offers you the instruments you must develop.
1. Have a look at information from final yr
In case you’ve been utilizing a POS system or retail administration answer, you need to have gross sales information from this time final yr that can assist you together with your Valentine’s Day stock forecasting.
After all, many issues have modified as a result of ongoing pandemic, however your information will nonetheless function a worthwhile baseline. Take this data you see and apply it to the stock you’ll be ordering. You need to be sure you have sufficient stock that you simply don’t promote out, however not an excessive amount of that you simply’ll be slowed down with gadgets you possibly can’t promote.
2. Refill on Valentine’s Day-themed merchandise
On the subject of stock, keep in mind that you don’t should be within the flowers or present trade to capitalize on Valentine’s Day. You possibly can nonetheless drive gross sales by considering creatively about your merchandising within the coming weeks.
One factor you would do is fill up on Valentine’s Day-themed merchandise. Whether or not you’re promoting garments, equipment or homeware, have a take into consideration how one can make your merchandise related for the season.
Goal, for instance, stocked up on issues like heart-shaped candles and pink baskets, making certain that its product assortment aligns completely with Valentine’s Day.
3. Get a head begin in your Valentine’s Day emails
In case you’ve been amassing buyer electronic mail addresses, positively ensure to ship out promotional emails as a part of your electronic mail advertising and marketing technique. Not like the standard vacation season, most individuals don’t have a tendency to purchase Valentine’s items very far upfront.
Begin emailing your prospects every week or two earlier than V-Day to seize early customers, and ship a ultimate push on the day of to encourage last-minute purchases.
For finest outcomes, phase your subscribers and ship tailor-made emails to every group. Lightspeed Superior Advertising makes this straightforward with built-in segmentation instruments based mostly on model interactions and buy historical past.
So, whether or not you’re connecting with new prospects, long-time patrons or informal consumers, you possibly can talk with customers in probably the most related manner potential.
Sunmed, Your CBD Retailer is a superb instance of a retailer that places Lightspeed’s advertising and marketing capabilities to good use.
“With out the Lightspeed platform enabling [data collection] for us, not one of the buyer engagement and schooling that we’ve been in a position to accomplish by electronic mail advertising and marketing over the previous six months would have been potential,” says Wilfredo Rodriguez, CFO at Sunmed, Your CBD Retailer
“The e-mail advertising and marketing and the engagement has improved buyer retention and has helped us develop income and shops.”
4. Don’t overlook about SMS advertising and marketing
SMS has confirmed to be a wonderful channel for reaching prospects who’re extremely engaged and sure to answer well timed, personalised gives. In case you’re amassing customers’ cell numbers, take into account making a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign that leverages exclusivity, urgency and a heat, private contact to drive conversions.
Take, for instance, the perfumery File, which used a concise, playful, and on-brand SMS message to seize the spirit of Valentine’s Day whereas providing a transparent incentive.
Their message—“Completely happy Valentine’s Day! Sharing and spritzing love from us to you. Get pleasure from nice chemistry at this time! Rise up to twenty% off ”—follows SMS finest practices by conserving it brief, participating, and action-driven, with a seamless path to buy.
If it is smart for your online business, use their instance and inspiration to create a way of connection whereas encouraging prospects to buy the proper Valentine’s present.
5. Submit about your gives on social media
Along with sending out emails, publish about any particular gives or occasions in your retailer’s social media pages. Construct hype by leaning into “restricted time solely” messaging and by utilizing built-in instruments just like the countdown timer on Instagram Tales to your benefit.
Be sure you use Instagram’s shoppable tags or swipe up function to drive visitors to your eCommerce web site. It’s also possible to reward your most engaged followers with unique gives.
6. Add a devoted part in your web site and retailer
In your eCommerce web site, add apparent nods to Valentine’s Day to encourage extra spending. For instance, add any items or different related gadgets as a featured class in your homepage. Swap out any header pictures or web site banners for Valentine-themed ones, particularly if you happen to’re working a limited-time low cost. You possibly can rapidly and simply design Valentine graphics utilizing free, pre-existing templates in Canva.
Right here’s an instance of what Without end 21 did for Valentine’s Day some time again. The corporate made it simple for V-Day customers to search out what they want by displaying a big banner on its web site.
On the brick and mortar aspect, Goal had a nook of its retailer devoted to Valentine’s Day merchandise and offers. Take a look at their artistic show beneath:
7. Create Valentine’s Day present guides
Group your Valentine’s Day merchandise onto one part of your eCommerce web site in order that it’s simple for purchasers to click on “add to cart” on related gadgets. Equally, merchandise your retailer in order that your V-Day gadgets are present in one space, and your prospects can simply add a number of gadgets to their basket.
Want inspiration to your V-Day present information? Take a look at this instance from Macy’s. The retailer’s information makes it simple for customers to zero in on the proper current. It’s well-organized and makes use of an incredible design.
8. Assure delivery and supply by Valentine’s Day
It may be disappointing when items don’t arrive on time. In case you’re in a position to assure that your gadgets will arrive by February 14, that’s an incredible incentive to get extra orders. Point out this assure in any Valentine’s Day electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns in addition to in your web site.
9. Supply free present wrapping
Present wrapping is an integral part of the Valentine’s Day unboxing expertise.
Providing free present wrapping just isn’t solely a pleasant gesture, it’s one that will make customers extra inclined to purchase their items from you. Folks will respect that you simply’re saving them money and time.
In case you resolve to supply complimentary present wrapping, be sure you let your in-store and on-line prospects know by signage, word-of-mouth, social media or electronic mail.
10. Associate with a neighborhood influencer
Teaming up with an influencer with a excessive engagement fee may also help drive visitors to your web site or storefront. When scouting for expertise, just remember to accomplice with an influencer who suits with your online business’s model and genuinely cares about your merchandise for optimum success.
11. Put together for peak days and hours
It’s nice to have the ability to forecast what you count on to your Valentine’s Day gross sales, but it surely’s additionally necessary to know when these gross sales will occur. To be able to dwell as much as buyer expectations, you must be ready for when these prospects come a-knocking. This implies having a very good sense of what your busiest days and instances are in your retailer.
With Lightspeed, you possibly can run the Gross sales by Hour of Day report to see what your busiest days and instances are. Just be sure you have loads of extra employees scheduled to work these shifts.
The continued pandemic additionally means a variety of your common retail enterprise will shift to on-line. So when you need to be staffed up in your bodily retailer, you additionally must anticipate a rise in on-line gross sales. Guarantee that you’ve sufficient delivery provides and workers readily available to assist fulfill an inflow of orders for Valentine’s Day.
12. Schedule your finest workers
Your workers are your primary useful resource in working a better and extra worthwhile enterprise. To maximise gross sales, you need to ensure your finest workers are in your gross sales flooring or behind the counter throughout your peak hours.
With Lightspeed Analytics you possibly can measure worker efficiency by checking working a gross sales by hour of day report back to see who generates probably the most gross sales, after which schedule them accordingly.
13. Cater to your high prospects
You already know who your finest workers are, however how effectively are you aware your high prospects?
You should use your POS or different record-keeping system to have a look to see who your most loyal customers are and make a remark of it in every of their accounts. Subsequent time they’re in retailer and testing, ask them if that they had something particular in thoughts for Valentine’s Day. It’s also possible to use your loyalty program to ship unique personalised gives to your VIP prospects. This won’t solely offer you a good suggestion as to what you have to be ordering, but it surely’s nice customer support.
Your prospects will likely be touched by the gesture and extra prone to return to your retailer to make that particular buy.
14. Add a last-minute sale
Enchantment to procrastinators by springing a last-minute flash sale in your Valentine’s Day items. You possibly can ship a last-minute electronic mail to generate extra on-line orders, change your web site banner or grasp signage in your storefront window to let passersby learn about any last-minute offers.
15. Discover Valentine’s Day gross sales and partnership alternatives
Valentine’s Day is the primary main client vacation of the yr, so if you happen to felt enterprise decelerate after the vacation season, this might be simply the factor to provide you a gross sales enhance.
It’s additionally necessary to keep in mind that Valentine’s Day isn’t nearly “stuff.” Loads of shoppers are inclined to deal with their family members to experiences akin to dinner at a romantic restaurant or a film evening.
With that in thoughts, take into account partnering with a neighborhood spa, restaurant or theater this February. Maybe you possibly can provide present tickets or present certificates as a part of a Valentine’s Day promotion.
16. Place your merchandise as a novel, non-typical Valentine’s Day present
Not promoting romantic or gift-centric merchandise? See if you happen to can market them for Valentine’s Day anyway. Think about this instance from the non-public care subscription firm Birchbox. Reasonably than making an attempt to promote “typical” V-Day items, the corporate positioned its product as a novel and non-cliche present for Valentine’s Day, utilizing the slogan “higher than melted chocolate.”
17. Encourage prospects to deal with themselves
Self-love is one other wonderful angle for Valentine’s Day. In case you don’t have a variety of romantic or gift-centric gadgets in inventory, then encourage customers to purchase your merchandise for themselves as an alternative.
Take a look at what Kate Spade did. In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, the retailer despatched out an electronic mail selling their personalised merchandise and inspiring prospects to provide themselves a well-deserved deal with.
18. Don’t overlook about individuals’s pets
The previous few years have seen an increase in pet spending, with trade information displaying that 27% of shoppers who celebrated Valentine’s Day bought items for his or her pets.
This development will probably proceed within the coming years, so take into account together with pets in your V-Day messaging. In case you’re within the pet trade, be sure you implement some Valentine’s Day initiatives. (Trace: most of the ideas on this publish can be utilized in your retailer!)
19. Maintain an occasion
Valentine’s season offers you an incredible excuse to throw a celebration. Why not maintain a buyer appreciation occasion and deal with your finest patrons to free meals and a very good time? You possibly can even run a particular sale when you’re at it.
That’s what NRG Salon Spa in Ontario did, when the salon threw a “Be Mine” buyer appreciation occasion that included drinks, desserts, flowers, and 15% off all their providers.
Another choice is to throw a digital occasion as an alternative.
Within the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Paper Supply determined to carry a Galentine Digital Hangout, an internet occasion the place attendees may study all about Valentine’s Day cocktails, crafts, and extra. Visitors have been inspired to buy provides previous to the occasion, and Paper Supply even threw in a 20% coupon for these purchases.
See if you are able to do one thing comparable in your store. In case you’re an attire retailer, as an example, possibly you possibly can maintain a trend present coupled with a particular Valentine’s Day sale.
20. Learn your prospects earlier than approaching them
Instruct your associates to get a really feel for every buyer’s temper earlier than speaking to them.
Analysis has proven that being pleasant and completely happy could not at all times be the easiest way to method shoppers.
So this Valentine’s Day, pay additional consideration to the non-verbal cues of your prospects. If a consumer seems completely happy and excited, then it’s okay to be pleasant and chatty. Nevertheless, if somebody is in a nasty temper, it’s finest to be sympathetic or perhaps a little reserved. As an alternative of speeding in to talk and help them, give them some house. Acknowledge their presence, after which gently remind them that you simply’ll be round to assist in case they want something.
21. Curate present baskets and packing containers
Make purchasing easy for purchasers by curating items for them. Now’s the proper time to promote present packing containers, bundles, and baskets so customers can simply discover the proper present for his or her family members.
Take a look at this instance from on-line present store Harry & David. To gear up for Valentine’s Day, the retailer not too long ago unveiled Valentine-centric present units, together with a “Tower of Treats” and a “Valentine’s Day Present Crate.”
Preparing for Valentine’s Day
Keep in mind, a lot of getting ready for a vacation like Valentine’s Day is trial and error. The longer you’re in enterprise, the better it’ll appear. And although there may not be a scientific equation for maximizing your Valentine’s Day gross sales, the following tips will assist you to higher put together for a spike in client spending on-line and off.
To learn how to arrange your retail retailer and ecom store for fulfillment this Valentine’s Day, speak to certainly one of our consultants!
