Now that the plants outside are beginning to blossom once again and all the animals are waking up after their winter sleep, it’s time for your store to begin preparing for the first big sale event this season. Easter is quickly approaching and shoppers are going to start looking for the sales they’re going to be interested in. If you haven’t already converted your business and all of its store displays into your spring theme, now is the perfect chance to synchronize its transformation with your planned promotion.
Challenge your customers
Once you’ve decided which items from your selection you’re going to put on sale, mark them with special tags adorned with images of spring. Instead of clearly showcasing your discounted clothing at the front or on their own designated store racks, opt to display them amongst the other clothing in your shop. Keep all of your stock in the correct spots for sizes, but other than that, scatter everything to encourage shoppers to make their way around a space.
After you’ve stashed everything away, use a message board at the front of your shop to challenge customers to find all the sales in your own version of an Easter egg hunt. Dress up some mannequins standing at your doors as your own versions of Peter Cottontail with proper suits and bunny ears sticking off of their heads. A sense of competition and wonder will increase traffic into your store as people search for just what it is you have to offer. Not only are you essentially refraining from handing away your profits, but you’re making customers search through your inventory more than they normally would. Some of the adamantly determined may even search through everything if the sales they do find are worth their while.
Easter baskets
Everyone loves the chance for free stuff, so it should be no surprise that the offer of some is usually too tempting for most people to pass up. On the message board outside of your store, you can also advertise an actual Easter egg hunt. It doesn’t have to be too many actual eggs hidden around your store because just a few will be more than enough for some customers to take a peak inside to see what they can come up with.
As a prize for their efforts, a simple Easter basket containing a few accessories and other small items will suffice in making the hunt worthwhile. Use some colored tissue paper to tie the baskets in with your spring theme and cover them with a mesh fabric or some cellophane to give them an authentic feel.
However, once you are aware that all the eggs have been found, make sure you either take down the message or secretly hide more eggs around so customers won’t feel like they’re being cheated. You can place a small dump basket at the counter near your register for people to deposit the found eggs and to show everyone how many people have already won.
Sometimes when you’re running a promotion or sale, you can manage it in a way where your shoppers do most of the work. These are a few interactive ways that get people involved with your store and your products, albeit in the quest for free items. Along the way, though, they’ll be more inclined to pick out a few other objects to go with their sales or Easter basket because they already know they’re getting their money’s worth at your business. They’ll remember that the next time they walk by your establishment and see another sale happening.
