So we thought we should make a blog entry about Post Christmas Sales but came across this & couldn't do it much better ourselves. So for this blog entry we would like to credit Debra from www.shoptorque.com/
Here are some things to take into account over this post-Christmas period:
Refund & Exchange Queries: Make sure that your staff are fully cognizant with the refund and exchange queries that start coming in thick and fast, first thing on Boxing Day. All staff need to know how to handle them – not just the manager.
Ensure your ‘quit list’ is acted on as fast as possible – you want all stock cleared as fast possible – to make way for your new stock arrivals. Set a goal as to when you want all quit stock cleared. Make sure the markdown is enticing enough (no one is going to accept 20% on something they don’t want anyway) so make sure you’re at 35% - 50% off or more depending on how desperate you are to move the goods. Try not to lose money when you take markdowns. And clearly mark the ‘sales’ area with signs. To avoid upsetting the ACCC, ensure that ‘post Christmas’ specials are on sale for two weeks.
Gift Cards: If, like a lot of retailers, you found your gift card sales soared this year, it is imperative that you have sufficient stock on hand (some of it fresh and new) to delight the recipients of these cards. The sale isn’t really a sale until the voucher is redeemed and stock has been exchanged. And you don’t want grumpy customers – many of them first time shoppers with you – declaring their dissatisfaction over Facebook and Twitter (because they will...) on the basis that you hadn’t allowed for sufficient stock after Christmas.
Customer Service
Refund & Exchange Queries: Make sure that your staff are fully cognizant with the refund and exchange queries that start coming in thick and fast, first thing on Boxing Day. All staff need to know how to handle them – not just the manager.
Ensure your ‘quit list’ is acted on as fast as possible – you want all stock cleared as fast possible – to make way for your new stock arrivals. Set a goal as to when you want all quit stock cleared. Make sure the markdown is enticing enough (no one is going to accept 20% on something they don’t want anyway) so make sure you’re at 35% - 50% off or more depending on how desperate you are to move the goods. Try not to lose money when you take markdowns. And clearly mark the ‘sales’ area with signs. To avoid upsetting the ACCC, ensure that ‘post Christmas’ specials are on sale for two weeks.
Gift Cards: If, like a lot of retailers, you found your gift card sales soared this year, it is imperative that you have sufficient stock on hand (some of it fresh and new) to delight the recipients of these cards. The sale isn’t really a sale until the voucher is redeemed and stock has been exchanged. And you don’t want grumpy customers – many of them first time shoppers with you – declaring their dissatisfaction over Facebook and Twitter (because they will...) on the basis that you hadn’t allowed for sufficient stock after Christmas.
Customer Service
2011 is the year where customer service made a BIG comeback. It's the new marketing. Forget about paying lip service to offering ‘great customer service’. Let go of all those ‘the customer is always right’ myths. It’s time to offer outstanding customer service because it makes economic sense for your small business. It is the only truly sustainable competitive advantage.
What to watch for in 2011: We Try Harder: All customer facing staff will try harder this year to attract, satisfy and keep their customers. Effort from everyone will be in plain sight.
Its All About ‘You’, The Customer: Technology has allowed retailers to personalise my visit when I go to buy from their website. When I visit Amazon’s site, they welcome me back by name and suggest things I might want to buy based on what I bought in the past.
This is the type of personalisation customers have now come to expect when they go to any face to face retail shop. With the immediacy and personalisation of this fast paced internet world, great customer service is only what the customers says it is at a particular point in time. The difficulty is raised because this standard varies from person to person. In 2011, more retailers will customise their shopping or service experience either online or in person because that is what the customer wants.
Tell the world: Tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube allow customers to tell not 7 people but 10,000 their pleasure or dissatisfaction with a retailer immediately after they interact with them. No more secrets here! Every satisfied customer is now a booster for your business and every dissatisfied customer potentially can hurt your business. Now, there is more of an incentive for every retailer to get it right for their customer. This year, no bad deed will go unpublished by a dissatisfied customer.
Social media has endowed small business with the power to establish their own channels, spread their points of difference and develop their own “tribes” of loyal customers. Gone are the days of being shut down by deep-pocketed competitors who could buy out entire media formats. In fact, some of the most popular social media channels began as simple conversations.
Get Small. All new business used to want to appear big. Now, business, as Chris Brogan says, want to be seen as human. Every business wants to seem like the corner store but have the global pricing power and distribution of big business. Big business is now consistently targeting your small business since it is the sector of the economy that is growing. Being a small retailer will no longer be a disadvantage – in fact, just the opposite.
The enormous scale that gave brands such as Bunnings and Woolworths their efficiencies through the 1990’s and 2000’s, will become increasingly burdensome as they struggle to respond to new trends and changing economics. Small retail, on the other hand, can and should quickly and nimbly adapt and shift to capitalise on opportunities. Beyond social change, small retailers can also benefit from huge improvements in technology.
Being small never felt so big!
Finally, it all adds up to opportunity for great independently owned small retail, the likes of which we haven’t seen for at least 25 years. But, as always, there’s no free ride, no guarantee of success. The surest way to earn your place in the future is by standing apart from the pack, being remarkable and thoroughly indispensible to the customers who love you.
What to watch for in 2011: We Try Harder: All customer facing staff will try harder this year to attract, satisfy and keep their customers. Effort from everyone will be in plain sight.
Its All About ‘You’, The Customer: Technology has allowed retailers to personalise my visit when I go to buy from their website. When I visit Amazon’s site, they welcome me back by name and suggest things I might want to buy based on what I bought in the past.
This is the type of personalisation customers have now come to expect when they go to any face to face retail shop. With the immediacy and personalisation of this fast paced internet world, great customer service is only what the customers says it is at a particular point in time. The difficulty is raised because this standard varies from person to person. In 2011, more retailers will customise their shopping or service experience either online or in person because that is what the customer wants.
Tell the world: Tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube allow customers to tell not 7 people but 10,000 their pleasure or dissatisfaction with a retailer immediately after they interact with them. No more secrets here! Every satisfied customer is now a booster for your business and every dissatisfied customer potentially can hurt your business. Now, there is more of an incentive for every retailer to get it right for their customer. This year, no bad deed will go unpublished by a dissatisfied customer.
Social media has endowed small business with the power to establish their own channels, spread their points of difference and develop their own “tribes” of loyal customers. Gone are the days of being shut down by deep-pocketed competitors who could buy out entire media formats. In fact, some of the most popular social media channels began as simple conversations.
Get Small. All new business used to want to appear big. Now, business, as Chris Brogan says, want to be seen as human. Every business wants to seem like the corner store but have the global pricing power and distribution of big business. Big business is now consistently targeting your small business since it is the sector of the economy that is growing. Being a small retailer will no longer be a disadvantage – in fact, just the opposite.
The enormous scale that gave brands such as Bunnings and Woolworths their efficiencies through the 1990’s and 2000’s, will become increasingly burdensome as they struggle to respond to new trends and changing economics. Small retail, on the other hand, can and should quickly and nimbly adapt and shift to capitalise on opportunities. Beyond social change, small retailers can also benefit from huge improvements in technology.
Being small never felt so big!
Finally, it all adds up to opportunity for great independently owned small retail, the likes of which we haven’t seen for at least 25 years. But, as always, there’s no free ride, no guarantee of success. The surest way to earn your place in the future is by standing apart from the pack, being remarkable and thoroughly indispensible to the customers who love you.
Thanks again to Debra from http://www.shoptorque.com/.
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