The holiday bustle has finally slowed down, but that doesn’t mean your field teams can too.
While January has a reputation for being one of the slowest months of the year for retail spending, there is still opportunity to sell. According to Deloitte’s 2017 holiday survey, most consumers complete their shopping in December or January, and those who keep spending after Christmas are taking advantage of after-holiday sales for non-holiday items. This means that it is essential to start 2018 off on the right foot and reset quickly. Make sure your field team is prepared to take appropriate steps to set your brand up for success in the new year.
Keep It Fresh
Regardless of how effective your holiday campaign was, the new year brings an opportunity to start fresh. The top priority for your field team after the holidays should be to take down irrelevant displays and remove any holiday signage. With shoppers coming back into stores to make returns, and hopefully additional purchases, you need to verify you are putting your brand in the best possible light. Once the promotion or holiday ends, your marketing campaigns need to follow suit. The sooner you have new signage and displays in place, the more you will stand out and attract customers.
Keep It Accurate
Not only will current, up-to-date signage and displays entice shoppers, but it also prevents you from giving them the wrong idea. When your holiday promotion materials are still intact, but the promotion itself has ended, you are misleading your consumers. This will frustrate them, and could lead to a potential loss in sales and decreased brand loyalty. It is important that your displays accurately represent your current promotions. Beat your competitors to taking down “expired” displays and advertising your newest promotions. This will be a differentiator that allows you to keep sales up in the new year.
Keep It Clean
The holiday commotion and increased traffic that continues after Christmas can sometimes create disorder in your store or on your shelves. Make sure that your field team knows who is responsible for cleaning up any messes around your brand’s display. Merchandising efforts need to stay top-notch, and well-stocked shelves are essential. If your shelves look hectic, they will be avoided by your customers. Not only will you lose the sale, but your competitors will win them. Simply clean up any messes that were created from the holiday madness and maintain aesthetically-pleasing shelves and displays to draw in shoppers—not turn them away.
With the NRF reporting an increase in last-minute holiday shoppers this year, and 5% of those planning to purchase gifts after Christmas, it is increasingly important that your brand doesn’t take any breaks during this time. The simple steps of removing holiday displays and signage, advertising new promotions, and maintaining clean and organized shelves will increase your chances of winning the sale.
Instead of wondering how your field team is responding to your initial tasks of 2018, you can visualize real-time store activity from miles away. With execution management software, you can equip your field team with the right tools to monitor, track, and optimize products and displays. Take advantage of this year’s data, and start the next holiday season off successfully.
