Delivering a memorable customer experience is so important to retail sales success, especially when brick-and-mortar stores are competing with online channels. To really engage with modern consumers, physical retailers should consider in-store experiences that shoppers simply can’t get with a digital experience.
Hosting an in-store sales event at your retail venue can be a fantastic way to shore up sales and draw new customers into your store. In this post, we are going to look at some fun and exciting ways to plan and host an in-store sales event in your store.
Partner with Other Businesses
Pick a day or weekend and partner with other local organization to pool resources and marketing efforts to create a host of immersive experiences for shoppers. Get together and brainstorm unique ideas that fit the vibe of your shops.
For instance, if theme is “education,” businesses have a lot of flexibility. If you run a music store, you can hold a clinic to educate local musicians on certain techniques. If you have a scrapbooking or craft store, you can host an open crop event and teach different approached to foster more creativity. If you own a market or grocery store, consider offering a cooking class that uses products from your store; for bonus points, you can even set up displays that contain the ingredients needed for the dish being prepared; this allows your shoppers can easily purchase them all at once and give it a try themselves.
The possibilities really are endless.
Promote, Promote, Promote
Whenever anything of note occurs within your business, fire off a press release to local media outlets. Be a part of your local community events. Run an ad in your local “shopper,” where the costs are very affordable (and sometimes even free)!
Create urgency by informing your customers of the exact physical location, date, and time of your event. Create a Facebook event page or send the details out to your email list—you are keeping an email list, right? Tout exclusive offer that won’t be available at any other time… and stick with it; when customers know they only have one opportunity to cash in on a special promotion, they are less likely to be apathetic and just wait until the next time.
Flash Promotions and Giveaways
What’s an event without prizes? A sorry event, that’s what. Everybody loves prizes. Consider different opportunities to reward your event patrons with a variety of different prizes and promotions to create a memorable and enjoyable experience. Some options can include:
- door prizes
- raffles
- deep discounts on popular items
Another way to keep your customers engaged at an in-store event is through flash promotions. If your event is scheduled to last four hours, then introduce flash sales on popular items, but limit the time of the sale to just 15 minutes. This allows enough time for your shoppers to get to the item on sale, yet it’s not too long to wait for the next item that will be be promoted.
Encourage Customer Loyalty
It’s much more financially viable to keep returning customers than it is to acquire new ones. When you have customers at your event, give them fliers highlighting any other promotions you are running or discount cards they can use at a future date. Maintain an email sign-up sheet near your checkout for customers who would like updates regarding future sales and events. Finally, remember to thank those who attended your event with a message on social channels (like Facebook and Instagram) or by sending them an email.
Pro Tip: If you can plan ahead for future in-store events, you can leverage the excitement of your current in-store event to generate buzz for your next one!
In Conclusion
Every day, retail stores have to compete with online channels for customer dollars. A great way to get them shopping in stores is by leveraging resources that online sellers don’t have, such as your actual physical location. Through in-store sales events, you can create fun and unique experiences for customers that may keep them coming back for more.