“The sale season has ended! How do I stop my sales from falling?

Come January and most retailers painfully realize that the holiday season has ended, walk-ins have dropped and with that surging sales. So what can a retailer do to avoid a major slump in revenues in the first 3 months of the New Year…

Top 8 New Year Marketing Strategies:

Discount your winter products

If you are stuck with Christmas lights, anti-freeze solution, Christmas ornaments, snow shovels and the like, creative communication with deep discounts will surely help drive traffic to your store. Especially if the discount offered in the New Year is much less than the cost of buying these goods in the season. Communicate how stocking up now for next season makes complete sense.

Inform your customers about upcoming events

If it’s January, you could put out a Valentine’s day email a little ahead of the pack, urging customers to book/buy in advance to avoid last minute upsets and price escalations. Try to have a first mover advantage when events loom in the horizon.

Have a loss leader

An old marketing favorite, have one important product which is deeply discounted. You may want to just break-even on it or even incur a small loss. This will act as a magnet, bringing customers in to your store. Once in, they will buy other items as well to offset your loss on that item.

The Mystery Key Contest

Drop a mystery key in post boxes of your immediate locality. Tell the key holders to come to your store to try their luck in unlocking a box with special prize (shopping vouchers for your store). This will influence walk-ins and most winners will end  up buying more than the voucher value. It will also help spread word of mouth.

Talk about unconventional uses for products in during the off-season

If you can come up with other uses for winter products in summer, you could actually swing in some sales. For example – Communication regarding how snow blowers can be used to help blow dirt or sand away when working in your garden.

Advertise!

It might sound crazy but an ad campaign is MOST NOTICED in an uncluttered environment. If you have a talking point and run ads during an off-season when others in the same category are not competing for ad space, then you will be seen and spoken about.

Engage your local community

Sales season brings in customers from far and wide, often outside your geography. During the off-season entice your local customers to buy instead of targeting far-off customers. Play the ‘we are right next door’ card. Maybe you could offer a special discount if they have an address with your defined limit. Local advertising also benefits from being less expensive compared to other mediums (example flyers in a specific area).

Cleaning up your database and work with Social Media

I the New Year, invest time, energy and effort in cleaning your database. Make sure there are plenty of ratings and reviews for all your products. Since you’ve had plenty of sales during the Christmas season, you can definitely generate reviews from those customers. Keep word of mouth and social media channels strong.

By using a few solid marketing strategies, it is possible to offset a major drop in off season sales. It all depends on being as creative as possible!