Haul Out the Holly & Other Thoughts on December

by Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender

December is the BEST month to be a retailer.

The store is dressed for the holidays and the shelves are brimming with wonderful product. Happy customers come in with lists, looking for the perfect gifts, then pick up a little something extra for themselves. Sales are brisk and that’s a good thing.

We’re especially busy in December. One of our favorite things to do each holiday season is -- are your ready? -- shop. Yep, we hit the streets the week before Thanksgiving and never look back until early January. We stand in the shadows and just watch customers shop. For hours. And we are always intrigued by what they do in stores and what they tell us in exit interviews. The Medias are interested, too. In December, reporters come at us from all sides, asking about stores and shoppers and retailing in general. A few times each December we even take a reporter shopping with us -- trying to blend in, and keep the hidden camera hidden, is always a good time.

We also look forward to the traditional and off-the-wall things retailers do to attract shoppers and keep them in the store longer. Every retailer has a trick or two up their sleeves. We’re sure that you do too, but if you haven’t quite tackled that list of things to do to spin your doors this holiday season, there’s still time:

Step outside and consider your storefront.
Is the customer’s first impression clean and clear of debris? Are your window displays set for Christmas or do they look the same as they did for back-to-school? Does your window signing properly represent your brand image? And have you set the appropriate amount of holiday décor throughout the store to put customers in a shopping mood?

Stand just inside the front door.
Customers should be immediately embraced by your store’s ambiance. Your sales floor should smell like the holidays. Every discounter sells scent diffusers in holiday flavors; pick up a few and place them throughout the store -- especially near the front door, so the fragrance immediately impacts customers just walking in. And if you sell candles, cross-merchandise a few on or near the checkout counters. If it smells, it sells!

Another part of your store’s ambiance embrace is music. The right music can actually make customers stay in the store longer and spend more money while they’re there. Choose fun music with a good beat, especially when the store is busy. We like disco -- it’s the sound of money.

Check your Decompression Zone.
(The first 5 to 10’ just inside your store’s front door.)

This is where shoppers refocus and collect themselves for the shopping ahead. They will miss anything you place in the Decompression Zone, so let it do its job and leave this area empty. Just beyond the Decompression Zone is where they begin shopping.

Set your Speed Bump displays to sell.
Place Speed Bumps -- small fixtures or tables loaded with cool product -- just beyond your Decompression Zone. Speed Bumps stop busy shoppers and redirect their focus to your merchandise. Your Speed Bump displays work just like the ones in the parking lot: they make you slow down and take notice.

Shopping Carts and Baskets.
Know why the Wal-Mart greeter offers customers a shopping cart when they walk in the front door? Because they will spend 25 percent more than they originally intended to spend and up to 15 minutes longer in the store.

Place carts just past the Decompression Zone. Baskets should be near the carts, and also throughout the store, so they are within reach when a customer decides she needs one. Encourage associates to watch for customers carrying product, then get them a cart ASAP. Studies show that customers stop shopping when their hands are full. If your store doesn’t offer carts or baskets, then watch for customers carrying around product. They tend to stop shopping when their hands are full, so by all means take the product from them and set it aside at the cash wrap.

Plan your Impulse Zones.
A big percentage of purchases are unplanned. Take advantage of this by placing Merchandise Outposts -- displays of product used to entice customers to pick up product on impulse -- throughout your store. Use Outposts as magnets to draw customers to different parts of the store, to cross-merchandise, and to display important and high profit product.

Set your End Features to sell with product customers simply have to have: great new items, hot deals, and value buys. Try to display three items or less per end feature, and use Vertical Merchandising -- product displayed in vertical rows -- as your primary display technique. Vertical Merchandising exposes customers to a greater variety of merchandise at every eye level. When shoppers see more, they tend to buy more.

Each of your Impulse Zone displays should be reset as least once a week, more often if your store is heavily shopped. This sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not: simply moving items from one Impulse Zone to another makes the product look brand new to shoppers.

Cross-Merchandise everywhere you can.
Cross-merchandising displays complementary product together, saving shoppers time by making it easy to visualize how the items will work together. Cross-merchandise items on clip-strips throughout the store and you’ll encourage add-on purchases and increase your average sale. It’s frustrating for customers to have to make a trip back to the store because they forgot a critical component necessary to complete a project. Cross-merchandise and you both win. Clip-strips and other cross-merchandising fixtures and accessories are available here: www.southernimperial.com.

Highlight Gift Cards.
Promote gift cards with carefully placed in-store signing and encourage store associates to talk them up. Gift card sales are on the rise; that’s good because they bring customers to your store. Studies show that 80 percent of customers spend more than face value of the gift card, and 40 percent of customers spend more than twice the face value of the card. You can’t lose!

Encourage Impulse Buying at the Cash Wrap.
The majority of your shoppers are women, and women are infamous for making purchases on impulse. That’s why your cash wrap should be loaded up with product she just can’t pass up. Put the wall behind your cash wrap counter to work with a fabulous display of gift items. You may even want to set up a Merchandise Outpost within eyeball distance of the checkout; so customers can continue to shop while they wait on line to pay for their purchases.

We wish the strong December sales lasted all year long, but they don’t -- you only have a limited amount of time to make your Golden Quarter golden. You have to take advantage of the gift-buying frenzy while you can, so take this checklist out to your sales floor and do a complete walk-thru. Note which areas to change, set your priorities and get to work. And if you need a pep talk, we’re just a telephone call away. Call at the right time and you just might end up on that hidden camera footage!

Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender are nationally recognized experts on customer diversity, “messing with the media,” marketing and everything retail. They will present the 2008 keynote during the VDTA/SDTA Convention on Feb. 21. Attend the keynote and meet them in person. KIZER & BENDER have presented their “Retail Adventures in the REAL World™” keynotes and seminars to diverse audiences since 1989. In 2004, KIZER & BENDER were named “Two of Retailing’s Most Influential People.” KIZER & BENDER’s retail observations are widely featured in the Medias. Their book Champagne Strategies on a Beer Budget! has helped thousands of retailers improve their bottom line; their client list reads like a Who’s Who in American business; and their column, “Georganne & Rich on the Road” which appears in Craftrends Magazine, was honored with The American Society of Business Publications Award of Excellence (ASBPE) in 2004 and again in 2006. Contact Rich & Georganne at 1-888-215-1839 or via their Web site: www.KIZERandBENDER.com

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, December 2007