Tis' the season!

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Another great contribution from one of our resident experts Shawn!

It’s Christmastime!

Nothing drives me crazier than seeing Christmas decorations before Halloween.  Something about the three or more months worth of waiting which has to be endured as stores jollily tell us it’s only “94 more shopping days till Christmas!!!” tends to ruin the “season” part of the Christmas season.  With that out of the way, have you and your business begun preparing for Christmas yet?  If you haven’t started, you’re already late.

The schedule of events which stores should be looking at and which may apply to your business, works like this.  Come October we’ll have a wonderful season of macabre decoration known as Halloween at which the end of kids will romp from door to door looking for treats.  Traditionally the door to door was done on a house to house basis but now many cities and downtowns have co-opted this holiday into a retail opportunity.  The kids are allowed to go store to store instead of door to door.  The stores hand out the candy which makes things safer for the little ones and provides a wonderful advertising drive for the retailers who participate.  If your city or downtown doesn’t do this already take note, get a hold of your local chamber of commerce and demand to know why.  It’s for the safety of the children!  (If you do want to set up an event like this, now is the time to get it planned.)

As long as the kids are finally safe (within your store) don’t forget to have things on hand for them to see.  Toys, fliers, kid-themed displays, low hanging merchandise, don’t go overboard and have Santa greeting at the door but make sure the parents who bring those little tykes around have the opportunity to see your business as ‘That place with the toy that made the eyes light up’.  Imagine passing every parent of every kid through your store as you fuel the little ones up with candy and NOT being prepared to show off your business as one that could be returned to for Christmas!

This means you need to prepare now for Halloween, which means you need to have ordered some of your Christmas stock already, which means, if you’re just now realizing it, you’re already late for Christmas. 

Would you like fries with that…?  As long as you’re ordering (and ordering early) make sure you stock up on all the extras for your business which makes it truly profitable.  The markup on ‘Johnny Extreme 4200 Toy Blaster Destro-Robot of Doom’ may only be 1.5% but the 18 AAA Batteries (not included) are where your store is really going to shine.  With the three month mark firmly ahead ensure that you’re ordering batteries now for the Retail season and any other incidentals which make your store stand out for what it is.  Play a game with every item you sell, try to come up with one to two other items which should be sold with it.  Don’t just sell a clock; sell a clock, the batteries, a surge protector and a warranty.

Consider early hiring for temporary employees.  People are always looking for work around the holiday season but the one who hires last gets the last to be hired.  Hire a week or two before your competitors and you’ll end up with a better pool of employees to pick from.  When you do need to turn down someone for a position which has been filled, be sure to call them and let them know.  Take the extra time to be courteous because they aren’t just non-hires, they’re still potential customers.  Even a person handing off a resume has to walk into your store, past your displays, up to your impulse items, and wait in line to turn that resume in.  Greet them like you do any other potential customer and you might just find a few customers lurking among the potential hires.  If you’re going to hire a temporary employee for a month, you’ll need at least a few weeks before that to schedule and train them, which need a week or two of planning, researching insurance needs and budgeting for them.  That means that now is the time when you begin the hiring process even if the actual hiring only occurs in December.

Get involved and your customers will get involved in you.  Hand out candy!  Yes, it costs money and you’ll end up with extra staff on hand that day for the extra traffic but this is one of those things which the big-box stores can’t compete with you on.  You’re the store which reaches out, is personal, is local, and cares about your customers.

Consider Offering Credit.  As a consumer looking to spend lots of extra money during the holidays having a store which offers me credit is a good way to get my business.  You can afford to charge a bit more if you’re willing to give them more time to pay on that bill.  Credit plans for your customers need to be considered well in advance of implementing them, now is the time to think about those Christmas Clubs and whether you’ll be stuffing their stockings or shipping coal.

 Plan ahead.  The things contained in this article are only the beginning of Christmas and holiday planning.  Budgeting these items in should be done yearly and you should always be looking ahead to the next retail opportunity to make your business stand out from the crowd.  Put in the extra planning and you’ll find it can be a very merry season indeed.

Shawn Durham is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with ten years experience in purchasing, accounting and information technology.  His company, Kodiak Information Systems trains employees on the use of Microsoft Office, networking, internet resources and running a digital office.



Comments

[Anonymnous]

Great post! Not enough people think about this stuff early enough. WIth the right kind of planning there is no reason that anyone should go into Holiday Season Debt.

[tanya v]

GREAT POST!! I love you your writing!
-tanya

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