Season Your Store

Inspired by the plentiful back-to-school sales promotions at the time, a Wall Street Journal article marveled at how retailers use seasonal merchandising throughout the year. Retailers even make up seasons to create themes: Sam’s Club stores have celebrated “Fall Gatherings,” with displays that include, among other items, rakes, and at Target, the first few weeks of Januaries, have brought both “Storage and Organization” season and “Wellness Restock” season, with containers and exercise equipment to empower consumers’ New Year’s resolutions.
     Changing displays periodically is always a good idea for retailers, and moving the merchandise around works well as long as you leave habitually purchased items in locations already highly familiar to your shoppers. If the season themes help you do that as a retailer, great.
     However, my guess is that most consumers don’t recall having encountered “Fall Gatherings” or “Wellness Restock.” In addition, the merchandising changes that occur between flu season and allergy season can happen without you uttering the names. If you want to get the most from seasoning your store, announce each theme loudly and proudly.

• Stimulate lots of senses. Stage music and fragrances which support the theme. See if you can select merchandise design in addition to merchandise type. The WSJ article reports that Kimberly-Clark produced Kleenex boxes shaped like watermelon slices for the summer season. Research at University of Michigan finds that stimulating multiple senses increases the potential for purchasing.
• Keep it lively, but with breaks. Use brilliant colors and energetic sounds. Consider using animated displays. However, don’t overstimulate the prospects. Provide breaks in the music. Rotate the area of your store in which the season is celebrated so the overwhelmed shopper can retreat to routine territory. Researchers at University of Chicago and National University of Singapore say that nonstop celebration tenses muscles, and tense muscles will keep people from being sold what they’re not fully convinced they want.
• Make it local, both in theme and in merchandise. If high school football is a big deal in your neighborhood, celebrate this rather than the more generic “football season.” The WSJ article reports how smart retailers contact their local school district to learn the contents of the list being sent out to parents in that district for supplies the student is to purchase.
• Design your exit strategy. Toward the end of the season, how will you most profitably dispose of items which will soon become less attractive to shoppers?

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Talk to Multiple Senses with New Products
Soothe the Savage Shopper with Silence
Localize Your Merchandise