We don’t want to alarm you, but Father’s Day is under a month away.
Yes, this year it’s the 4th of September, and so that means people are officially under the pump to find a gift for their dads.
If you’re a consumer, it means desperately scrambling for something other than the socks, ties or golf balls you bought last year.
On the other hand, most retail stores would know the rush of business that is usually accustomed with these annual celebrations.
According to Nextopia, most people purchase their presents around two weeks prior to the big day. With 24% leaving it to one week before, and then over 10% waiting until the day before to find something.
What does this mean?
If you’re a store, you should at least be starting your plans on how you’re going to handle Father’s Day this year.
Do you have a social media plan? Have you prepared for extra inventory to be in stock?
All of these questions need to be thought-out, and although it sounds overwhelming, we have collated some of our best tips to make sure you’re ready for this Father’s Day.
Organise your promotions and discounts
Whether it’s Easter, Christmas or Valentine’s Day, these type of holidays always have handfuls of stores promoting their individual gimmicks.
To not be behind the pack, you need to work out what you will be offering consumers and how it will be different to your competitors.
Research indicates that the four most influential factors in buying habits are free shipping, price cuts, sales, and coupons.
So, based on that you can consider what promotions will most effectively entice your target market and set yourself apart from the rest.
It should be noted that by far (59%) free shipping is important to people shopping online. Even for people shopping in-store, offering them free shipping on large items has potential to differentiate yourself completely.
Of course, if you have found previous techniques have worked in the past then give them another go!
Set-up your point-of-sale software
Hopefully, you already have a point-of-sale (POS) system in place (if you don’t, there’s still time to get in touch with us to organise it!)
What you need to be doing before the big day is learning how to use your POS most effectively. Not only will it help reduce the stress of any major rush, but also enable you to use the features to its maximum.
As an example, if you choose Coyote’s POS software “Hosted” configuration, it provides you access to instant sales data. That means as people are buying you can see what products are being quickly picked up and what isn’t moving as fast. Inventory tracking around these busy times is incredibly important and a major asset to your business.
On top of that, the “Hosted” configuration means you can also make changes to any promotions (like the ones we talked about earlier) that you have put into place.
If one of your promotional strategies is working well, you could try to apply it to more products, and if others aren’t living up to expectations, you can modify them.
Be social and let people know
Once you have organised what your promotions are, and explored your POS software, then let people know about it!
There’s no point in having excellent promotional offers or features, and nobody is aware of it.
If you have an emailing database, then be sure to prepare a catchy newsletter that will arrive in their inboxes as they’re considering gifts for Father’s Day.
On the other hand, social media continues to emerge as one of the leading marketing tools – so make use of it.
Whether it’s Instagram or Facebook, ensure you are posting relevant updates on what’s happening with your business and what you’re offering.
Often, people remember last minute so prompt the conversation with them!
Protect yourself against stealing
We don’t want to put a downer on your Father’s Day celebrations so far, but with so much activity in your store you don’t want to put yourself at risk of theft.
And, that’s both internal (staff members) and external (customers).
Of course, it is not about being suspicious of every person who walks into your store but ensuring you have all precautions in place before the rush.
One of the most effective preventative methods is having a POS system, which enables you to track staff time sheets, monitoring your inventory, and the real time live data of your store.
If you notice something unusual with the movement of stock, then the data available from POS systems allows you get on top of it early.
While there are a couple of other tips, these are the best ones to implement for a seamless Father’s Day season.
If you have any more questions about how to set-up a POS software to ensure your business runs smoothly, at whatever time of year, please get in touch!
