Temperatures are dropping, which means many customers are starting to shop for the holidays.
While the outdoor furniture season is over for much of the country, that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for the next season with community-based events that can build brand recognition, bring people into your store and offer people in the local area a fun activity.
Here are a few ideas you can use to drive foot traffic during the winter months and build loyalty with your local community:
- Get the most out of sales holidays. Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, but don’t forget about Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. These additional shopping holidays can give you two more chances to sell, but more importantly, you can emphasize the fact that buying local helps the community and bring everyone together for a fun time. Make sure to offer in-store-only promotions and advertise with a buy-local angle on social media.
- Host a Santa meet-and-greet. Anyone can go to a mall and wait in a long line to see Santa, but you have an opportunity to help people cut the line and add a little more flair.
What if Santa was sitting in an Adirondack chair and wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses? He could say he just got back from vacation, which makes it a little different and fun but also connects it to the outdoors. You can also sell tickets and market that the proceeds will go to a local charity. - Get in the holiday spirit. During the off-season, some retailers may find it useful to bring in holiday-related products. Expanding your product offer during the slower months is a great way to bring people in and also get them thinking about outdoor furniture purchases for the next year. Anything you can do to get people in front of your product will get them thinking about what they might need when it comes time to buy.
- Wrap it up! Playing on the community angle, partner with a local charity that gives gifts to kids in need and host a present-wrapping event with food, drinks and live entertainment. People can come together for a good cause and this can be a multiday event.
Take it a step further and offer discounts or special prizes for people who bring presents to wrap or for parties of three or more people. - Bet on the weather. Everyone wants to wake up to snow on Christmas Day, so why not bet on it? In the outdoor industry, weather is everything, so use this connection to allow customers to make bets on whether it will snow on Christmas Day. If they win, they get a 20% discount or gift card, and if they lose you can still give them a little something fun for participating. Either way, it gets consumers involved with your brand.
Now’s the time to start planning and coordinating plans with local charities. Do something fun, memorable and community-based, and remember it’s never too early to start thinking about the holidays!
