Making the most of your festive point of sale

Will you be early with your Festive Point of Sale? How do you make the most of your in-store sales opportunities?  In today’s economic climate, many retailers don’t have the budget to employ additional team members. In which case, they must ensure their in-store experience including point of sale messaging, store layout and visual merchandising are up to an excellent standard to avoid missing further sales opportunities. Here are five things to consider when prepping your store and sales team for the Christmas season:

• Situate your festive best-sellers at the front of the store so they can be found easily during busy periods – this can be done using standard fixtures or Temporary Point of Sale Displays. Analyse your sales information on a weekly basis so you are aware if these items change – you can then re-merchandise your store appropriately based on weekly trends.
• Increase your footfall into your store immediately with attention grabbing festive window displays. Through the use of point of sale you can achieve amazing sales uplifts through targeting impulse purchasers during one of the busiest periods of the year. Utilise festive point of sale displays that instantly "Wows" your customers.
• All promotions must be clear, if a customer can’t work out which items are included in your 3 for 2 promotion for example and there’s no staff member available to help, they’ll probably abandon the purchase. It’s therefore advisable to keep all promotional items grouped together on a permanent fixtures or alternatively you can use a FSDU (Free Standing Display Unit).
• All staff should be briefed on your expectations during this period, after all, it’s your busiest time of year,  they should also be informed daily of all promotions and best-sellers. Perhaps implement some service guidelines so all customer facing staff know what is expected of them.
• Ensure you keep on top of your store standards and remain visually strong. Your store will be well-shopped during this period and consequently may become untidy. Although visual standards mustn’t take priority over customer service, it’s still essential that displays are kept relatively tidy and not neglected to avoid putting off potential customers. Dump Bins are great for displaying small promotional items and need very little upkeep. If your permanent fixtures and fittings are becoming overcrowded due to extra stock and promotional lines try using FSDUs or Counter Top Units.
• If possible, try to host some festive in-store events, VIP evenings offering exclusive discounts usually work well. You could also try teaming up with other local businesses who complement your offering – make sure you advertise this well in advance by emailing current customers or displaying some informative literature in a Counter Top Unit at the till point.