A new year signals a fresh start. January offers a chance to review the past year while looking ahead at the next 365 days. It’s an opportunity to set some goals, look back at what worked well and where improvements can be made.
Our top 8 tips for making a cracking start to the new year and making the most of January.
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Give them your best discounts
We don’t encourage independent retailers to discount too often as it’s easy to fall into the discount trap where customers wait and only buy from you in the sale. However, January is the time of year when everyone is looking for the ultimate bargain. Don’t discount and you’ll miss out.
Use it as a chance to clear out old stock and out of season styles, it’s cathartic to have a clear-out and it means you can offer some bigger discounts.
The first few days after Christmas can be incredibly busy if you get your sale right. Boxing Day is now officially one of the biggest sales days of the year. However, if opening on Boxing Day doesn’t feel right to you don’t do it – we were very open with our customers and told them that we valued time with our family at Christmas and the sale would start on 27th December not 26th – this decision got us lots of social media kudos as well as meaning our team had a well-earned rest. However, don’t wait too long. You’ll find the first weekend after Christmas is when things start to get much quieter so get your sales in as quick as possible.
We’d also recommend asking suppliers if they’re doing any discounts on your usual lines – you may be able to buy some end of season stock to help maintain your margins when you discount in January.
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Don’t get caught short
We’ve been guilty in the past of being really pleased with ourselves for selling out of lots of stock by Christmas Eve only to find we didn’t have much to fill the shop with come January.
Many suppliers close between Christmas and New Year so think a couple of weeks in advance what you might need to get you through the first weeks of January and make sure you order in plenty of time.
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Analyse your data
After Christmas give yourself a day to sit down and analyse what your Christmas season was like. Look at what sold well – were there any surprise winners? What didn’t work? Did you have some successes with marketing, make a note to repeat it again next year.
It’s best to analyse Christmas performance as soon as possible as it’s easy to forget by the following year.
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Max your marketing
After the sales have died down January is usually pretty quiet so the perfect time to set some goals and plan for the year ahead.
Be really clear about what your goals are – can you make them very specific and measurable; how often will you check your progress against them?
Create a promotional calendar. List any national dates that you can use in your marketing plan like Valentines or Mother’s Day. Find out from your town centre manager or BID team what events are going on in the town and make a note of the ones that you think you can either get involved in or benefit from working into your marketing activities. When is your business birthday – this if often a great excuse for a customer event or promotional offers.
Plan some in-store events or workshops – shoppers respond really well to experiences in-store rather than just seeing stores as a place to shop.
Once you’ve listed all your key dates plan what you can do around them.
- What in store events can you have
- What special offers will work
- What other businesses can you collaborate with
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Power up your social media
Are you using the best platforms for your target customer? Maybe it’s time to evaluate where you’re getting the most value and engagement from.
Facebook is still the biggest platform but it’s hard to get visibility without paying for it.
Instagram is the second biggest platform and now used by almost 50% of internet users in the UK. As it’s such a visual platform it’s a brilliant place to showcase your store and products.
Take some time to plan your posts – you need to post consistently to work best with the Instagram algorithms and daily if possible. However, what you post is very important – followers aren’t interested in the hard sell so try a mix of product, visual merchandising, posts about the people who work in the business - tell your story through images. You can also use brilliant graphic design tools like Canva to create professional-looking motivational quotes and tips that work well on posts too.
Take some time to check your social media profiles are all up to date and looking their best. Check opening times are on there and correct, check you’ve got all your contact details listed and that your biography is catchy and shouts about what your USP is. Profiles don’t need to be static, change them as often as you can to keep them fresh and focused on the key focus each season.
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Watch the Pennies
January tends to be a slower time for sales so a good reminder to check if you can reduce your costs. Can you negotiate a better deal on credit card processing – the deals set up when first start taking cards change and it’s worth exploring whether you can get a better deal. If you’re a BIRA member you access some of the best rates on the market.
Check your not paying too much for utilities – these change and once you’ve set up a direct debit it’s easy to forget to check if you’re getting the best deal.
Is it time to renew your insurance? Take some time to shop around and see if you can get a better deal.
BIRA members can access special rates on utilities, card processing and insurance so most of the hard work is done for you and it could be a quick and easy way to save money every month.
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Delegate and give yourself some time off
Retailers work incredibly hard, especially at Christmas. Remember to look after your well-being and the well-being of your staff. When it’s quiet in the new year it’s a good opportunity to take some time off and re-charge.
Say thank you to your staff, We often get caught up in the frenzy of Christmas so when you’ve had chance to recover think about what you can do to say thanks to all your staff for their hard work over the season – a day out is a brilliant reward but even just a handwritten thank you card is a great way of showing that you appreciate them.
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Get some help
The current climate is a challenging time for retailers and getting support can be re-assuring and help you generate new ideas to grow your business.
Business owners like to put a brave face on it when things are tough but don’t be afraid to ask for help!
BIRA is a great support network and many towns have BID or town centre managers that can also help your business. If you find things hard speak to them and don’t suffer in silence.
You could also consider joining local business networking groups to spread the word about what you do with other local businesses and often find local services that can benefit you.
If you’re based in Warwickshire the Town Centre Trust have partnered with us to deliver a series of FREE workshops and one to one consultations to help grow footfall and provide digital training. You can find out more information here http://towncentres.eventbrite.com
Visit www.facebook.com/storiesmarketinguk for more tips for independent retailers, what’s going on in the retail world and opportunities for you to share what great things you’re up to.
Stories Marketing run workshops and retail training for indie retailers but particularly love working one to one with our retail consultancy to help you create powerful marketing, exciting merchandising or figure out how to tackle problems you’re facing.
Get in touch at emma@storiesmarketing.co.uk
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