How to prepare your store ready for January, to increase footfall
So you’ve got majority of the Christmas period over with, now January is creeping up on you! December and January are the busiest shopping months of the year! Of course everyone is rushing around for their Christmas presents, the decorations, the meal! But you can’t forget that boxing day is the start of the January Sales and don’t even get us started on the crazy New Year resolutions! So you need to ask yourself, is your store ready for January?
YourCash have come up with ways you can prepare your store ready for January to increase your footfall and support your customers.
Bangin’ Bargains
So, first thing’s first! Your customers will definitely be expecting discounts post-Christmas and of course, you don’t want to disappoint! This is a great opportunity for you to offload all your excess stock to clear out ready for the new season. Some shoppers might even look to buy some of your leftover seasonal stock so that they are ready for the next year because preparation is key.
Don’t forget the manic period isn’t over just because Christmas is! You’ve still got the January Sales to prepare for, you’ve got to be ahead of the game.
However, having a store that is filled with discounted stock could also have a negative impact. If you’re not a discount store, you don’t want to be seen as one, but rather a shop that offers a great level of service through their products, deals and staff so compromise wisely.
Educated Employees
It’s inevitable that some people might leave in the New Year because they’ve gotten a different job or they’re moving house so you need to be prepared. January is a busy month (just as busy as December!) so it’s important that your team is trained and ready to go. If you’ve hired new staff they need to be trained well before Christmas so that they’re able to get on with this busy two month period!
Rapid Replenishment
Between the 26th Dec and the 31st, customers are going to be piling in, stocking up on alcohol and fizzy drinks ready for their New Year’s celebrations (PARTAYY!). You don’t want to be that shop that didn’t have a good selection of beverages for New Year’s Eve, do you?
As your shelves are probably going to be empty after the Christmas rush, you need to be on top of your stock orders and also have a committed team of staff that are ready to transform your store back into it’s full, healthily stocked, self!
Resolution Ready
Oh yes! We all have friends and family that set their resolutions for the New Year (and never stick to them) and of course we have to support their new choices! So here are 4 typical New Year’s resolutions and ways you can help out:
To exercise more
Exercising is always top of everyone’s “New Year, New Me” list. To get into shape, to look the way you want to look and finally to love the way you look. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do to unless you’re a retail store that sells gym clothes! However, you could start small by stocking sports drinks (Lucozade Sport for example!) or even sell plastic sports bottles.
Eat healthily
This comes into partnership with exercising and being healthy. Everyone knows that to be healthy a balanced diet is very important! So, for your these customers, fill your shelves with tons of fruit and veg! Maybe even some low calorie meals?
Quit Smoking
Quitting Smoking is something that majority of smokers dream about! But it’s so hard to cut it out and lose the habit. Support them by selling Nicotine Patches and making sure you have a large selection of gum. They’ll appreciate it.
Budgeting / Spending less
It’s easier to monitor how much you’re spending when you are taking out a specified amount of cash, rather than using your contactless card all willy nilly and not actually knowing how much you’re spending in a day. Our solution: install an ATM in your store to encourage the money saving/spending less resolution!
Splendidly Sober
In other words, dry January! Millions of people give up alcohol for the month of January for 3 particular reasons:
- To make you more aware of it’s risks on your health (detoxify)
- Form of control
- Saves you money!
Cutting down on alcohol beginning on the 1st of January is also a very popular New Year’s resolution. In support of your customers, your friends and your family who may be taking part in dry January or adopting this particular resolution, you need to consider how you can help.
For example, for the month you could order in non-alcoholic beers and bottles of Shloer. Stock up on Tea bags and coffee as these are usually seen as alcoholic replacements. (As well as any sort of fizzy drinks!)
We hope that you have found this article on ‘how to get your store ready for January’ helpful. For more tips on how you can prepare your store throughout all the seasonal events, just keep an eye on our blog page!
If you can think of any other great ideas on how a store can prepare for after Christmas, then please feel free to tweet us @YourCash.
Happy New Year to you, your staff and your customers!