It is easy to conceive a dream to have your own business. You can’t sit and wait for customers to walk in your store after you have set up your retail store. It takes a lot of efforts, strategic retail planning, and unique promotional techniques to make your retail business a success.
In this competitive era, no one can do a successful retail business without using retail promotional tactics. Retail promotion is the best way to boost your sales and to make maximum profit in seasonal sales. Promotion creates urgency and lures customers to take actions.
Retailers have tried various methods to attract customers and to build the image of the brand. In this article, you will learn about various retail promotion methods and how to use them to attract customers.
Table of Contents
Ideas for Retail Promotions
#1 Make the use of the Digital world to promote your business
In digital times, people spend most of their time on digital platforms.
They use the internet for entertainment, for interaction, for making friends, and buy products. Therefore, by promoting your retail business on the internet, you can reach all your potential customers and build the image of your brand.
Digital retail promotion method is one of the best promotion methods. You can make the use of website advertising, digital listing management, search engine marketing, and optimization, social media advertising campaign, etc. to promote your business online.
With the help of digital media retail promotion, you can not only reach your local customers but also reach people all around the world. You can instantly increase foot traffic in your store by promoting online.
However, advertising online and get the attention of people is not an easy task. Therefore, you should invest in a digital expert who can make your digital media advertising effective.
#2 Collaborate with other local retailers
Not all local retailers are your competitors. You can make a deal with them so that you can exist in the market and make a profit. The one way to do this is by collaborating with them.
You can also reach the customers of the retailers you are collaborating with. You can run sales promotions with the collaboration of other retail brands.
For example, you can give away a discount coupon for XYZ brand if they shop for a certain amount from your store. This type of retail promotion strategy is a win-win scenario for both retailers.
It is a natural human tendency to shop more if given a discount or offer. By collaborating you can boost your sales quickly.
#3 Participate in social causes
In the present time, one of the effective methods of retail promotion is by participating in social causes.
For example, Brand Factory give discount coupons to people in exchange for old clothes and shoes. People want to participate in social causes, but they find it difficult and time-restricted to part in social causes.
Therefore, they always look for alternatives where they can contribute without too much hassle. You can take advantage of this to increase your business.
You can tie up with a local NGO and advertise about your tie-up in-store and online and urge people to contribute to the cause. For example, classmate stationery brand claims that they donate one rupee for the education of underprivileged children for your every single purchase.
People feel good when they buy classmate products as they feel that they are doing their part to make the world a better place to live. There are thousands of examples of this type of retail promotion. You can take inspiration from them and choose a perfect social cause strategy to boost your sales and do your part for society.
#4 Markdown Promotion strategy
Markdown strategy is a common promotional strategy used by most retailers. Markdown strategy is also used by retailers to get rid of the excessive inventory. The meaning of markdown is to reduce the actual price of the products to boost the sales of the products.
If you are in the retail business for a long period, then either you have seen other retailers using this promotional strategy, or you have used this strategy to bring foot traffic and boost sales. People usually like to buy products when they are on discount.
Because of this reason even giant brands such as Nike, Puma, etc. offer a seasonal markdown on the price of their products to boost the sales and also to get rid of old stock. If you plan markdown properly and don’t just randomly cut the price, then it is proved to be profitable for you.
#5 Focus on your loyal customers
There are always a few loyal customers that always stand by us no matter how we are doing. Therefore, you can use a retail promotional strategy to give back to them and appreciate them. For example, you can hold an event for your primary customers.
In this way, you strengthen their loyalty for you as well as turning your other customers into loyal ones.
Having loyal customers is advantageous for two reasons first is they will ensure a certain amount of sales and second, they will be an advocate of your business if you appreciate their association with you from time to time and provide them additional benefits.
#6 Make the use of your storage space to promote your business
Your store is the best space to promote your business. Carrying out a promotional campaign in your store will grab the attention of people passing by your store and help you to increase foot traffic in the store, and foot traffic increases the chances of sales boost. Store retail promotion strategy is effective to promote your business locally.
You can make an attractive window display and hang the promotional signs on the door of your store. People get attracted by such displays and enter to check out your store. For example, the foot traffic in your store will increase by 40-50% if you hang signs such as “40% discount” or “clearing sales.”
Use this retail promotion technique to boost your sales in “off-season.” One it will help you to generate extra revenue without investing much of the promotion, and second you can also sell off off-season products rather than storing them.
#7 Promote your business by associating with celebrities, influencers, and YouTubers
Promoting your business by associating with celebrities is an old method of promotion, but it is an effective one. However, this method is quite expensive as association with celebrities cost you a lot. But, in the present time, because of the internet, there are two terms which are getting used widely.
Influencers: influencers are the people who have a huge fan following on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, etc. these people charge a minimum fee to promote your brand.
Youtubers: YouTubers are the people who have their own YouTube channel and get a huge number of views on their videos. Youtubers are also called influencers.
Rather than paying millions of dollars to celebrities to promote your brand. You can spend a few thousand dollars to get your products promoted by influencers and YouTubers.
One more advantage of this type of retail promotion is that these people can also show the usage of your products and talk about the benefits of it.
You can reach a huge audience by getting your products promoted by influencers and YouTubers. You can obtain their business email address from their social media handles and can arrange a meeting to ask them to promote your products.
#8 “Reviews” retail promotion strategy
Now, you will think about how can reviews can help to boost your business. I would say yes; a positive review can do wonder for your business. in the old times, people liked to buy those things or from those stores which are recommended by their known ones.
But nowadays, the place of known ones is replaced by “review websites.”
On these websites, people can review your services and the quality of your products. People make their purchase decisions on the basis of reviews given about the products and business. There are professionals who charge a minimum fee to write a positive review of your business.
In initial days, you can get paid reviews, and if once your services are good, and you sell products of good quality then you can get more and more positive reviews for your business. You can also ask your happy and satisfied customers to review your services and give a rating.
#9 Participate in local trade shows
If you have just started your business, then this retail promotion method is for you. People don’t know about what your business is about and what do you sell and what is the quality of products that you sell until they see them and interact with you.
The trade show is the best place where you can interact with your potential customers and can give them samples of your products and share your business card with them.
For example, you have opened a store to sell homemade spices and let us assume you don’t have a huge budget to run TV commercials and associate with celebrities.
You don’t want to sit in your store and hope for people to walk in your store and you can also not give a discount on your products in the very initial days of your business. Then what should you do????
Go to a trade show interact with people tell them about the qualities of your products. You can also make some additional sales there and can also get some loyal customers.
#10 Use Promotion techniques such a “Buy One Get One (BOGO), Multi-Buy, and percentage discount, etc.
These retail promotion techniques are maximum used by retailers. You will see these promotion signs in one or another retail store.
The meaning of BOGO is if you buy one product you will get another product for free of cost and the meaning of multi-buy is that you can buy two products at the price of one or you can get another product free if you buy two products.
Percentage and dollar discount gives you a certain discount on the price of the products you buy. These retail promotions are used by the retailer to attract customers and to sell out the old stock. However, this is an effective method of promotion.
People have a habit of checking out the stuff if they find it on discount. These promotion tactics are beneficial for you if only you plan them and take a well-thought decision.
#11 Grab the attention of people using unusual promotion techniques
People like when they get surprised, and they always look for unexpected. So why don’t you use the technique to attract customers to your store? Imagine on a quiet, sunny day you play music in your store and make your employees hand out cookies along with a discount coupon to the people passing by your store.
Would people like it? Would they want to visit your store? Yes, they would. By playing good music, you are relaxing the minds of people, and by offering them cookies, you are establishing a positive first contact with them and by handing out the discount coupon you are giving them a reason to visit your store.
Isn’t this a brilliant idea for retail promotion? Don’t get scared to try out an unusual promotion method to attract people.
#12 Use personalized print material
In retail stores, it is common for a retailer to provide shopping bags to customers when purchasing something from them. Most retailers miss this promotion opportunity and buy bulk bags and hand out to there customers without realizing that they can use this opportunity to promote their business. you can print the shopping bags that you provide in your store with your brand name and along with the contact details
. It will not only remind your customer about you, but it will also leave an impression on the minds of people who will see these bags. Similar to shopping bags, there are other materials that you can get personalized to use it for promotional purposes such as bookmarks, brochures, etc.
#13 Holiday Promotion
Commonly, people go for shopping during the festive season. In festive season they are in a happy mood and want to buy gifts for themselves and their loved ones, and they become double happy if they receive discount coupons on the things that they want to buy in the festive season.
I know this sound absurd to sell things on discount in the festive season when everyone is selling things at double rates. This is an opportunity for you to please your customers by providing them things at lower prices and retaining them or the rest of the year.
Holiday discount can prove to be profitable for you if you plan it in advance. Buy things in the offseason. If you buy things offseason, then there are chances that you will get them at low prices, and hence you can sell them at low prices and still make a profit out of it.
In this article, you have learned about various retail promotion techniques. Use them and modify them as per your own style because a measured risk does no harm.
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