New year, new you, right? Depending on how you feel about New Year’s resolutions, January could be the perfect time to goal up for 2020. Here is a quick month-to-month guide to help drive additional sales and planning for success.
JANUARY: Retail never stops, but January is the best month when it comes to developing six to 12-month sales and marketing plans. While you have the downtime, create three action items for each set of goals. Topics to think about could be inventory goals, staff development, new store props etc. January is also the perfect month to look at setting up a marketing calendar or general idea of what retail activities you want to be or will be participating in. Aside from the obvious Valentine’s Day and Christmas, think about the other grassroots efforts you do throughout the year. Having a physical list to view may look a lot different than running through a list in your head.
January is the perfect month to look at setting up a marketing calendar or general idea of what retail activities you want to be participating in.
FEBRUARY: Love is in the air! All our retail cupids are hard at work for the first few weeks of the month, but what happens after V-day? The energy you gain from ramping up for Christmas is hard to maintain. Use this downtime to improve something in your stores or warehouses. Do you have appropriate signage for your storefronts? Do a deep clean. Set up new positive habits on the sales floor to make shopping experiences better. Take care of those to-dos! Get the sign fixed, replace the broken lights, get rid of broken fixtures, throw out old testers and work with manufacturers and distributors to get new ones. Get refreshed after winter!
MARCH: What action points for 2020 involved your associates or team building? March is a great month to take some time out for everyone who helps make day to day possible. If you need an occasion, the first Friday in March is Employee Appreciation Day on the Calendar. Utilize your manufacturers who can help support employee incentive programs. Skip the pizza — find something different. Challenge yourself to find new ways to show gratitude towards your team and coworkers for the New Year.
APRIL: Pride season is an important part of our retail calendar. April is the perfect time to look at how you can contribute to, and support your local community. Look for new partnerships, volunteer to help, donate proceeds, sponsor activities or scholarships. If you are in a smaller geographical location that doesn’t have a big event or parade, don’t be discouraged. There are ways to be involved, big or small. Circling back to January, plan out what this retail activity looks like to you. Be proactive and prepared with a new strategy to best serve your customers. Look at your social media for what is resonating with your customers.
MAY: May is a stealth gift-giving month, it doesn’t leap out like Christmas or Valentine’s Day but it’s there. What our Industry struggles with is the cause. Mother’s Day or graduation doesn’t really speak to our audience, but we know people have “gift-giving” on the mind. May is a good month to look at what you have to offer for non-sexual gifts. Look for options that tempt people into treating themselves or provide a comfortable gift-giving experience. I don’t want to get my cousin a vibrator for Mother’s Day, her baby isn’t going to get her anything though, and I want to acknowledge her on such an important day. Use May to do some research on other items besides adult you could bring in. Adult stores that have expanded their range to include other everyday items help make the vibes in stores seem like part of your everyday lifestyle. Plus, it gives customers more ways to spend with you.
JUNE: Time to check in! How are you doing on those six- and 12-month action plans from January? June is going to be a great time to celebrate the achievements from the last six months and reframe the upcoming six. If January flew by and you didn’t get a chance to sit down and frame out what 2020 will look like for you, now is the time. Don’t over-complicate things, but make sure you have a map of where you are headed. Goal-planning and writing looks different for a lot of people, but I strongly encourage you to write it down.
JULY: Social media summer. What is your marketing plan for social media — do you have one? Use the summer months to focus on reaching your audience in a different way. How accessible is your store information to the public? I speak to customers who are often so overwhelmed with where to start that they feel defeated before they have even begun. Social media is easy to access and very affordable. This is also a good reminder to do some housekeeping and improve any current online information. Do you have your own online site? There are several distributors who offer drop-ship programs that let you have an online site. Putting in the time and energy at the front end of tech projects is grueling but worth it.
AUGUST: Floor reset before fall. August is probably the hardest month for me in terms of merchandising. Inventory gets stagnant, retailers are in clearance mode, and people are hot and cranky. (I’m people, LOL) Use the lighter inventory to re-work your store and get creative. When trying to make stores look full without a lot of inventory, retailers tend to spread merchandise out to create the illusion that they have more inventory than they do. Call on your manufacturers and distributors for the signage and marketing materials they have available. When a distributor carries 100-plus brands, it’s impossible for your reps to remember what each brand has available. Never be afraid to ask, your store is always worthy.
SEPTEMBER: Back to school — in the store. Manufacturers spend a lot of time and resources on materials for store and customer education. You may not be able to host live trainings; however, a lot of manufacturers have digital product education tools available. Create space so associates have access to product information, without it being required training material. Establish an information station, so everyone has access to the same product and store information. Information breakdown is one of the biggest culprits to losing a sale. It takes effort to be consistent in communicating; September is perfect to set some positive habits in place for staying on top of product knowledge.
OCTOBER: October is ideal for considering new products. Plan so you can make a strong launch with new products in your store. Consider what shelf space you have available and what you can move around. If you are considering bringing on new products, compare what store support or other marketing materials are available if you carry that product. Use empty space to create tester stations or other education-based displays. Tradeshow season is coming in January; plan so you can bring in as many new items as possible. Make sure you aren’t keeping poor performers to make your shelves look full.
NOVEMBER: You don’t have to deck the halls to drive traffic into your stores. Setting up food drives, donation bins and other organizations with specific needs, gives people a literal destination to come shop with you. Look at some new partnerships you could utilize this holiday season that you may not have considered in the past, think non-adult. This doesn’t have to be expensive; Facebook Groups or events can be an excellent resource for upcoming opportunities, and don’t be afraid to post your store events. We get caught up in what we think the cost of marketing is going to be when so much of it is just a matter of making the time to do it.
DECEMBER: Make it personal. Let your customers know you are thinking of them with at least one piece of non-sales related correspondence. A short, handwritten note is a great touch and demonstrates why shopping with you matters. This is also a great time to look at customer information retention. Email blasts can be easy and inexpensive to create and keep you on your customers’ minds. Setting up a positive data-capture experience at the counter is important. Having a small raffle or giveaway at the counter is a great way to get people to volunteer their information.
Working towards an online marketing strategy should be an action point for 2020.
Danielle Seerley, aka “America’s Sex Toy Sweetheart,” is the senior sales executive for Shibari Wands and Voodoo Toys.
