You’ve likely been planning for many months now – are you certain that you’re truly ready as a retailer and service provider to realize the opportunities ahead of you at this joyous time of year?
Your goal for this holiday season might be to increase profits over this time last year, to improve efficiency for your staff during this harried time, to make the process a seamless experience for your customers – or all of the above. A robust software program can aid you in achieving each one of these objectives and will do so in a cost-effective manner.
A robust software program can aid you in achieving holiday objectives in a cost-effective manner.
Would you like to boost retail sales while rewarding loyal customers for their patronage during the holidays? One easy way to do so is to increase the discount your EFT members automatically receive on all product purchases during the month of December. Another option would be to automatically reward customers with points for every new customer they refer to your salon and allow them to be redeemed toward product purchases only. Doing so will motivate your existing customers to purchase more and will also entice them to refer your business to their friends and family.
For those new customers you obtain through your holiday referral program, you may want to offer a “Ring in the New Year” membership at a discounted rate so that they can be sure to glow for the holidays! Simply create a membership (with expiration) for everyone who purchases on January 31 and configure a message to appear at the point of sale one week prior to expiration, so that your staff is prompted to remind the customer that their promotional membership will expire soon. They might just purchase an EFT membership to follow!
A sale that is always enticing for customers and simple for you to offer is the traditional BOGO. You might consider offering 50 percent off all items in a particular retail category with the purchase of another item at full price. You can configure this promotion within your software so that the discount is automatically applied to the second item, so that it’s a seamless process for your staff. You can even have the system allocate the commission earned on the sale price, rather than the full retail price.
Another powerful promotion, especially during the holiday season, is to offer a discount on a minimum purchase. If you want to drive service sales, you might contemplate offering $50 off a minimum service purchase of $150.
We all know that trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list can certainly cause some anxiety, so it’s no surprise that gift cards and certificates will be a popular choice in your salon at this time of year. To boost gift card sales, offer a bonus gift card with each gift card purchased – it’s a win-win for those who want to give as well as receive. And if the person purchasing gift cards from you isn’t an existing customer, make sure to capture their email address and cell phone number. There’s a good chance you’ll be able to convert them into a “regular” through future email or text message marketing campaigns.
Holiday shopping often leaves many of us feeling stressed and overwhelmed – configuring a handful of solid promotions in your salon management system will ease the process for existing and new customers alike as they extend their patronage to your business!
