It’s finally here! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and it’s time to make those final preparations for the holiday shopping crowds. Many boutiques make their profits for the year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. The biggest challenge can be finding ways to stand out among the competition. Well, because boutiques are not big department stores, you already have the upper hand. Many shoppers will avoid the crowds at all cost. Plus, they are looking for special and unique gifts, which boutiques are known for offering.
BOUTIQUE HOLIDAY MAGIC
The holidays can be a magical, yet hectic, time for boutique owners. This is the time of year when you hope to make your profits and try to push to grow your customer base. The busy season can mean extra work, using creative ideas to nurture sales, and using the increased traffic to brand your image. Sometimes, it can get too busy and hectic to concentrate on your image, impressions that you make on customers, and creating interesting displays, but really, this is the time of year when you are going to have the most exposure. This is also when customers have a heightened sense of curiosity, which you can use to your advantage if you try. Doing so could earn you long-term benefits, profits, and a steadily increasing group of customers year after year.
AUTUMN RETAIL DISPLAYS
This time of year can be truly beautiful. For a lot of people, autumn is the very best time of year. The summer heat lifts, a cool breeze fills the air, and the trees turn gorgeous shades or red, gold and orange. Autumn fills people’s minds with thoughts of getting cozy with a loved one, spending time outdoors, and seeing all of their family and friends over Thanksgiving.
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS
Managing your inventory can be a difficult task, especially during the holiday season. People want “instant gratification” when doing their holiday shopping, so it’s important to have all of the merchandise on hand that you will need. People aren’t very interested in ordering things. This is especially true if the holidays are near. It can be difficult to determine what you might need, so we’ve compiled some tips for making sure that you are as close as possible to determining how much of which items you will need.
BOUTIQUE POP DISPLAYS
Point of purchase displays, or POP displays, are used in retail boutiques to increase awareness of a product and to increase the sale of a certain product. POP displays inform the customer about advantages of a product or point out details about the product or brand that may increase the customer’s desire to purchase it. POP displays are one of the most highly effective forms of merchandising that there are. Historically, their sales success is only trumped by mannequin displays. However, that could change as customers are becoming savvy shoppers and are use more scrutiny when making purchases. Here are some tips on creating POP displays and making sure that they are as effective as possible in your boutique.
RETAIL DESIGN AND ITS INFLUENCE
When setting up a retail store or boutique, you need to think about a lot more than “where everything will fit”. The arrangement of your products, brands, and aisles can have a big influence on what your customers buy. If everyone entered your store, found exactly what they came in for, bought it, and left, you would not be very successful. It is up to you to entice people to shop longer and buy more than what they originally planned. There are a few ways to do this that we will discuss here.
FUNCTIONAL BOUTIQUE DÉCOR
Boutiques have a certain appeal that attracts customers to them. They emit an ambiance that makes people feel comfortable while they shop. They make people feel like the items they are finding are unique and even exotic. The atmosphere is so important because people don’t shop at boutiques to find the best deals or to have loads of merchandise to choose from. They go there for the experience. They like how the boutique experience makes them feel. As a boutique owner, it is up to you to create the atmosphere that will keep your customers returning, time and time again.
AVOID SLASHING PRICES THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
You may be gearing up for the holiday season and wondering how you can attract more customers than your competition. You don’t necessarily have to slash your prices to get ahead of the game. There are plenty of things that customers are looking for that do not include deep discounts. It is up to you to help customers determine what they want and how much they want to pay for it. This doesn’t mean that you have to lay it on thick with sales pitches. It simply means that you need to pay close enough attention to details that you will give customers the perception of the price they are willing to pay.