For retailers who sell products targeting students (and even those who don’t) the last few weeks of the summer holidays—the back to school period—can be a lucrative time to capitalise on additional sales opportunities. With parents seeking out school essentials from pens, pencil cases and notebooks to lunchboxes and uniforms, here are a few ways to optimise sales during this peak selling period.
Get stock in order
After the craziness of the Christmas and New Year sales period, it’s important to ensure you are prepared for the back to school season. Get organised—you don’t want to miss out on sales because a range has sold out before you have had time to replenish the shelves or because stock has been pushed to the back of a display.
Con Botsioulis, client service director at retail marketing services company Crossmark, said the back to school period is a great opportunity for retailers who make the effort to capitalise on it.
“The Christmas and New Year retail rush can be an exhausting time for retailers, who may start to let their guard down as the sales period ends; however, catching opportunities from the thousands of parents and teachers looking to stock up on essentials before the new school year starts in February can give sales another nice lift, further increasing a brand’s bottom line,” he said.
Expand your reach
Even if your store doesn’t sell traditional back to school items like stationery or backpacks, there’s probably another way for you to capitalise on the spending period. Electronics retailers can advertise deals on tablets and laptops, while hairdressers could run a back to school haircut promo. As one of the big sales events of the year, it will pay to work out how your store can get in on the action.
Use speed to maximise sales
Retailers need to execute their in-store back to school campaigns quickly and efficiently. With a limited amount of time to capitalise on the increased buying activity, it’s important to stay on top of new product lines, price reductions and promotions you are running. Keeping these elements of your store up-to-date will ensure the products are highly visible. Planning to regularly change your back to school displays will also keep things interesting and allow you to cycle through new product.
Social media blitz
University and high school students are voracious users of social media, which means you should be too. Promote your back to school deals on social channels so your store is top of mind for teens (and their parents) when it comes time to shop. You could also create a back to school landing page on your website where customers can find everything they need in one place.