Last year, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) tipped that shoppers would spend around $2 billion on Mother’s Day related purchases, making it the second biggest spending occasion after Christmas.
“Mother’s Day has always been a big gift giving opportunity, with most Aussies touched by the day in some way, whether it be their own mother, the mother of their children or grandmother,” ARA executive director, Russell Zimmerman, said at the time.
“As a result, some retail categories are likely to see a much needed lift in sales as mums around Australia are spoiled by their families.”
With less than two weeks to go, here are eight ways to ensure you get a great result.
1. Gift guide
It can be hard deciding what to get mum year after year, so why not help your customers out when it comes to picking the perfect present? A great way to do this is to create a gift guide that you can email out to your customers and share on social media.
This doesn’t need to be anything fancy or 50 pages long. It could be a ‘popular products for mum’ email highlighting a few carefully selected items, or you could divide the guide into ‘gifts for the sporty mum’, ‘gifts for new mums’ etc.
You could even use Pinterest to create your gift guide. Just make some Mother’s Day themed boards featuring your products and share them with your social media audience.
2. Online organisation
If you go to the effort of creating a gift guide, make sure the hard work you put in is reflected on your website. Think about having a special Mother’s Day section on your site with all the products relevant to mums in one place. Make sure you divide products into your gift guide categories with sections like ‘gifts for mum under $20’. Although categorising your products might be time consuming, your customers will appreciate how easy you’ve made it for them.
You should also clearly display any ordering/shipping deadlines, so customers can ensure mum’s present arrives in time.
3. Make it personal
Let your customers into your world and ensure your store is top of mind for Mother’s Day gifting with a few personal Facebook and Instagram posts. You could share a picture of you and your mum with a sweet story, or feature staff members and their children (with permission, of course!).
Encourage customers to share their own image and story with a hashtag—for example ‘YourStoreNameMothersDay’—and offer a prize for the best one. Although it might seem like this isn’t directly driving sales, it will help you connect with your customers and create a community.
4. Merchandise for mum
There are so many ways to display Mother’s Day stock, so get creative with your merchandising. For example, go beyond pink tones and flowers to create a physical gift guide by grouping products in themed displays like travel, gardening, cooking and relaxing.
It’s also a good idea to ensure your Mother’s Day visual merchandising goes beyond your window or the front of your store with special displays throughout your shop.
5. All inclusive
When you’re buying and merchandising for Mother’s Day, don’t forget that it means different things to different people. Try and stock a card selection that includes picks for nanas and step-mums and gifts for everyone from new mums to those with grown up kids. We don’t have to tell you that the wider the range of stock you have, the more chance you’ll make a sale, so there’s no point leaving people out.
6. Bundle of joy
For time-poor customers, the option of in-store wrapping can be a big incentive to make a purchase. Make it as easy as possible for these customers by creating pre-wrapped Mother’s Day hampers or offering a promotion like ‘buy three items for mum and receive free gift wrapping’. Another way to boost sales is by offering a free card with purchases over X amount.
7. Self promotion
With Australians spending more on Mother’s Day each year, it’s the ideal time to hold a VIP night or in-store promotion to get customers in the door. You could do a ‘bring your mum’ night, where customers and their mums get a special treat if they visit your store together. Buy some bubbly, have all your lovely products on show and make it a nice night out.
Another option is a VIP event, where for one night only customers can buy a gift for mum and have it wrapped for free in store. The most important thing is to make sure customers know about your event so send out an email (or two) to your subscribers, advertise it on social media, and ensure you have signs up in-store.
8. Give back
Mother’s Day is a good time to give back to your local community. There’s always the option of offering gift wrapping for a gold coin donation to charity, or if you’re looking for something bigger, consider giving a percentage of your profits over a weekend to a good cause.
If you do decide to donate, make sure your customers know that their purchases will help out those in need. It will give them a warm fuzzy feeling and (hopefully) encourage them to spend a little more in store.
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