The Sale - Part 4

This is last part in the series of " The Sale", I hope you have found it useful.

Maximise the sale time and buy in sale lines and ensure this period is not all about less profit. These are lines that you can bring into your business at an inflated margin with the view to reducing them for the sale and maintain a healthy profit. Just be aware that the trading standards require businesses to “price establish” for 30 days prior to the reduction otherwise you cannot legally show the original price and full reduction. Contact your local consumer direct helpline for more information. Speak to suppliers and see if they have any lines that you can buy cheaper, but be warned buy carefully. Its always a good idea to look for lines that do not carry a RRP then you can set your own retail prices.

Get new season lines in early is often a good opportunity to take advantage of the additional foot fall generated through your business at sale time.  Your business should benefit enormously during the sale period of both new bargain hunters as well as your loyal all year round shoppers, who will of course come in looking for a bargain, however may well be tempted by new product displays at the same time. So ensure that the shop floor optimises NEW lines in a beautiful tempting manner.

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

The Sale - Part 3

The high street multiple retailers clear their seasonal lines very aggressively so plan your sale to be in a tight effective time window that works for you on your particular high street. It should resemble a military procedure...

Do not have your sale on for any longer than 3-4 weeks.  There is one thing that is a certain, clearing stock does not get any easier if you procrastinate,  if it did not sell it in the first season it most definitely will not sell during the second. Keep reducing it until it goes during the first sale period and then right it off and donate to charity, otherwise it will:-

•Clog up your OTB

•Reduce your stock turn

•Reduce cash flow

•Tie up money in unsalable stock

•Overload your stockroom whilst continuing to devalue

•Make your shop floor look untidy and distract from new season displays and product messages.

 

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

The Sale - Part 2

Markdown procedure; You should have been regularly reviewing the performance of your product lines for a few months, and if you were then you will already be aware of the worst sellers and lines destined for the red pen! These should join the rails along with any lines left over from any Mid season sale and any oddments that are remaining from good selling ranges. Take this opportunity to tidy up & clear out the stockroom, as oddments can often lead to a confusing merchandise message on the shop floor. These need to be regular removed from sale or  re merchandised. Personally I rarely agree with putting items in stock rooms awaiting the sale but as we all know there are always exceptions to a rule.

Now we enter the big debate, how much do you reduce by and when? My belief is that we have a very small window of opportunity to effectively clear stock and the process needs to be like a military procedure, hit them hard and hit them quick!  Start with a minimum of 25% off or a 1/3rd and follow with 50% off within 2 weeks. Some lines may have performed that badly they will need to go straight to 50% off.  After a further 1 – 2 weeks, all remaining lines should be reduced to a price rather than a % off and should be merchandised accordingly. Eg; all  now £10! At this stage it is also beneficial to merchandise to size.

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

The Sale - Part 1

Happy New Year! This month we will talk about the sale;

It is that horrid time of year again, Sale time! It is disliked for many reasons, over the years I have heard many different reasons as to why...

We get a different type of customer, shop always looks horrid and messy, disrupts every day full price sales, hate reducing stock and selling at such low prices.  But let us look at the sale in a different light as with the right planning and organisation the sale could be one of the busiest and most profitable part of the season.

Sale preparation is key. Pay particular attention to advertising, signage and display, window message, timing of sale event and then apply exactly the same to your web site.

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

Christmas Trade - Part 4

The last in my series about Christmas trade and how to make the most of it.................

Gift wrap & Vouchers; Promote both of these services, an absolute must in today’s market. Make sure who ever is wrapping is fast and efficient and does not interfere with the speed of the till and selling. It does not need to be expensive and can be free over a certain value if cost is a concern.  Vouchers are an ideal opportunity to get the customers back into your business in the New Year when it is quieter, promote them and use them as a selling tool when people are concerned about size and what colour to buy. A frequent concern is that a voucher is not considered a thoughtful enough gift, so make it ………. offer a beautiful voucher, beautifully gift wrapped.

Website; Once all of the above is right in your shop then ensure it is all correct on your web site too, after all this is your global shop window!

Opportunities; Take the opportunity to make the most of the additional footfall of new and existing customers. Think about how you can entice them back again in the New Year. Run a promotion or an event, give out invitations and add to them to your data base. Look at attaching the purchase receipt to a small leaflet that contains your web address, returns policy and a discount of next purchase if they should return within 30 days. It is time to think outside the box!

Happy Christmas!

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

Christmas Trade - Part 3

Continue the theme from the window, promotion or web site through to the shop floor. With 60% of purchasing decisions being made after the customer has entered your shop it is so important to get your shop displays looking good. If the customer is attracted by the window or promotion then she should be able to find it with ease when she comes into the shop. The “theme” is important no matter what time of year but particularly at Christmas time, so make it extra special colourful and chearful. Shoppers Like to enjoy shopping so make is easy and fun for them, group related and coordinating product and gifts together, ensuring that add on sale. If you have any promotions or offers on then ensure they are displayed prominently and above all in a tasteful way.

Staff; Not only do you need the right staff they need to be in the place at the right time and they need to be well trained on the product and your systems. Make sure you have fast staff on the till and the right fitters and sales people on the floor. Keep your staff happy and motivated, atmosphere is everything in a shop, the mood the vibes, smell and lighting. It has to feel right and the staff will be happy.

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks

Christmas Trade - Part 2

Promotions; This is where all your earlier heard work in building that data base is paid back, do a mail out, Invite your customers to a special Christmas gift evening or event. Use your SMM, company face book page and Groupon for those special offers and of course twitter. If you don’t shout about what you are doing no one else will.

Great Product; Most of which may well have been ordered many months ago, ensure you have new merchandise arriving into your business throughout the Christmas period, if you have not planned this, ensure the shop is re merchandised regularly to give the impression of newness. This can be achieved easily, change to merchandising by colour, by brand by solutions type. Mix gifts in with lingerie, create a lifestyle of mix and match gift Ideas. Display the product with a target customer or solution in mind, teenager, mother, wife or lover! Keep the stock moving, create different looks and make it interesting.

IA Consultancy    Intimate Apparel Consultancy 

  Claire Franks