This one’s going to be short and sweet and to the point: if you want to generate traffic and get the customers coming in the door when every newspaper on the planet is screaming about the meltdown on Wall Street, you gotta give them a reason to come in!
This means making deals. The prices on EVERYTHING are going up, up, up. It’s true in my store, and I know it’s true in yours. When was the last time a vendor called you and said, “Hey, we like you so much we’re going to eat the rising cost of gas because you’re that awesome?”
If you’re like me, that’d be never.
So prices are going up, everywhere. The customer’s feeling it no matter where they go.
Send them coupons — 10% off anything in the store. Run lots of specials. Put things that are NEVER on sale on sale. It’s time, right now.
These don’t have to be super deep discount sales. Especially if you’re a niche market, with lots of brands that never, ever discount. Customers know and understand that they’re not going to get 50% off some of these items — and that’s ok: they’ll buy at 10% off, when they may very well not have at full price.
Realizing 90% of a sale is a lot better than realizing none of it!
The most common mistake retailers make when times get tight is to stop promoting, to stop making deals, to stop reaching out to the customer base. That’s just wrong: this is the time, more than ever, that you’ve got to be out there, constantly, giving the customer a reason to buy.
