Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM FEBRUARY 2016 40 Elly Valas Retail Views N ow that the holidays are behind us, we can look back and see what there is to learn from the busy holiday selling season and what those things portend for this year. A couple of years ago, Wayne Small from Renwes Appliances in Lake Forest, California told me that he'd decided to close his store on Black Friday. His staff loved the idea of having two days off for Thanksgiving. More important, though, he chose not to participate in the Black Friday low-margin buying frenzy. In his experience, the shoppers who came to his store that day only wanted to buy deeply-discounted products. Renwes had already bucked the trend in retailing by closing his store not only on Sunday, but also on Monday. But on the five days the store was open, Renwes provided their affluent customers with a huge selection of specialty appliances, knowledgeable associates and a unique customer experience. Despite going against all traditional retail logic, Wayne recently sold his business to a large national player. Fast forward to this year and REI made headlines by also closing on Black Friday in its OptOutside campaign. While 12,000 REI team members were payed to play outside for the day, customers who wanted to buy gear did so and online sales increased 26% from 2014—although no orders were processed that day. Consumers also seemed to be less enthralled with Thanksgiving weekend shopping. Even though online sales for the period were up, total purchases were off more than $1 billion from last year. There was less frenzy, and slower traffic. When all was said and done, there were even Elves on the Shelves. My crystal ball suggests that this might be a trend that will continue into other traditionally hot holiday selling weekends. Consumers are getting smarter about event-driven retailing. Some realize that savvy shoppers can get good deals whenever they want—or need—to buy. With the pricing transparency offered on the Internet, there are always good values. Customers remodel all year. Appliances break all year. New products come to market all year. Hot new streaming video programs get released all year. Retailers need to be in the game all year. Create a calendar of meaningful events to draw prospects in. Do something special every month. Stage a Top Chef contest in your store for local chefs to compete in. Or try a local celebrity chef event to raise money for a local charity—get the mayor, Chamber of Commerce President, and TV anchors to try to wow a team of local judges. Invite customers to participate in an in-store chili cook off— donate all the chili to a shelter or soup kitchen. Bring families in by offering cooking classes for kids. At the same time, you can host a beer and brat barbecue to ring in grilling season. Partner with Habitat for Humanity's ReStore project. Urge customers who are remodeling their kitchens to donate gently used cabinets, sinks, faucets and appliances. In some areas, Habitat will even do the demolition for a small donation. Invite your customers to join with you in building a house with a Habitat family. "Ask the expert" events can give your local reps or their national trainers the opportunity to explain whole home integration or other new technologies to a group of consumers who receive special invitations to your private event. Bring in a sleep specialist to give seminars on the health benefits of a good night's sleep. Yes, holiday promotional events are big. Most buying groups work with suppliers to provide specially-priced products for these periods and provide the marketing tools to move them through. At the same time, you're going head to head with every big box chain competing for the same deal-hungry consumers. I'm not recommending that you opt out of all of these promotions. Instead, I'm suggesting that you not rely on them as your sole traffic- building efforts. Customers enter the market at different times for different reasons. Products fail. Kitchens flood. Mothers-in-laws come to town. You need to be out in front all year to develop top-of mind awareness in your market. Do that consistently and you'll have a winning game plan. YEAR 'ROUND RETAILING RO Elly Valas is an author, speaker and retail consultant. She can be reached at elly@ellyvalas.com or 303-316-7568.

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