Be a Winner this Sale Season
Perhaps surprisingly, August is usually the 4th largest month for golf shops, in terms of sales. As a peak summer month, you may have thought it would rank higher. However, many of your members and visitors go abroad in August, and, it’s also when online and off-course stores start to put items into Sale: which can hit the bricks and mortar trade. If you think you should be jumping on the bandwagon and discounting stock, read our guide to making money in the Sales.
Sale Strategics
Putting on a Sale should be a strategic decision for your business, rather than a response to external market activity. If you’ve made the right buying decisions throughout the year, and only bought stock you knew you could sell, you won’t need to discount inventory. Discounting stock can affect your bottom line and isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. That said, Sales do have their advantages and can be a good tactic with longer-term benefits.
Here are the 3 main reasons why retailers should run Sales:
1. Attract New Customers to the Store
Sales can be a good way for people to access your products at a lower price point and bring in customers who’ve never bought from your shop before.
It’s a great opportunity to ensure new people enjoy a fantastic experience and will want to become a regular customer at the normal prices.
2. Increase Foot Fall
Footfall is a key metric for retailers. It’s simply the number of people coming into the shop. If footfall is down, think about putting on an event, Sale, or other promotional activity, such as Buy Now, Pay Later.
3. Clearance
There’s a two-fold reason to clear down stock: either to make space for the new season’s arrivals; or to fulfill a genuine business need to get cash into the bank and reinvest in new product launches.
Which products should I put into Sale?
Golden Rule #1: No product in your shop should ever have a birthday.
Use XPOS to identify which products aren’t selling through fast enough, and help you determine which stock items to discount.
The best Report for this is our Unpopular Products Report (Reports>Recommended>Unpopular Products). Focus on the last column, Last Stock. Are there any products that have been in the system for longer than 6 months? If so, and these items are still in the shop, it’s time for some promotional activity that will help to clear them.
Promote your Sale
Spread the word with a plan to promote your Sale activity, and attract more people to the shop. When doing this, think about your customers: where they’re likely to be, and what they’re likely to see, or read. The following tactics can generally work well.
- An ‘A’ Board outside the shop
- Social media
- In-store displays, strategically places for maximum visibility
- Offers on the club noticeboards and bar
- Staff incentives on the offers
- Newsletters or leaflets
- Local press advertising
Sales work best when customers least expect them so, for an added advantage, don't necessarily stick to the 'traditional' Sale times of year.
For more information about any aspect of running your retail business, please get in touch with one of our team.