Ideas to Create a Successful Retail Event
Bringing people into brick-and-mortar stores is getting harder and harder as eCommerce is taking all the business. With this brings new challenges to overcome and plan for.
Holding in-store events is becoming a popular way to bring in customers. When planning an event idea to bring people into your retail store you must keep in mind a couple of things that will help you create the best event for you and your store.
Demographic- Who shops at your store? What age range? Where do they live? Their income? Figuring out all this information will allow you to cater to them and create an experience they will enjoy.
Goals and objectives- Setting goals for your event is an easy way to stay organized. Is your goal to create exposure for your store and attract new customers? Is it to sell to existing customers? Figure out your goal and plan your event around that goal to create a successful event!
Event Promotion- How will you promote your event? Word of mouth? Social media? Incorporating a sale into your event to bring in more people? When planning an event remember promoting it is something that needs to be on the top of your to-do list.
Retail event ideas that bring in business:
Invite a group of your most loyal customers to shop after hours at your store. Provide excellent customer service and make your customers feel well taken care of. It is always a fun retail experience for your guests and makes them feel appreciated. Anything can be incorporated into these nights to make them special and out of the ordinary. Offer free snacks, beverages, products, or services to add to the exclusivity of the night!
Craft Store- For a craft store there are a lot of different ways you can plan your night. Incorporate it into a workshop and allow everyone who attends and does the workshop a bundle of all the tools used if they would like to purchase them. This will promote more sales.
Sporting Goods Store- Hosting a watch party for a sporting event and giving special deals out for different products based on things happening in the game is a fun engaging event. For example, if X team scores within the first 5 minutes all your basketballs are half off.
Clothing Store- This can be catered to the demographic of your store if it’s a women’s store having a cocktail hour with personal shoppers can be exciting for most. If it is a children’s store host a fashion show for them and allow them to wear their favorite outfits in the store.
Pet Store- Create an adoption event and bring in pop-up shops within your pet stores would help bring in new guests and sell. Encourage attending by giving out coupons and special deals, pet supplies can be expensive and something that needs to be purchased so giving out deals will be sure to make attendance go up.
Below is an ad on Instagram that a women's clothing store, Meredith Jaye uploaded to promote their partnered event with Sephora and Isle of Paradise. They are advertising styling sessions, beverages, and raffles to offer an exclusive fun shopping event.
Craft store- Bring in someone who runs a crafting blog or has written a craft book and let them speak and answer questions at the end. For an even better experience for your customers, ask them who they would like to see speak at your store, if it is someone they know and love it will be a hit!
Electronic store- Having an expert on a certain popular device being sold in your store. For example, someone who flies drones very well. Think of unique things people in tech really want to hear about. Keeping this speech informational with a hint of sales will lead to more sales of the product that is being talked about.
Clothing Store- Again, for a clothing store this can be anything you and your customers would enjoy. An author of a book you know is well-loved amongst your customers, a local designer in your area that you carry their clothes that can come in and speak about their journey.
Pet Store- This can also be an informational speech. Bring in a vet to explain the importance of certain topics such as the type of food to feed your dog, medications, how much exercise is needed for the different dog breeds, and so on. People love their animals and will do anything to make sure they are well taken care of.
Sporting Goods Store- Having a coach come in to speak about their experiences as well as tips and tricks on coaching will help both new and old coaches learn. Having a well-known sports figure come in and speak, even a college-level athlete has followers, they don’t need to be at the pro level to bring in a crowd and excitement.
If your budget does not allow for an in-person speaker look at TED talks online and search through the thousands of videos of talks that are uploaded and show them at your event. Create follow-up questions to keep your audience engaged. Below shows just how many available TED talks there are on their website.
Craft store- sewing, painting, special craft DIY. There are so many possibilities when it comes to creating a craft store class, they can be specific or broad classes as well.
Electronic store- Teaching people how to use your products, computers, phones, televisions, etc. This is an appealing class for people who just have purchased a new product or need help to be able to use it to the best of their abilities.
Clothing store- You can have fun with this. If it is a women’s clothing store you can do a class on styling a new clothing piece or trend for the season. A children’s store can be more of a fun class for children to come to and play, this keeps the children occupied and taken care of to allow the parents to shop more. These can also be more random classes that you know your demographic will enjoy even if it’s not completely related to your store.
Pet store- Holding classes to educate new or even old pet owners. Hold a basics boot camp class for puppies and their owners to attend or “how-to” classes every week on different tips and tricks for pet owners to know.
A great example of a retail store doing classes is Lululemon, they advertise classes and events on their website making it easy for customers to know when they will be taking place.
Not every event needs to be extravagant, a small intimate one is just as effective in creating more connections with customers and letting them know you appreciate them and their business.
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