/ mailed out a week earlier. Lynch can hear the collective groan of home furnishings retailers: you want us to turn away customers who are walking in off the street? “Yes,” he says. “When they hear that you’ll be open to them on Friday, they’ll be back and probably be back early. There are (retailers who are) skeptics to this, but they find religion when their customers are turned away from a sale, but know they can take part in a few days and return. They walk away knowing you’re having a real sale and that it’s not like all the others.” So you’ve settled on a date. Now comes
> Those days of placing an ad in the newspaper and unlocking your doors are gone. Nobody knows this better than the home furnishings retailer, who sees skeptical shoppers and intense competition from big boxes on a daily basis. A successful sale can cure a lot of ills, say Chris Lynch and Bob Nelson, who have helped home furnishings retailers put together profitable events. When done right, a sale can help you find new customers, increase your average sales ticket, and give customers a chance to buy more frequently from your store.
REASON Here’s a checklist to make your next sale a success. Today’s shoppers are savvy and cynical all at once. They need a good reason to shop your store. “You need to show them that this sale is not the same as the one last month or the month before,” says Lynch. “They need to know this sale is different and you need to convey that in your advertising.” Lynch and Nelson say the best sales are tied to a retailer’s business. Think remodeling or re-merchandising.
TIMING
“You can’t just wake up one day and say, we’re going to have a sale… it takes a lot of planning, coordinating, and making sure the right message gets out to the right people. That’s not always easy to do for a retailer.” Bob Schoenfeld, Schoenfeld Interiors
the hard part: what’s your reason for a sale? Lynch cautions retailers to think about the consumer when answering this question. He says it’s difficult for a home furnishings retailer—any retailer, really—to convince consumer’s that the store is motivated to offer good deals. “They’re so jaded at this point because they can’t go anywhere without a sale being advertised,” says Lynch. “A lot of them are looking for reasons not to go.” NAHFA member Bruce Weintraub, who owns Tarpon Furniture in Hudson, Fla., sees first-hand why consumers are often unmotivated to shop for furniture. “Just open the newspaper every Sunday and there are four or five ads or inserts for furniture sales,” he says. “And it’s the same people week after week after week. If I’m a shopper and you give me a price there’s no compelling reason to buy it on the spot. I know I can come back next week or the week after that because I’ve seen how you run a sale, which is to say you’re always having a sale.” Lynch says a good home furnishings sale conveys information to the consumer that
S A L E
Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan
EXCELLENT
Feb/March/April/May/Sept
GOOD
August
FAIR
Of course you can hold a sale any month you please, but let’s face it: some months are better than others. Lynch and Nelson are fans of anytime between October and January. They’re thought to be the best for shoppers because they have a better sense those months of their disposable income. Avoid the summer months—June, July, and August when folks are vacationing. Once you decide when to start your sale, Nelson suggests allowing as much as a month for preparation. That gives you plenty of time to prepare advertising and balance your inventory to ensure a profitable turnover.
PRICING
Markdowns are critical. Nelson says if the majority of your merchandise is new, only a small percentage of your stock needs to be marked down more June/July than 25% to 30%. But if you have old product sitting on the floor or warehouse, Lynch urges you to price it to sell. Often, that might mean at cost. “The idea is to turn your inventory into cash,” he says. “At the end of the sale, what good is all that money you invested in advertising and marketing if that sofa is still sitting on your floor?” Another tip: don’t make customers work to find the price. And don’t have two or three price tags wrapped together showing different prices. One tag, one price Nelson reminds retailers that furniture is not like fine wine; it does not get better with age. “Be aggressive when pricing slow-moving merchandise,” he says.
BAD
KEEP IT FRESH Where is it written that a sale is limited to a weekend—or for that matter a week? Lynch’s staff has been known to put together successful sales that last for a month or longer. Two strategies for making your sale a success each and every day: first, after a few days, close the store down and re-evaluate your inventory. “Find out what’s selling and what’s not and price accordingly,” says Lynch; second, change the showroom around and don’t hesitate to take immediate markdowns if there seems to be little interest in a particular product. Nelson says it’s important for customers not to think the best pieces of furniture have already been sold. Keep your showroom floor filled, he says. Above all, be creative. The greater the hype and selection, the more customers will pay for your goods. Source: Cone Inc.’s “Cause Evolution” Study, 2010; Modern RetailerNOWmag.com OCTOBER | 2015 Marketing Partners 11