MIKE DOREY HEADSHOT

There’s little doubt that seasonal events present a significant opportunity to generate attractive in-store theatre and increase footfall and sales. But while it’s very easy to get caught up with themed POS, bunting and display building, we can sometimes overlook how we recover from these events; the calm after the storm, so to speak.

You might have created the most splendid Easter showcase, but gappy shelves and half-cracked displays don’t send out a great message about your store once the holiday is over.

In my store I’ve been trying to spend more time planning how to come out of these events in the best possible shape: what will I do as and when the seasonal stocks start to run low, how will I fill those gaps, and what with?

This Easter I started off by capping our shelves with seasonal stock a couple of weeks before the bank holiday, then, as soon as Mother’s Day was out of the way, I moved Easter into that promotional space. Then, a week before the Easter weekend itself I was planning for the promotions that would immediately replace the unsold seasonal stock. We also made a point of highlighting all promotions on social media as soon as Easter was done with.

Other really simple things like scheduling in the time to go round the store and remove all old seasonal window stickers and POS are also key. In the relentless world of modern-day convenience retailing it can be so easy for small but salient things like that to get lost in the hubbub.

While planning for the highs is vital, planning for the lows, these days, is also just as important.

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