I walked into my local Target yesterday, and there they were big signs declaring “Merry Christmas!” Holy cow, “Christmas” is back, I thought. Moreover, no nondescript “season’s greetings” banners, either. Have we finally come back to the reason for the season? Are retailers finally finished straining to not offend one group or another?
I don’t want to get into an ideological snit-fest; this is not meant to be political commentary. But it doesn’t take a business degree from Wharton (mine is from Indiana U.) to recognize if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. And the time is now.
You’re thinking it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. But it’s obvious we will be seeing a barrage of promotions and TV ads for Christmas stuff from major retailers. And the Christmas items are already on shelves.
A key motivation for stuffing retail shelves early is to counter expectations that much of the overall holiday retail sales boost will come from e-commerce. Some predictions are that online holiday sales could grow more than 15% this year despite the economy.
For marine dealers who want to cash in on Christmas spending, now is the time to begin executing holiday sales offers and promotions — before everyone else cleans out your customers’ wallets. And experts urge retailers to be both creative and use aggressive promotions (translation: discounts) to cash in. Moreover, countless people will be Christmas shopping early this year.
So declare that it’s Christmas time right now in your dealership. After all, why do virtually all retailers have sales promotions during the holiday season? Because they work. Get aggressive and creative. Perhaps offer one big bargain item per day or for a weekend only. A big discount on popular items can attract shoppers, especially from within your existing customer base.
Hold an in-store event. I recall a successful dealer in northern Ohio who traditionally held a three-day, Thanksgiving in-store holiday reception and party for customers. Hundreds attended each year. It drew heavily from his existing base, of course, but even sold some boats and accessories to newbies. The showroom was brightly decorated, the refreshments enticing, and sometimes there was a speaker or two on fishing and cruising subjects.
Good advertising and promotion will make it work. They can’t come if they don’t know about it. Determine the best channels to attract your best customers and prospects. Is it conventional newspaper ads, radio, social media, email? Whatever you choose, promote heavily.
But the most powerful medium by far to attract your customers remains email. According to McKinsey & Co., marketing with email is three times more effective than social media, and the average customer order is 17% higher.
Assuming you have a good email list to which you regularly send a newsletter or something similar, it’s obviously a good vehicle to promote a Christmas reception and holiday sale. And sending separate emails each time a new or different item is offered at a Christmas discount price can be even more successful. And experts insist the more personal the email to existing customers, the better the rate of return will likely be.
A real winner can be offering gift cards and certificates for accessories, fuel, services and so on because they’re easy for the shopper to acquire and always well-received by the recipient. It takes little effort to create a clever, holiday gift certificate a customer can give to the captain.
It’s also appropriate to reward loyal customers with special offers, like additional discounts or services just for them, not available to the general public. It indicates to the customer that they are “special,” and experts say that’s a hard message to resist.
So as we head toward that most wonderful time of the year, make a move that will have sales, not sugarplums, dancing in your cash register.
