Spring 2017 Hardlines Strategies

OPERATIONS

Finding Some Quick Wins Put These Ideas to Work for Fast Returns

You can hone in on big business development opportunities in marketing and advertising, merchandising and sales, and finding and retaining good employees. To do so, try implementing some—or all— of these ideas now to keep the traffic up throughout the year. Marketing and Advertising Get Social If you don’t already have a presence on social media, you’re missing out on a big advertising opportunity. Social media doesn’t need to take up a lot of your time, but your presence should be regular and consistent. Assign a specific person who can professionally manage your social media accounts and promote seasonal sales and events. Stay on top of guest comments and engage with them, especially concerning negative feedback. Neighborly Greetings When a person changes their address with the U.S. Postal Service, they receive discounts for big-box stores in their change of address confirmation packet. Be sure your store gets to these newcomers, too, as well as established homeowners in the area. Include coupons in community mailers to remind them your store is prepared to help with any home improvement project. Friends & Family Several times throughout the year, some retail stores promote a Friends & Family sale, which is when all shoppers receive W ith spring just around the corner, the home improvement busy season is fast approaching.

Merchandising and Sales Everything Must Go DIYers are creating with just about everything these days, so make it easy for them to find everything they need at your store. A recent shabby-chic trend is to build furniture out of used pallets.

the employee discount on their purchases. Spring is a great time of year to create this sense of community at your store. Bill your spring cleaning or summer prep sale as a friends and family event, or, throughout the season, mark an item or a department on sale at the employee discount rate.

36 Spring 2017 • Hardlines Strategies