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How to make your special offers a lot more special!

by Jim Connolly

Here are some ideas, to help you get the very best results from your special offer promotions.

Start your special offer with the end in mind

Before you go ahead with your special offer, be very clear about exactly what you want to achieve from it.

For example:

  • Are you doing it to raise awareness of a new product line?
  • Are you doing it to move some old stock and make more space?
  • Are you doing it to get more people through the door, so they can see what a great store you have?
  • Are you doing it to help out with your cash flow?
  • Are you doing it as a loss leader?

It’s far easier to run a successful special offer, once you are completely clear about what you want to achieve.

Don’t train customers to wait for your next special offer

Some retailers make the mistake of running special offers at predictable times throughout the year. Instead of helping you grow your business, this predictable approach to special offers can have the exact opposite effect.

Here’s why: It trains your customers to wait for your next special offer promotion!

You then find fewer people buying from you at the regular price, on what they think is the run-up to your next special offer. The net result is you end up selling the same amount of merchandise, but at a less profitable price.

Whilst it’s fine to run special offers during the main holiday times, mix things up a little. Don’t become too predictable. Don’t train your customers to wait.

Make your special offers… special

Your special offer will only work if it is special to your customers. Many retailers make the mistake of either:

  1. Offering merchandise, which customers just aren’t interested in.
  2. Offering sale prices, which are just not attractive enough.

As a direct result, these not very special, special offers fail the retailer and fail their customers.

When putting a special offer together, the idea is to make it as attractive as possible. Focus on the word special rather than the word offer. Make it something you know people will value and be attracted to.

Consider offering part of a set

A great way to increase the value of special offers to your business, is to offer something that you provide accessories for.

For example, if you were running a special offer on razors, it’s likely you would find yourself selling far more (full price) razor blades, shaving gel and aftershave. So, think of special offer items, which people buy and then need to make additional purchases for.

In closing

As you can see from the ideas here, especially the first one, the key is to match your special offer to precisely what you want to achieve and ensure that your offer is truly special. I hope you found these ideas useful. More importantly, I hope you’re able to do something with them.

To find out how CTS Wholesale can help your retail business, simply click here.