Annual merchandising refers to promotions and merchandising displays that you present annually. These would be cyclical promotions, for instance, at the change of the seasons. When a season change is approaching, you must prepare by ordering interesting products, figuring out which products will be the focus of your displays, and how you are going to promote them.

Promotions need to span every area of distribution that you have in your boutique. You may need to send out mailers, have in-store promotion signage, give special deals through your web site or e-mail list, and publish promotions in your newsletter or catalog.

Opportunity merchandising refers to promotions and merchandising displays that you produce during times of opportunity. Holidays, back to school time, sporting events, or local celebrations can be opportunities to have a promotion. Capitalize on events like these by keeping up with current events, especially in your area. You may offer discounts to students who bring in their football ticket stubs, or customers who bring in museum receipts. Other businesses in your area may be willing to let you display business cards or flyers in their establishment if you offer these kinds of promotions.

Clearance merchandising is different. Having a clearance sale is great to do when there isn’t much else going on. Make sure that you promote your clearance sale the same as you would any other type of promotion.

Merchandising clearance items may be a little tricky, because you don’t necessarily want the items that aren’t selling or that you don’t have much of to be the main focus of your store. You want people to come in and help you get rid of excess merchandise, but you also want to take that opportunity to grab their interest about the more expensive and current items on display. This is why sidewalk sales are so effective. They help you to promote your clearance sale, but also lure people inside of the store that normally may not shop with you.

Keep things interesting and always changing by rearranging your clothing racks and displays regularly. Choose an interesting garment rack that has many levels of display to keep things from getting boring. Many garment racks are designed with boutiques in mind. They help to individually display unique items and tap into the market of people who like boutiques because of their uniquely scarce offerings.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

Write down what you want people to think about your boutique. Do you want them to feel like your boutique is eclectic? Maybe you would rather stick to vintage. Some boutiques need a really sophisticated feel. Some like a more classic environment. The environment in the store adds to your boutique’s appeal. You need to make sure that the decorations and displays that you choose for the holiday still fit in well with your overall plan for the store. It’s all about building that image and branding yourself. Straying too far from what you originally intended will confuse the customers as to what you’re all about.

Christmas is really about having some special promotions, making as much money as possible before year end, and gaining some more long-term customers. Make sure that you are hitting on all of these areas and not just decorating.

Promotions during the holidays can be fun. You may want to roll out some clothing racks on to the sidewalk, porch, or out in the hall, depending on your location. This is a really effective marketing technique. People strolling by or driving by that normally wouldn’t have looked will check out your merchandise. Putting the clothing and accessories out into the sun can fade them, so switch them out often. People also get the feeling that they are going to get a good deal when they see a sidewalk sale. So, some signage may be in order here. Another idea would be to greet the customers out near the clothing racks and hand them a coupon good for that day or the next couple of days.

Make the inside of your boutique festive and interesting, sticking with your image, of course. Make sure that decorations feature your products and don’t overpower them. One way to do it is to decorate each garment rack with a small tree, angel, globe, or whatever you feel draws attention. You can simply hang a glittery snowflake over each garment rack, hang some lights and be done. Try not to go too gaudy or your store may start to look crowded. Make sure you keep the clothing racks straight and the aisles clear. No one wants to squeeze in with a crowd and rummage through crowded racks.

Keep everything simple, keep your clothing racks straight, your promotions moving, and stick with your image and you can have a wonderfully successful holiday season in your boutique this year!

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of clothing racks including garment racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.

1. Start sending out a newsletter.

Make your newsletter unique and interesting. Use a conversational tone to help the reader feel included. Send it out by mail or e-mail to your existing clients. Offer special deals, coupons, discounts for ordering online, whatever you can think of to entice customers to visit again. Offer extra incentive for customer’s to give a coupon to a friend. Word of mouth is your best advertisement, so try to think of ways to make your current customers get excited about recruiting a few friends.

2. Get social.

Build profiles on social networks online. You can either build it as yourself, the owner, or give it the business name. You can use your own name and then create a group of people that support your business. Having people in the group will allow you to update their profiles with special offers, promotions and good deals. The good part about this is that their friends can also see your updates. People who become your personal friend because they love your boutique will become especially loyal. Be personal in your comments and occasionally comment on their updates. Be careful not to overdo it. Being friends online often translates into being a loyal customer in the real world.

If you do not have the time or expertise to do this consistently on your own, you can hire a social media company to do it for you.

3. Get your name out there.

For boutiques, it may not be possible to afford giant billboards or pricey commercials. But, you can easily raise awareness for causes that you’re interested in supporting while raising awareness for your business, too. There are many charity events that take place in most towns. Find out which ones are coming up and start asking your friends and customers if they would like to join you in the event. If they do not want to, they might donate money towards the cause instead.

You can generally raise enough money to pay entry fees for quite a few people. Have a t-shirt party and get everyone together to make t-shirts. Watch out for local news cameras and newspaper photographers. This could be your chance to get your name out there for free. Plus, the people who are also participating in the charity will see that your business supports something that they also care about and they may just want to come and check you out.

Your business can thrive with a little networking. Keep your store stocked and clean, garment racks straight, sales people smiling, and your customers will become loyal ones in no time.

About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.