Clothing Boutique Blog » retail holidays

Fall Displays for Retail Stores

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:08:50 +0000

This time of year can be truly beautiful. For a lot of people, autumn is the very best time of year. The summer heat lifts, a cool breeze fills the air, and the trees turn gorgeous shades or red, gold and orange. Autumn fills people’s minds with thoughts of getting cozy with a loved one, spending time outdoors, and seeing all of their family and friends over Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, many stores miss out on this golden opportunity to cater to their fall-sentiment loving customers. We’re so anxious to get the Christmas season off to a great start that we kind of tend to leave Thanksgiving in the dust. Are you looking to stand out from the crowd? Do you want to boost your holiday sales without waiting around for the end of December before you see it? Maybe it’s time to give Thanksgiving a little more attention.

No one has ever suggested that skipping a season is a good idea. We seem to dote over spring, summer, back to school, and Christmas, but we leave that beautiful fall weather theme untapped. Many customers are turned off by seeing the Christmas decorations out really early. Many companies start planning, stocking and decorating for the winter wonderland in early October. This leaves many customers thinking, “What about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving?” The weather has barely required you to bring your jeans out of storage and already you’re looking at snow, Santa Claus, and heavy winter gear.

Just imagine how refreshing it would be for your customers to see how much you love fall, like they do. Finally, this beautiful time of year has been given the respect that it deserves! Bravo to the stores that don’t try to push Christmas before a tree has lost a single leaf! Be the one. Make sure that your customers know that you are celebrating the Thanksgiving season. No more squeezing into the “back to school” or general “holiday season”. Thanksgiving deserves the attention and your customers who love it will appreciate it, too.

Make sure that you make it known. Send out your newsletter, mailers, flyers, post signs on your garment racks, whatever it takes to show that you’re different. You’re sure to stand out among the competition when you put your best fall foot forward. Display those rich reds and bright yellows. Leave no garment rack undecorated. Get those window displays popping. Show the world (or at least the mall) who loves the fall weather!

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.

Autumn Retail Displays

admin — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:19:15 +0000

Keep the Christmas Spirit in Retail

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:27:45 +0000

The holidays can be an exciting time in retail, but they can also be very stressful on owners and employees of retail stores and boutiques. No matter how much overtime you have to work and how many frustrations you face this season, make sure that your customers are not aware and are taken care of. Use these tips to train your employees on keeping the customer happy, regardless of the season stressors.

The first thing to consider is the atmosphere of the store. With the right tone, customers and employees will stay on the calm side. Avoid harsh lights and loud or repetitive music. Keeping things on a quiet and organized level will improve everyone’s outlook. Keep your clothing racks and displays orderly and fully stocked. Make an hourly round and check to make sure that things look nice and neat. Disarray can lead to agitation for both the customer and the worker.

Make sure that employees are equipped with the tools that they need to quickly help customers. A computer system that keeps track of inventory is a real time saver. If a customer is looking for an item that isn’t out on your garment rack, then you and your employees should be able to quickly tell the customer if you have it in stock or not. It may not be possible to keep the clothing racks fully stocked if space is limited or certain products are selling out quickly. Preempt the customer’s frustration by letting them know that there are many items in storage that will not fit on the clothing racks. This will put them in the right frame of mind so that they are willing to ask for help when they need it.

Give your employees a refresher course in customer service. Keep your mouth shut for as long as possible and let upset customers say their peace. They need to be given the opportunity to fully explain a problem to calm down and feel like you are actually concerned. Once you have listened, try to empathize with the customer’s situation. Let them know that you understand what they mean and then offer an apology and a way to make things right.

If there are confrontations, use the experience as an opportunity to teach other employees how to deal with the situation. You can’t prepare them for everything that could possibly happen. But, if you can give them examples, get their input, and then tell them how you would like the situation handled, then each problem that arises will turn into a valuable lesson for the entire staff. Try to have a quick team meeting before or after each shift, or during a time of day when no customers are around.

Keep a system going that keeps your store or boutique in order. Customers and employees function on a more positive level in a positive atmosphere. If a clothing rack is a mess, then customers don’t want to deal with digging through it. If the clothing racks and displays are out of order, then customers get the impression that the staff is too busy to help them. Little things around the store can help to keep the atmosphere light and inviting. Keep the garment rack straight, a smile on your face, be understanding, and you can help your employees and customers to stay in the Christmas spirit.

Retail Boutiques, the Holidays, and the Economy

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:07:58 +0000

Well, last year didn’t fare so great for many retailers. The sales were lower than ever. This year, everyone is very optimistic about recovery. Retail stores are expected to make up a lot of the money that they lost last year, and then some. This is great, right? Well, it is for some. The problem now is that retail store owners, especially smaller boutique owners, are struggling to find the loans that they want to get the inventory that they need. So, how are you supposed to make your bank if you can’t get hold of the goods to sell?

There are a few different things you could do. One, is to push online deals. When people order online, they will pay up front. This keeps you from having to keep the inventory on hand. Most suppliers will let you put in small orders to provide customers with their goods. Customers may be more patient with things being on backorder at this time of year, as long as you are able to give them a definite date that their products will be in. If they’re buying for Christmas, they won’t be in a big hurry to have it in their hands.

The next thing you can do is to have an early season push. If you can make enough on Black Friday, then you can earn the money that you need to supply yourself with enough inventory to make it through Christmas. Using the money that you make wisely is the key. A lot of retail store owners will even give up their own paychecks in order to have enough holiday inventory.

Give rain checks. It is really common to see rain checks at retail stores now. Hang clothing on your clothing racks and then attach rain checks behind them. When the clothes run out, the rain check will be there. Customers can bring it to the register and prepay for the item. Then you will have the money to order it. Make sure that you include a good photo of what they are ordering on the rain check, and let them know that it is okay to switch up sizes once the products come in. When they come back in to pick it up, chances are they’ll buy something else on their second visit.

When inventory is running low, let people know that you have more sizes on order, or that they can order their size online. If they are going to have to go home and order, you may want to give them a five dollar off coupon or some other incentive to actually go through with the purchase. Once they’re away from the store, the chances of them purchasing something get slimmer. Give them your card so that they can call you personally if they run into problems online. Give them some sort of personal attachment to hang on to or they may not feel obligated to make the purchase from a computer instead of from a garment rack.

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.