As September comes to an end and October arrives, thoughts of fall and the upcoming holiday season starts to be on our minds: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and New Years. It’s time for the stores to start preparing for all of the extra sales that the holiday season can bring.
Stores start planning decorations for Halloween as early as late August. Putting up some Halloween decorations like pumpkins, scare crows, fall haystacks, etc. can create an atmosphere for your customers to start thinking about Halloween and the products they may need for their celebrations—hair color sprays, nail polish, make up, wigs, and other like items will bring you extra sales and while these customers are looking for their Halloween needs they will also want to stock up on some of their regular products like relaxers, hair products, skin products, and personal care products.
For Thanksgiving you can put up some fall decorations, pictures of turkeys, pilgrims, cornucopias of fruit, pictures of a Thanksgiving table, holiday foods, etc. Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday. It brings thoughts of families getting together for family meals, delicious seasonal foods, football games, and giving thanks. Your customers will want to look their best as they go to various Thanksgiving festivities and a nicely decorated store will bring an atmosphere of shopping for things that will allow them to look their best and stock up on makeup, hair products, and personal care items. This is also the time of year to be thankful for what we have and to help those who are less fortunate by giving out free turkeys in the neighborhoods near your stores. This will show your customers that you appreciate their business and that you care about those who cannot afford to have a nice Thanksgiving meal.
As Thanksgiving comes to an end Christmas will be on your customer’s minds. Black Friday starts right after Thanksgiving and this is probably one of the best selling days of the entire year. Take advantage of this by extending some great deals to your customers. Make up a“Black Friday” flyer and pass it out to all of your customers. Decorate your stores for Christmas—Santa Claus, Sleigh Bells, Christmas Trees, etc. will all give your store a Christmas spirit atmosphere. You can even play some of the favorite Christmas carols in the background. Your customers will be looking to buy all types of products at Christmas in your stores. The Christmas holiday season starts on Black Friday and lasts until Christmas ends, so there are opportunities during all of those days for you to get extra business.
New Year’s is a huge holiday for celebrating the New Year—2017. Parties, dressing up, New Year’s Eve celebrations, etc. will be on your customers’ minds. Decorate your stores for the New Year with signs that say “Happy New Year,” pictures of celebrations, Father Time, a New Year’s baby—any types of signs that indicate celebrating the New Year. Thoughts of a fresh start, New Year’s resolutions and looking forward to a good year will help bring customers to your stores to buy products that will have them looking their best. Makeup, hair products, hair appliances, hair ornaments, hosiery, jewelry, and all types of items to help them look their best when the “ring in the New Year.”
Decorating your stores for the holidays to create an atmosphere for your customers is very important. Department stores spend thousands of dollars every year, as do almost all stores creating holiday atmospheres. These decorations make customers happy and put them in a shopping mood. Now is an ideal time to plan how you are going to decorate and market your stores for the holiday seasons. October, November, and December can be extremely profitable because of the holidays, and they can help to add “plus sales” to your year end.
