By John Baird
Valentine’s Day is that special day of the year when we all like to show our affections for some of the most important people in our lives. For retailers, that means your customers and there are many different ways that you can show your appreciation for them.
Here are 5 of the best ways you might be able to win your customers over for Valentine’s Day:
Offer Eye-Catching Deals
Whether it is out of a sense of obligation or true affection, millions of men and women will be looking to surprise their special someone with gifts on Valentine’s Day. As retailers there is a clear opportunity to tap into this gift-giving process and to grab the attentions of any uncertain consumers with eye-catching deals on products that might bring a smile to someone’s face and make them feel extra special.
Offer Free Trials or Samples
Valentine’s Day and the time leading up to it is also a great time to rollout any trial offers that might be of interest to loved-up couples of different ages and inclinations. It is a time when people are ready to try new things too, so offering free samples can be a great way to attract new customers and to convince them of the quality of your products.
Cut-Price Packages
While free trials and samples can be great for grabbing the attentions of new customers, so too can cut-price packages. Plus, strategically lowering your prices on certain items might make your existing customers push the boat out a little and buy certain products they had not initially intended to buy. After all, your customers will be just as keen to get value for money around Valentine’s Day as they are at any other time of year.
Coupons
Most of us want to be generous around Valentine’s Day but financial constraints cannot always be overlooked no matter how much we love our partners. Coupons are a great way for retailers to encourage people to get the gifts they really want without having to overstretch their budgets. And, of course, distributing coupons helps get people through your doors or on to your website at a time of year when they traditionally look to loosen the purse strings.
Give Out Gift Cards
Just as coupons are a great way to help your customers make more out of their Valentine’s Day spending, so too are gift cards that can be spent on all and any products throughout your stores. You can share the love by distributing them at random with a contest and helping a certain number of your customers get a step closer to giving their special someone a day to remember.
Valentine’s Day can be a terrific period for retailers of all kinds to assist their customers with looking for the perfect way to express their affections. The best way for retailers to maximise that potential is to join in on the fun themselves and to be just as generous as their customers.
John Baird is a personal finance and insolvency expert from Scotland Debt Solutions. He specializes in advising people on how to manage their money and deal with their personal debt problems.